PHL101Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Theism, Omnibenevolence, Reductio Ad Absurdum
Does God Exist?
Author: Ernest Nagel, American philosopher of science
Criticizes all three main arguments for god and presents the arguments against god
1. Cosmological argument (first cause)
Every event must have a cause and then the backward progression of causes would be
infinite
But an infinite series of actual events in unintelligible and absurd so there must be a first
cause
That first cause is god.
Ignoring the problem of causation, Nagel still believes there are more problems with this
argument
Why does God not need a cause for his existence? Answer: He is self-caused
If God is self-caused why can't the world be?
Although the claim of supposed inconceivability and absurdity of an infinite series is not
supported by mathematical analysis of infinity
2. Ontological Argument
Since god is omnipotent, he is a perfect being
A perfect being must exist and thus god exists
Although this means that God was just defined into existence
Since we have an idea of god as a perfect being, God must exist
Nagel sees issue with the idea that existence is an attribute
This is confounding grammar with logic
We can predict a certain attribute of an animal but saying a lion exists says something is a
lion
3. Argument from Design
States that only by assumption of divine architect who planned the world and everything in
it
The world and its contents are all complicated mechanisms and thus we should also assume
that these things have a creator too (ex. Watch)
This is an inference based on analogy
First problem: the universe being a unified system
Do parents 'make' their children the same way a watch maker makes a watch
Thus, existence of living organisms does not ensure the existence of a supreme designer
Second problem: Darwinian biology (chance and natural selection)
Recently physicists have been providing arguments about the mathematical sense that the
world makes, thus nature must be the creation of a divine mathematician
The world exhibits a special kind of order
Third problem: it makes no sense to assume that no matter how the world was there would
be no pattern in subject matter
ARGUMENTS AGAINST GOD
Other arguments include Kant's categorical imperatives
We are not only subject to physical laws but also moral ones
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Document Summary
Criticizes all three main arguments for god and presents the arguments against god: cosmological argument (first cause) Every event must have a cause and then the backward progression of causes would be infinite. But an infinite series of actual events in unintelligible and absurd so there must be a first cause. Ignoring the problem of causation, nagel still believes there are more problems with this argument. Although the claim of supposed inconceivability and absurdity of an infinite series is not supported by mathematical analysis of infinity: ontological argument. Since god is omnipotent, he is a perfect being. A perfect being must exist and thus god exists. Although this means that god was just defined into existence. Since we have an idea of god as a perfect being, god must exist. Nagel sees issue with the idea that existence is an attribute.
