1 - Proofs of God

God: The Beginning of Abstract Reasoning.
  Here we discuss roughly a dozen different "proofs of God" that have persisted through the centuries, along with their "counter-proofs."
  There is no intent to convert or to change our beliefs. The sole concern is to develop our thinking. Reason is the domain of Philosophy, and beliefs are the domain of Theology.






Proofs of God 

I assure you that you will never see a list of this many proofs of God in any one place. I have been collecting them for years. Most people content themselves with one or two. I have 16.

Format: The name of the philosopher is given first. Each proof is stated in its briefest form. An explanation follows. Each proof is refuted by a counter-argument. Enjoy. Expand your thinking.

Note: Most people find proof number 2, a thousand years old, to be the most difficult to follow. It is based solely on reason. We live in a time when often unquestioned faith is valued over thinking. You might return to St. Anselm after the others.


1 -Socrates - Conscience. Everyone has this inner voice.

Explanation - As he entered the court building, Socrates said his inner voice did not tell him to turn back. Throughout his life, Socrates always listened to his inner voice.

Counter-argument - Does everyone have a conscience? There are some people who seem to have none at all. Therefore, God does not necessarily exist.
 

2 - St. Anselm - Ontological Argument (meaning, based on Being, or Existence)
  He wrote over a thousand years ago in Latin shortly after William the Conqueror took over England, long before the evolution of the English language. Surely, we can easily understand his reasoning today.
  a - Definition: God is the Greatest Good (taken from Plato).
  St. Anselm explains this is the same as saying :
  God is "That than which nothing greater can be conceived"
  b - It is better to exist than not to exist.
  c - Therefore, God must exist.

Explanation - (a) He wrote over a thousand years ago in Latin, shortly after William the Conqueror took over England, long before the evolution of the English language. Surely, we can easily understand his reasoning today.

(b) Plato's definition is actually that God can be found through ultimate Beauty, which the greatest good. This notion of finding God through Beauty re-emerged during the Renaissance. (For more discussion, see PhilosophyFAQs.blogspot.com) At any rate, St. Anselm stole the definition of God as the Greatest Good from the ancient Greek pagan, Plato.

(c) "That than which nothing greater can be conceived." ("TTWNGCBC") (Easy, right? We can't even think of (conceive of) something greater than God. It's part of how we define God. Once you accept this definition, the next steps fall into line.) After all, what could possibly be greater than God?

(d) For some reason, many contemporary people find this the hardest accept. It is based on Deductive reasoning. This what we use in Mathematics. For example, in Geometry, we claim a triangle has 3 sides. If we find something with 3 sides, it must be a triangle. We are applying a definition. In the same way, St. Anselm is just applying a definition. It's like using a dictionary.

(e) It is better to exist than not to exist.
For example, each of us prefers personally existing to not existing; we think it is better for us to exist than not to exist. In the same way, we would think a Paradise Island would be better if it existed than if it did not. However, a Paradise Island is just an idea, not a definition, and does not have to exist.
God is defined as the Greatest Good.
If we find something that fits this definition, similar to finding a 3 sided thing, then that item fits the definition and is in fact and in reality the term that is defined, be it "triangle," or "God." This is what is meant be the word "definition." A=b+c; B=b+c; therefore, A=B.

(f) It is "more good," better, to exist than not to. Therefore, for God to be truly the ultimate good, God must exist. Without existence, God would be less than any ultimate good that we can even think of, "that than which nothing greater can be conceived."

(g) God = (is defined as) TTWNGCBC, the Greatest Good; existing is better than not existing; therefore, God must exist.

(h) This is a Valid Syllogism. Deductive reasoning uses syllogisms.
The terms and the order in which they are presented are logically "valid." Whether or not they are in fact "true," is outside the consideration of Deductive reasoning. (See also, detailed explanation in PhilosophyFAQs.)

Counter-argument - The syllogism can be valid without being true. It all depends on the factual truth of the definition. God might be less than the greatest good? God might be less than all-powerful. God might be less than all good.

Three-sided things are triangles, but no perfectly drawn 3 sided thing exists. The "real" drawings are always just a little off, less than perfection.


2 - 6 - St. Thomas Aquinas - Cosmological (based on existence of the cosmos, meaning Creation.)
  2 - Change - Unmoved Mover
  3 - Causation - First Cause
  4 - Contingency (Possibility) - Necessary Being
  5 - Degrees of Excellence - Perfect Being
  6 - Harmony - Intelligent Designer

Explanation: From the existence of the item on the left, we can infer the existence of the item on the right. Because there is change, there must have been a beginning that did not change, but from which all the resulting change rolled like dominos: the Prime Mover. Each of the names on the right are from Aristotle. Each of these proofs are based on the existence of the Creation proving the existence of a Creator.

Counter-argument: What if there was no creation event? Then all of these five proofs would fail, because there would be no beginning in time. Two-thirds of the world believe in religions that do not posit a creation event: life is a cycle of being; reincarnation. It is possible the cosmos goes in and out of being over all time, like passing through a Black Hole and coming out into another universe on the other side.


7 - Paley - Teleological Argument (everything has a purpose.)
  Humans create things with a purpose; therefore, God must, also.

Explanation: Each thing and each person must have been created by a Creator with a purpose because humans create with purpose.

Counter-argument: (a) What is the purpose of the mosquito? What function does the armadillo perform? What if there were just a few things that don't have a purpose?

(b) Humans make many useless things: they call them art; others they call toys. What if God is making toys? What if the universe is the science experiment of a superluminal robot?

(c) Humans make things that they later forget about. What if God forgot that he made a universe?


8 - Pascal - The Wager
  Infinite gain results from of finite effort.

Explanation: Making a finite effort at religious actions during a finite lifetime leads to an infinite reward of eternal life. If we do not make this limited, finite effort, we risk losing an infinite reward. The risk is less, the gamble is better, to make the choice of religious actions during our lifetimes. (Pascal invited the theory of probability.)

Counter-argument: (a) One should believe in God only because of an award? What about "virtue as its own reward?" We should believe only because of what we can get out of it?

(b) This is the best argument ever for the death-bed conversion: the least possible effort; the greatest gain.


9 - James - (a) - Life is better with belief in ultimate Being and ultimate Justice. The "Will to Believe" leads to a more trusting, happier life.

  (b) - Mystics (those who believe "All is One,") of all religions report similar experiences.

Counter-argument: (a) Many atheists report happy lives. Is ultimate revenge a moral reason to believe in God? Does belief in the destruction of enemies make us loving people?

(b) People who believe in UFOs and vampires report similar experiences.


10 - Leibnitz - God is the greatest good.
  Therefore, He created the greatest possible universe.
  This is "the best of all possible worlds."
  Therefore, evil and suffering are necessary.

Counter-argument: (a) We don't have any other universes before us to compare with this one. Maybe there is one with less evil and suffering. Maybe God was an inadequate Craftsman who made a mistake.

(b) From David Hume - A good God would exclude evil and suffering in both the natural world and among humans. A God who allows evil and suffering is not a good God.


11 - John Hick - Pain and suffering are character building.

Explanation: Suffering is a mystery. To accept it as a part of God's plan is the most soothing explanation. To ask: "What is the lesson we can learn from this?" leads us to an acceptance of suffering. Accepting suffering builds character. Those who have not suffered remain shallow.

Counter-argument: (a) What kind of a God is this? He harms those he loves? Isn't that sadistic?

(b) What about just a little less pain? What about just a little less "character?"


12 - Malcolm - Contemporary Deductive Argument (also attributed to Plantinga)
  a - God must be either "necessary" or "impossible."
  b - God is not "impossible."
  c - Therefore, God is necessary.

Explanation: Believers claim God must exist. Non-believers claim God is impossible. (For example: The laws of science are sufficient. Divine Intervention interferes with the very laws God is claimed to have set into motion.) God must be one or the other. However, we can imagine God, and positing His existence does not interfere with the smooth running of the universe. Therefore, God must exist.

Counter-argument: The opposite is also true. Some people can easily imagine living in a world without God. A universe without God does not fall apart. As stated above, Divine Intervention contradicts the very laws of the universe the Creator is claimed to have established. God is impossible because His interference would discredit the value of the system of science. Therefore, God is not only not necessary, but also impossible.


13 - Precusers to Existentialism:
  (i) - Kierkegaard - "Leap of Faith"
  Faith alone is sufficient.
  The great Unknown must be God.

Explanation: All the rational arguments fall aside in the light of reason. Therefore, "the leap of faith in the arms of the loving God," is the only answer. Reason is futile. Faith alone can guide.

Counter-argument: (a) Which faith? Can we be sure God will be there to catch us? Even the most religious go through periods of doubt or of a sense of distance from God.

(b) Doesn't this give up on "the greatest gift God gave us," reason. It separates us, we think, from the animals. We would not willingly give up an arm, a "gift from our Creator?" Why then should we give up reason?

(c) Laziness of thought is not a basis for belief in the existence of God.

  (ii) - Nietzsche - Christianity is a "slave morality."
  The "Will to Power" is greater than the "Will to Believe."

Explanation: Belief in Christian values of self-sacrifice are soothing to oppressed masses unwilling to wake up to their condition. An amoral superman is needed to transcend the limitations of Christian morality in order to evolve to the next and higher step of human development. Christianity hold us back from true strength. Only a superman can lead us there. The superman must survive and conquer at all costs. He must be selfish to win. Greed is good. The superman is deserving of all the rewards of his selfish actions. (Basis of the novels of Ayn Rand.) (See also, the Chapter on "Egoism.")


14 - Descartes - Trademark of the Creator

Explanation: Each of us asks the question of whether God exists. This is the "trademark" of the Creator, like the mark of the potter on His creation. Since each of us seeks the answer, then that question must have been engraved on our souls from birth.

Counter-argument: What about people who never ask? What about people who don't have the mental capacity to ask? What kind of answer is sufficient?


15 - Common Belief - Most people believe in God, therefore, God must exist.

Explanation: Most people believe, therefore, most people are right.

Counter-argument: Popularity does not make a claim correct. The majority can be wrong anytime. That is why we have a Bill of Rights: to protect the minority or one individual from the vengeance of a mob of the majority.


16 - Common Sense - Humans throughout time and place, in all cultures have had a belief in the spiritual world. Therefore, God must exist. (This was true until Modern Western Philosophy, roughly the past 200 years in Europe and North America, a drop in the ocean of time of humans on planet Earth, but a time of the greatest ratio of literacy ever.)

Counter-argument: Humans in almost every time and culture have had slavery, war, and oppression of women. Not everything human cultures do is good.


17 - The Bible says so.

Explanation: God exists because the Bible says so. The Bible is true because God wrote it.

Counter-argument: Circular reasoning. Example: X is true because Y says so; Y is true because X says so. No proof for the validity of either X or Y is offered. They simply re-enforce empty claims.  


Yes, there are some "counter-counter-arguments" to some of these proofs, meaning arguments that the affirmative is true.  

I'll let you figure those out for now.