Metaphysics

Classical Arguments For and Against the Existence of God

Ashlee Rioux

PHIL 205

Janice Chik Breidenback

12/1/2014

I think it is safe to say that it can be extremely difficult for everyone to agree on something in unison, for there is difference in opinion among us all. There has been scientific information and theories that have been proven true or false throughout time. For instance, the theory of Darwinism came about with much social influence, some to be negative, yet Darwinism was proven true with biological evidence that could not be ignored. Any theory that can be confirmed to be true with scientific evidence is hard to argue against for very long. For the question and theory involving the existence of God, there has yet to be a proven response to what can or should be believed. The two opposing views that will be the primary focus of this discussion is the Cosmological view argued by Thomas Aquinas, and the new Atheist arguments against the existence of God. After reviewing the arguments presented by both Aquinas and the atheists, the thesis comes to the agnostic conclusion that everything must have been created from a higher power, which means an openness to a higher power that has no yet been proven to exist.

Thomas Aquinas presents five ways in which one can be certain that there is a higher power and that higher power is known as the God presented to us through the descriptive stories of the Bible. Aquinas follows the Cosmological Argument which can also be known as the argument from universal causation. This Cosmological argument defends the position that God is the first efficient cause and is the most prime unmoved mover in the universe that put everything into motion. The argument follows that anything that exists has a cause for existing, the universe exists and therefore has a cause, this means that the universe calls for an explanation for its existence. This explanation is known as the first cause which is God.

There is...