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A 4 page research paper that summarizes various philosophical proofs for the existence of God. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khppeg.rtf
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designed to provide logical proof that the universe did not just happen, but rather was designed and brought into being by an omniscient and omnipotent being. These proofs take various
patterns. The ontological argument, or a priori argument, attempts to deduce Gods existence from what the individual knows of the human mind. This is the argument presented by Rene
Descartes, the seventeenth century philosopher, who argued that whatever can be thought of as a "clear and distinct idea of a thing must be predicted on that thing" (Toner). An
earlier version of the ontological argument was defended by St. Anselm in the eleventh century, but was to severely and expertly criticized that this argument was no addressed again for
several centuries (Nolan). But unlike Anselm, Descartes argues that he does not rely on an arbitrary definition of God, but rather on the two central tenets of his own philosophy,
which are "the theory of innate ideas and the doctrine of clear and distinct perception" (Nolan). Descartes reasoned: 1. I have an idea of supremely perfect being; i.e., a
being having all perfections. 2. Necessary existence is a perfection. 3. Therefore, a supremely perfect being exists (Nolan). Another format for philosophical proofs of Gods existence is the
cosmological argument. As mentioned above, an ontological approach uses a deductive argument which "claims that its premises can be known independent of experience (a priori), with only logic and language
alone" (Wallace). The cosmological argument uses the opposite of this approach, as it presents an a posteriori argument, which "means that it relies on our experience of the world," going
beyond the realm of pure logic, in order to determine the validity of its premises (Wallace). Specifically, cosmological argument begin with what people know to be true, such as that
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