If there was an infinite chain of causes of the universe then there would be no universe now.
But there is a universe now.
Therefore there must be a first cause of the universe.
The Argument from Design:
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| Most organisms in the world act for a purpose. |
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| Most organisms are not aware of acting for a purpose. |
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| There must be a superior being directing their purpose. |
The Ontological Argument:
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| The concept of a supreme being is of a being with all perfections. |
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| Existence is a perfection. |
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| The supreme being must exist. |
Moldy poop is brown and hairy.
ReplyDeleteDante is brown and hairy.
Therefore Dante is moldy poop.
If you take an underlying assumption as given then logic can do anything. Eg. "If there was an infinite chain of causes of the universe then there would be no universe now." When something completely arbitrary such as that is stated as some sort of universal law the following logic might be entertaining but won't have anything to do with reality. These are all good examples of how silly most western thought is.
So here's an example.
I've heard variations of the first two but I know the third came from Descartes. After he decided that 'I think, therefore I am' which he arrived at by some sort of cohesive logic, he went further, which no one seems to talk about. After this he said that because "I," or the self, is the only thing we can rationally prove, then what we perceive and think must arise out of some reality as well. That's sort of an indirect way of saying it, but anyways he gave that 'rule' a name and called it an inherent law of the universe. But wait a second, I thought the only thing that is inherently real in the universe is the self. Where did the law come from? So he took that law as an underlying assumption, and from there came up with the abovementioned proof for God. Another way of saying it, if we can conceive of God, defined as a perfect being, and that God did not exist, it's non-existence would be an imperfection, therefore God must exist. Descartes, who is widely hailed in academia as the Father of Philosophy, went to his deathbed trying to defend this silliness. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's all a bunch of bullshit and most the men that we call 'philosophers' and learn about in school who shat out the bullshit, for the most part, were relatively stupid (which is to say they had a low capacity to see what was in front of them and form intelligent conclusions based off their observations)who just happened to be a bit too clever for their own good, and expressed their cleverness with enough long words and absurd but self-proving logical loops as to get trapped, and trap millions of others for the rest of time, in their sad, confused little minds.
To the cosmological argument: causality is a big assumption.
ReplyDeleteTo the design argument: people who think that this is logically coherent are fucking crazy. A lack of awareness about "purpose" implies the existence of God? How do we know that most organisms act for a purpose? And doesn't acting FOR a purpose imply awareness?
Ontological argument: Descartes really did fuck things up for philosophy. Why don't we posit the existence of something abstract (say, perfection, or truth, or justice) and then make people prove that it doesn't exist. But wait - it's abstract, and doesn't exist. So no one can prove it doesn't exist. Fuck that. Ran into this all semester in philosophy class, mainly about the idea of Truth.
Besides it being silly to base "proofs" around abstraction (but to wit, what isn't an abstraction? Might the whole process of logic be a little bit silly?), logical also assumes causality, blah blah blah. I think the entropic nature of life is a little bit too much to handle for a lot of people, myself included. So how to get around it? Pretend it doesn't exist. While positing the existence of happy little things like Truth and perfection.
Some of these are pretty great
ReplyDeletehttp://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm
Here's a few from the site
ReplyDeleteMODAL ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
(1) God is either necessary or unnecessary.
(2) God is not unnecessary, therefore God must be necessary.
(3) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM AMERICAN EVANGELISM
(1) Telling people that God exists makes me filthy rich.
(2) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM INTELLIGENCE
(1) Look, there's really no point in me trying to explain the whole thing to you stupid atheists; it's too complicated for you to understand. God exists whether you like it or not.
(2) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM UNINTELLIGENCE
(1) Okay, I don't pretend to be as intelligent as you guys — you're obviously very well read. But I read the Bible, and nothing you say can convince me that God does not exist. I feel him in my heart, and you can feel him too, if you'll just ask him into your life. "For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son into the world, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish from the earth." John 3:16.
(2) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM INCOMPREHENSIBILITY
(1) Flabble glurk zoom boink blubba snurgleschnortz ping!
(2) No one has ever refuted (1).
(3) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM GUITAR MASTERY
(1) Eric Clapton is God.
(2) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM BLINDNESS (II)
(1) God is love.
(2) Love is blind.
(3) Stevie Wonder is blind.
(4) Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
(5) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM FALLIBILITY
(1) Human reasoning is inherently flawed.
(2) Therefore, there is no reasonable way to challenge a proposition.
(3) I propose that God exists.
(4) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM MANIFESTATIONS
(1) If you turn your head sideways and squint a little, you can see an image of a bearded face in that tortilla.
(2) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM INCOHERENT BABBLE
(1) See that person spazzing on the church floor babbling incoherently?
(2) That's how God's infinite wisdom reveals itself.
(3) Therefore, God exists.
ARGUMENT FROM CREATIVE INTERPRETATION
(1) God is:
(a) The feeling you have when you look at a newborn baby.
(b) The love of a mother for her child.
(c) That little still voice in your heart.
(d) Humankind's potential to overcome their difficulties.
(e) How I feel when I look at a sunset.
(f) The taste of ice cream on a hot day.
(2) Therefore, God exists.
yeah pretty straight forward--no one of course is willing to play the devils advocate and attempt to preserve the relevance of these statements--amongst this crowd its tough.
ReplyDelete