Argument Sketching - Essay Example

The essay will be about the arguments for the existence of God. Some supporters of this argument draw from evidence that is based on history, some on personal experience, and some on science while I personally draw my evidence from philosophy. There are various philosophical arguments in support of this argument i.e. the first cause argument, the ontological argument, the moral, and lastly the argument from design. Each of these tends to support a given conception of God. For instance, the first cause argument argues for the existence of an external creator; the ontological argument argues for the existence of a perfect being; an argument that is for a creator with a keen interest in humanity is the argument from design; lastly, the moral argument refers to an argument that is pro moral authority (Harris 56).

Ontological Argument

This argument aims at proving God’s existence mainly through the laws of logic. This can be traced back to St Anselm who was a philosopher-theologian as well as the archbishop of Canterbury in the eleventh century (Harris 62). This argues that we will be able to see God’s non-existence as being impossible once we mentally accept and internalize the concept of God. It aims at demonstrating the existence of a perfect supreme being.

The First Cause Argument

This can be viewed as the second proof of God’s existence. It is also referred to as the cosmological argument. This looks to prove God’s existence from the fact that there is the existence of the universe. It states that the universe as it is came into existence at a certain point in the distant past (Harris 59). It also argues that nothing can logically come into existence without something or someone else bringing it into existence. This is derived from the philosophical theory that nothing comes from nothing. This means that there must be another being or force outside of the universe that brought it into existence. This, therefore, alludes to the fact that there must be a creator of the universe who can only be God.

Argument from Design

This is also referred to as the teleological argument. This argument also has the universe at the center of all this. It aims at proving God’s existence from the fact that our universe is well-ordered. This is because it could have been quite different from the state in which it is now in very many different ways. The laws of physics could have been very different with a completely different arrangement of stars and planets (Harris 74). This points to the existence of God since all these other versions of the universe would not have possibly allowed for life’s existence. The atheistic worldview has no satisfactory way of explaining this good fortune and dismisses this as simply due to chance.

Moral Argument

This argument aims to prove God’s existence by the fact that there exist moral laws. These laws tend to have or follow a set form of command. This is because they dictate or tell us what to do. It should therefore be noted that commands cannot exist in the absence of a commander. We, therefore, have to ask ourselves who this commander is.

Conclusion

These arguments tend to therefore prove the existence of a transcendent and perfect being that created the universe as it is now. Thus wielded authority over the universe and has a keen and caring interest in humanity.