Questions tagged [theology]
Theology is the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes and relations to the universe; the study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.
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Why does Aquinas argue that rationality of the universe points to a creator?
In the Summa, Aquinas, working from an Aristotelian philosophical position, argues that the rationality of the universe points to a creator. If I am correct in interpreting his work, he says that the ...
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Moral Arguments for Deity? Russell's refutation
Reading Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian I stumbled upon a passage (The Moral Arguments for Deity) I don't seem to understand.
Kant, as I say, invented a new moral argument for the existence of ...
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If I am infinitely old , can I have a father?
If I am infinitely old , can I have a father ?
And can I have a brother that is infinitely older than me but younger than my dad ?
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Is this paragraph in The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine an example of a rhetorical argument?
I found the following passage in The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
When Samson ran off with the gate-posts of Gaza, if he ever did so,
(and whether he did or not is nothing to us,) or when he ...
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Descartes's concept of the Immutability of the Divine Will
According to the abstract of this article1,
... Descartes' God acts by a single immutable will for all eternity, and there is no sense in which it is possible for Him to will or to have willed ...
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Does the notion of an all-powerful God conflict with the idea of free will?
In Abrahamic religions, God is often believed to be wholly omnipotent. People also seem to believe that humans have "free will", especially insofar that they feel they are in control of their own ...
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Can the existence of God be proved from mathematics? [closed]
This question of highest importance for everybody could not be answered in MO and will not be answered in Mathematics.SE. I can understand why the set-theorists there dive and attack it like vultures. ...
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What impact has Douglas Hofstadter's superrationality had in terms of philosophy?
Superrational decision making is a type of rational decision making in which the players cooperate in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma without coordination, punishment, or magical thinking.
The idea is ...
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Does Wittgenstein's Tractatus establish serious bounds for discussions of the supernatural from a modern point of view?
In today's mathematics, we have many variants of logic (propositional, first order, higher order, fuzzy logic, etc.). These are all self-consistent formal systems that are based on some set of axioms.
...
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Kierkegaard and "the Essentially Christian"
When interpreting any author, it is crucial to understand his terms. Reading The Book on Adler (sometimes titled Concerning Authority and Revelation), I have come to understand that the essentially ...
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Can an eternal god destroy himself? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is the definition of God consistent? (primary)
also:
An immovable object and an irresistible force
God's paradoxes and their implications
To many, at first sight, ...
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God as a product of our universe
I'm new to philosophy and I know very little. While watching lectures on philosophy of 17-18 centuries I realized that the understanding of God was a very important issue (and it probably still is at ...
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Kierkegaard and the Tripartite Theory of Man
Terminological Background
The traditional tripartite view of human nature, or the trichotomy of human persons, refers to the distinguishing of soul and spirit in humans (the body of course being the ...
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Underlying logical structure behind Descartes' Ontological argument?
Quoting SEP:
Version A:
Whatever I clearly and distinctly perceive to be contained in the
idea of something is true of that thing.
I clearly and distinctly perceive that necessary ...
user1207
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Is mankind God in an ethical sense?
In an ethical sense (i.e. not metaphysical), could God be equated with mankind?
Many of the religious duties of people towards their god could as well be interpreted as duties towards their peers, e....
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Do messenger-based religions contradict the idea of an all wise God?
Many religions believe that their holy book is the literal word of God (and not the word of the messenger). For instance, the announcement of "new rules" for humanity, such as Quranic injunctions like ...
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If there is a God, how is that relevant to us?
If you consider the God of the bible to be real (talking about Christianity), then the existence of God is relevant to you because he can do miracles, change your life for the best, and allow you to ...
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How can we know if God is lying or not? [closed]
Stated more generally:
Are there entities whose claims—by the nature of their existence—are outside the scope of rational inquiry?
Consider the example of the Abrahamic God, the relevant matter not ...
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If the universe has a beginning does that prove God exists?
It is curious to note that a eminent Physicist like Stephen Hawking thinks the universe has a beginning. This has some rather startling Religious implications
You can find the link here: http://www....
Neil Meyer
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Does God have the power to make identical universes through different means?
The easiest way to explain this question is with a thought experiment:
Consider God, the ultimate of everything, who is wholly omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing). Let's just say, ...
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Is there any rigorous philosophical basis for atheism?
Definition/Update
In what follows I use the term God to refer to an entity that has at least one of the following properties:
Has created the universe
Is omnipotent
Is omniscient
Approaches to ...
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How can being able to conceive of something "perfect" imply its existence?
In this question and reading about the ontological argument elsewhere I have discovered that there is (and has been) a lot of discussion about it, and that it was taken very seriously.
Can someone ...
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Which philosophers have argued that a God cannot exist?
Which philosophers have argued that a God cannot exist and why? What are some of the major positions involved, and perhaps some common responses?
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What are the latest arguments for/against the existence of God? [closed]
What are the newest or latest arguments for or against the existence of God?
What is the state of this debate? After proponents and critics have argued and responded to everything so far, what else ...
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What are the philosophical implications of The Second Law of thermodynamics?
The Second Law of thermodynamics states that "The entropy of a closed system cannot decrease over time."
What are the philosophical implications of this statement, especially wrt to theology and ...
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What should a rational person accept as a miracle?
I was reading through this collection of short essays from theologians, scientists and thinkers each responding to the question "Does the Universe have a purpose?" which was suggested to me in a ...
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What is the purpose of the universe? [closed]
There are two extremes known as creationism vs evolutionism. Let's consider creationism for a moment, and imagine that God exists, and he/she has created us. The question that obsesses my mind after ...
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Theology, "study of religion" or "study of God" [closed]
In wiktionary.org theology is defined as "study of God", while in Microsoft's Encarta Dictionaries, it's defined as "study of Religion".
Can we use theology in terms of "study of religion"? I mean ...
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Pantheism, panentheism, other combinations?
To put it simply,
Pantheism means God is the whole universe.
Panentheism means universe is part of God.
Maybe in mathematical terms we can say that:
Pantheism => (God = universe)
Panentheism => (...
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Where is the weakness in the ontological proof for God's existence?
I read the ontological proof for God's existence. As much as I understood, it says that if you consider that existence is part of essence, then the most complete essence should also exist.
Now, I see ...
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Does humanism's rejection of God necesitate relativism?
I had the following discussion on Programmers.SE:
@Peter Turner, Which is a good example of how religion warps morality, leading people to imagine their concerns are moral when they are profoundly ...
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Does a negative claimant have a burden of proof?
I have often heard it said that the burden of proof is on the positive claimant but not on the one making a negative claim. A person claiming, "God exists" has a burden of proof but not a person ...
user409
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Are there JTB epistemologies which reject the knowledge of some Gettier problems, but in which religious experiences still justify belief?
Such is my current worldview that there is no religious experience or numinous feeling that could justify faith in any god.
This is because, in the wake of a slew of discoveries about the ...
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Are systems of logic that don't follow or extend garden-variety FOL possible?
As I know all humans share a unique logic and even less-educated people uses same common sense in their statements. For example, it is rational for anybody that if P is correct then P or Q is correct ...
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Does Intelligent Design need Religion?
Is it possible to define the source of intelligent causes, which provides the foundation for the Intelligent Design theory, from a purely scientific perspective? Is yes, How? If not, why not?
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What would it take in a book to convince a rational person that it had been written by or directly inspired by a god?
Many of the world's religions are based on a book or text that adherents claim to have been written by or directly inspired by a god, perhaps omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent.
My question is ...
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How to avoid attachment to "attachment avoidance" in Buddhist philosophy? [closed]
I started practicing Buddhism and so trying to avoid attachment to anything.
This gives me benefits like a clear mind and calm spirit. But I think I'm starting to become attached to these benefits ...
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How do proponents of the Cosmological argument respond to the nature of time?
How do proponents of the Cosmological argument respond to the nature of time?
Is asking what occurred before the Big Bang like asking what is north of the North Pole?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Does the idea of being created imply the necessity for obedience to a creator?
If a scientist created intelligent life (biological, AI software, etc.), would that scientist have the right to dictate to that life a moral framework? Does the act of creation give implicit rights ...
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Is it inconsistent to praise God for apparent action while claiming that apparent inaction is a mystery?
Finally the site is open! I've been waiting to ask this for a week or so. I have been pondering typical responses concerning intercession and resultant positive/negative outcomes and am hoping someone ...
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God's paradoxes and their implications [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is the definition of God consistent?
As many of you, I've come across a few paradoxes of all sorts, from logic to math, linguistics and so forth. Some of such involve God or, ...
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Are theological questions also philosophical, and if not what distinguishes those that are not?
There have been several questions here about good and evil and about God/gods, some of which I might more intuitively classify as theological rather than philosophical questions. However, many great ...
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Is the "omniscient-omnipotent-omnipresent" definition of God consistent?
God is commonly defined as an omniscient (infinite knowledge), omnipotent (unlimited power), omnipresent (present everywhere) entity.
Is there any logical inconsistency in this definition?
I have ...
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Are there any ontological arguments outside the canon of Western philosophy/scholastic theology?
The question pretty much explains itself. I'm interested in instances of ontological arguments (arguments purporting to prove the existence of God/Gods/a God) outside the Western tradition and/or ...
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Does Pascal's Wager contain any logical flaws or fallacies?
Blaise Pascal's famous wager was that even if the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a rational person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has ...
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Does Alvin Plantinga's account of epistemic warrant require belief in God?
On Plantinga's account, true belief becomes knowledge under epistemic warrant; and epistemic warrant requires the 'proper functioning' of our cognitive faculties in the right kind of cognitive ...
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