New answers tagged existence-of-god
11
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How Probable is the Philosophical Significance of Numerical Patterns in Religious Texts?
Apophenia describes (among other things) the human propensity to see questionable patterns in random data.
That, in a nutshell, is what basically all of numerology is.
The basic process tends to go ...
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2
votes
How Probable is the Philosophical Significance of Numerical Patterns in Religious Texts?
This chapter is unique in the Quran because a particular part repeats frequently.
No, it's not. Surah Al-Mursalaat for example has "Woe on that day to deniers" 10 times. Let's do numerology ...
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1
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Are agent explanations better than non agent explanations?
This question has a variety of flawed assumptions.
First, it should not have been set on Jupiter. We cannot see the surface of Jupiter. Mars, or some moon, would have been a much better setting.
...
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3
votes
Are agent explanations better than non agent explanations?
You ask:
Are agent explanations better than non agent explanations?
and
Is this because of psychology or this because of a valid philosophical instinct? In this sense, are agent explanations “...
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7
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Are agent explanations better than non agent explanations?
@Marco hit the nail on the head with where current science of human cognition is concerned.
There is a well studied and verified "agency bias" in humans. That this exists is quite well ...
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2
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Are agent explanations better than non agent explanations?
I think your question is interesting even when put in a general sense, namely why do humans tend to find certain explanations more plausible than others when the explanations are of necessity very ...
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4
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Are agent explanations better than non agent explanations?
Neither of your candidate explanations is quite correct as they both seem to assume a divine designer.
A seems to assume a deterministic universe where everything was designed in the beginning of time ...
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1
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Can belief in God be grounded in (and justified by) personal experience rather than philosophical argumentation?
Yes of course, direct personal experience can provide very powerful grounds for the believer. However, you should not expect your direct personal experience to make a jot of difference to everybody ...
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0
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Accepted
Can belief in God be grounded in (and justified by) personal experience rather than philosophical argumentation?
What is philosophical argumentation? What is philosophy?
I'd define philosophy and philosophical argumentation roughly as the formalisation of how we figure out anything about anything.
Let's say you'...
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1
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Can belief in God be grounded in (and justified by) personal experience rather than philosophical argumentation?
Can belief in God be grounded in (and justified by) personal experience rather than philosophical argumentation?
Is it conceivable that the most convincing way to ground belief in God is through ...
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-1
votes
Can belief in God be grounded in (and justified by) personal experience rather than philosophical argumentation?
Your final question asks
“Is it conceivable that the most convincing way to ground belief in
God is through direct experiences of God,[…]”?
IMO history shows that belief in God is generally grounded ...
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-1
votes
What is the state-of-the-art of formal definitions of God?
Let's first settle on one of the best examples of a formal definition many of us are familiar with: the first few pages of The Elements by Euclid. My hope is that the synopsis I am about to describe ...
1
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
Short Answer
The Anthropic Principle is not a rebuttal to Fine Tuning, it is an alternate explanation for why it is observed.
Many philosophical thinkers, including many of the answers posted here, ...
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0
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
Your objection seems to be just that 1020000 is a large number, and you don't believe that there are that many worlds.
I think you have to concede that there are that many possible worlds (barring ...
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0
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
Q: Does the argument from order apply to God? (Before it changes again 🙂)
You are right. Both the concept of God and --the more real- universe are quite complex. But they very different kinds to be ...
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1
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
The Strong Antrophic Principle (which the question is not about) says that the universe was configured just so, to enable human life; i.e. it includes intent.
The Weak Antrophic Principle (WAP) does ...
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5
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
I see two problems with the "sniper" rebuttal.
Firstly, the Anthropic Principle supposes that there is vast range of possible universes, and then says that the one of those which we observe ...
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-3
votes
Accepted
Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
Rather than replying to the proposed counter-analogy, I'm going to go back to the original objection:
When theists assert that the extraordinary fine-tuning of the fundamental constants of the ...
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1
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
If we accept that
universe=fine tuned for life = TRUE
and that this implies it was designed or engineered = TRUE
Then isn't it also true that...
Evidence of a design phase having taken place ...
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3
votes
Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
Is the Anthropic Principle's rebuttal to the fine-tuning argument sound?
In short, yes it is.
Take a deck of cards and suffle it as much as you like. When you've sufficiently randomized the deck, ...
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5
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
Is this line of reasoning valid? If not, does it not undermine the objection posed by the Anthropic Principle?
Not particularly, no.
Let’s get the kneejerk reaction out of the way first: If you ...
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3
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
Physicists do say things like if the cosmological constant were changed 1 part in 10^10 or perhaps 10^100 there'd be no life/macroscopic objects. But that doesn't imply there is 1/10^10 or 1/10^100 ...
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16
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
To me, a more accurate "sniper analogy" for fine-tuning would be:
You run between 2 points of cover in a heavy firefight. There was probably hundred bullets hitting somewhat near you without ...
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6
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Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
You are correct that in the sniper analogy, the extreme improbability of all the snipers missing by chance does make some other explanation considerably more likely. Practically certain, given the ...
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8
votes
Does the "Sniper Firing Squad" analogy undermine the anthropic principle’s objection to the fine-tuning argument for God's existence?
The fact that the odds, P, of the criminal being missed was one preceded by 20,000 zeros does not make it more likely that some other cause was at play. In particular, it does not mean that the ...
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0
votes
Does the argument from order apply to God?
Our existence is a bigger miracle than His.
He didn't need to create us, but we need Him.
We understand this because each of us has a father and a mother.
Who says God doesn't have a Father?
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
Combining the views in the other answers, results in:
God is identical to the laws of physics.
And indeed, according to some physics lectures on youtube, the laws of physics were created at the big ...
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5
votes
Accepted
What is the state-of-the-art of formal definitions of God?
Horsten[16] (see also Barton[22]) compares the use of the concept of absolute infinity in theology to its use in theories of proper classes. (Horsten also happens to have written the current SEP ...
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
You would rightfully call it ridiculous.
All of this is not ridiculous.
If you believe in God, then every single statement in your question is true.
If you do not believe in God, then every single ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Does theism postulate an overly complicated and unnecessary extra step?
Short answer
Absolutely no. The argument falsely presumes that science should end either way, and one must at some point abandon the infinite series leg of Munchausen's Trilemma, and declare a ...
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Does theism postulate an overly complicated and unnecessary extra step?
In fact, that's what the concept of Pastafarianism is for. Without Pastafarianism, there would be no definition of being that atheists could take as a reference for solving existential problems. If ...
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Does theism postulate an overly complicated and unnecessary extra step?
Does theism introduce an overly complicated and unnecessary extra step?
No: it introduces an overly complicated, unexplanatory "solution" that's really much worse than the question/problem ...
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-1
votes
Does the argument from order apply to God?
[There are Christian atheists and Jewish atheists and...]
Richard you're a Christian atheist
Rabbi Sacks to Richard Dawkins
So in the Rabbi's spirit let me ask you, Which God are you asking about?
...
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7
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
Say we live in a computer simulation of a universe (c.f. "The Matrix"). This would be a designed universe, but there is nothing miraculous about the creator, just a very good programmer. ...
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1
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
Certainly, a all seeing, all judging, ever present God as proposed or purported is something which is weird.
The question assumes that the universe or any thing ever created is through conscious ...
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0
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
There is one idea, once accepted, that carries the potential to demystify God's miracles.
If you think about it, intelligent life will eventually abandon flash and bones and move into digital ...
3
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
I think you might have a hidden presupposition in your question. Let me tease that out.
Supposing the existence of God to be true for the sake of the following options.
Option 1: God exists within ...
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0
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
Is God’s very existence the ultimate miracle?
One definition of a miracle is:
a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.
So the ...
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4
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What is the state-of-the-art of formal definitions of God?
Classical Theism offers multiple definitions
Classical Theism operates off definitions and absolutes. God as creator of everything. God as the perfection of all attributes. God as the only ...
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5
votes
What is the state-of-the-art of formal definitions of God?
It is well-known that neither a biggest cardinal number nor a
biggest ordinal number exist. I assume that also Cantor, who
invented transfinite set theory, was aware of this result from his
theory.
I ...
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8
votes
Does the argument from order apply to God?
The question presupposes that God is composite, but in classical theism a key attribute which is derived from God is simplicity. By this what is meant is no real divisibility into parts in any way. As ...
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1
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
The formulation of your question presupposes the existence of God. Your question only asks, if his/her existence is miraculous, i.e. without natural explanation. But the main point is whether the ...
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0
votes
Does the argument from order apply to God?
Here is what Muslims believe: "God was always there. We are living in a dimension that has time and space. But God exists somewhere in another dimension with no concept of time and space. But ...
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0
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
You seem to be of the opinion that God is more likely to be caused than the universe. There are inductive and deductive cosmological arguments, and in both of these God is uncaused.
Aquinas' deductive ...
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13
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Does the argument from order apply to God?
I would like to outline the basic branches of the argument:
Some theists may like to say "The universe cannot have come into existence itself, it must have a creator".
A non-theist might ...
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