My Topic: Is there a God?
| My Notes: | |
| Principle Issues of My Topic | Is God St. Aquinas’ Pure Act of Existence, Aristotle’s Pure Actuality, or Plato’s Good; or is God a personal all-knowing being? If God created the universe then who created God? (Which is soundly answered by St. Augustine). What is God? Is he a tri-union of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit or is God a singular being in his own right? Is God reality itself, as Spinoza theorized? It would certain jibe with much of the Judeo-Christian understanding of God’s omniscience. All reality is of course all knowing, everywhere, and all powerful. Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that God is dead. Sartre claimed that God does not exist and that his not existing had some pretty important consequences. I think I can use some of his “consequences” to prove the need for a God. If God is all good and he created everything then where does evil come from. Augustine hypothesized that evil is only the absence of good and therefore is not a thing all by itself. |
| Philosophies Related to My Topic | Aristotle believed that god is the unchangeable changer and the unmovable mover. (Not that Aristotle believed in a person deity, but that he believed in a higher power). Plato thought god was the highest Form, which is Good. St. Aquinas held that even though some things about God are unknowable they are not contrary to sound reason. (Such as the Christian Trinitarian understanding of God). I am very interested in Descartes’ Dream Conjecture and his Evil Demon Conjecture. I think I will adapt these theories a little to what I can my Matrix Conjecture. How do we know that we are not all part of the Matrix? |
| Misconceptions about My Topic | One misconception is that God must be the triune being that the Judeo-Christian tradition calls God. Another misconception is that God must be a being at all. For all we know he could be everything or nothing. The point is that we need to find out if he is first and then determine what and who he is. |
| My Philosophy Up To This Point on My Topic | That there is a God. That God did give us certain knowledge of his existence and ours. That reason can be used to deduce the actuality of God. That God is immaterial and uncaused (i.e. the uncaused first cause) That God not only created the universe, but time, the laws of nature, and human consciousness. |
| My Questions and Concerns about My Topic | I think that the bulk of the material I am going to use on my topic is going to come from Part Three of the book. This is great because we study part three last. It will be fresh on my mind. |
References
Bruder, K., & Moore, B. N. (2002). Philosophy: The power of ideas (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
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What do you know of that you can prove exists but remains non-physical and immaterial?
~Absolutely nothing, so why would G-d be non-physical?
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I agree with your overall assertion. There is nothing in my daily life that is non-physical or immaterial that exists. When I originally wrote this discussion questions as a part of my associates degree I was an ardent Christian. I have since moved more towards a worldview based in fact and reason. After reading Hitchens and Paine and Nietzsche it should be difficult for anyone to “believe” in an immaterial creator of the universe that wrote a book or books. I am completely on board with disbelieving in a non-physical God that can’t be proved or observed or even communicated with. Great comment. Great discussion.
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