Arguments About God as a Mind/Person/Purpose

Posted: August 25th, 2021

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Arguments About God as a Mind/Person/Purpose

            The existence of a supreme being has been a matter of great debate between philosophers as well as amongst ordinary people. However, the world has seen many religions all claiming the existence of God albeit with different versions. The implication of this, therefore, is that the people of the world yearn for power beyond what they can see. Some of the world’s prominent religions include Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism. It has been shown that the majority of the people in the world belong to one of these religions. Importantly, some of them do not associate themselves with any religion based on serious convictions. Some require proof beyond just a belief about the existence of God. The period of the 1940s and 50s had been characterized by the argument that God does not exist because his existence could not be proven by the five senses. However, this was replaced by an argument in the 1970s that applied the tenets of philosophy to prove the existence of God. Some of the philosophical arguments that guide the debate on the existence of God include the ontological, divided line, teleological, and cosmological argument.

            In Islam, there is a widespread belief in the existence of a real being outside the mind. The being, in this case, does not require any proof. Drawing from the world, it appears that there are things that exist in material forms while others don’t.  In the Holy Quran, there is a verse that states “Or did they create the heavens and earth?” “Nay but they see not.” (Badawi). The evidence from the Quran shows that the followers of the faith attribute the creation of the universe to a supreme being who wields power that is beyond their understanding. The ontological argument views God as a being that is not possible to surpass. No one has the power to conceive or improve on this being called God.  Under the ontological view, the organization that one can see in the universe should serve as proof that God exists. The above question from the Quran informs the followers that they are not the creators of the universe. In the mind of the fool that questions the existence of God, the being exists. Otherwise, that person would not raise the question concerning something that was not in his mind. If so be it, then that being must exist in reality. The fact that the question of God’s existence continues to baffle even the greatest of minds could mean only one thing; that God exists and no evidential proof is required to convince one of this.

            Plato’s analogy of the divided line explains the existence of God in a very fundamental way. The divided line has two lower sections representing the visible while the upper two sections represent the intelligible. According to Plato, the line is divided into unequal parts. The first part of the visible represents the shadows and images of the physical things while the second section represents the physical things. The intelligible part of the divided line has two sections. The first represents the mathematical reasoning while the highest section of the divided line is philosophical understanding.  It is clear that Plato’s construction of the divided line gives eminence to the world of being (“Plato’s Divided Line”). The world of being is a philosophical understanding that tramps even the fields of mathematical reasoning. The existence of God belongs to this part of the divided line. Therefore, the existence of God can be attributed to the existence of this idea in the mind since it occupies the highest point in Plato’s divided line.

            The requirements for arguments concerning existence to be empirical led to the development of the cosmological argument by Thomas of Aquinas.  The cosmological argument is based on the idea of causes. The main claim here is that the presence of the universe is based on causes and as such the first cause must be God.  The cosmological view holds that the existence of God is self-evident. Since the knowledge of God’s existence has been found to naturally exist in human beings, then it follows that this is adequate proof of the existence of God. Since nothing greater than God has ever existed it follows the philosophical proposition that God is self-evident. In addition, the cosmological view posits that anyone who denies the existence of the truth proves that the truth exists. Based on the argument of causality, it is not possible to have infinite causes. Anything that exists must have something that caused its existence. The cause of the existence of the universe must, therefore, be God. The cosmological argument has been proven in history since one event tends to follow another. Although it is possible to add an event that preceded the other, there must be a point where one cannot add another event and this is where God comes in.

            The other argument that has been used to explain the existence of God is the teleological argument. It has also been referred to as the design argument. The argument uses the much intricacies observe in the universe to conclude that it was impossible for such sophistication to occur by chance. The argument makes use of analogies in the form of human artifacts (“Teleological Argument”). Everyone agrees that anything that is the creation of man must have the person who conceived it. The universe in several ways bears great resemblance to the artifacts made by man. It follows that intelligent design had to be put in place for the development of something as complex as the universe. The complexity of the universe is what points to the existence of God. Those who oppose the argument posit that there is no order in the universe. They cite several occurrences that can prove there is no order. They also argue that it would be possible to talk about an intelligent design due to the lack of an alternative universe with which to do the comparison. That notwithstanding, the teleological arguments presents a plausible explanation of the existence of God.

            In conclusion, several philosophical theories have been advanced to explain the existence of God. These include the teleological, cosmological, ontological and the divided line. In religious books, there is a magnitude of claims about the existence of God as cited in the Holy Quran. While some of the above theories may have their shortcomings, it is no wonder that idea of God has continued to grow in spite of the several assertions put forward to deny the existence of the Supreme Being.

Works Cited

Badawi, Jamal. “How Do We Know God Exists?” whyislam.org, 4 Nov. 2014, www.whyislam.org/common-ground/how-do-we-know-god-exists/. Accessed 21 June 2019.

“Plato’s Divided Line.” The Information Philosopher, www.informationphilosopher.com/knowledge/divided_line.html. Accessed 21 June 2019.

“The Teleological Argument.” Queensborough Community College, www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%203%20Religion/Teleological.htm. Accessed 21 June 2019.