1.
Religion
–
Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, about 84% of the worlds population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the revolution in the western world. The religiously unaffiliated demographic include those who do not identify with any religion, atheists. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs, about 16% of the worlds population is religiously unaffiliated. The study of religion encompasses a variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, Religion is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego read, i. e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders, we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece, of a knight of the religion of Avys. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religio was understood as a virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice. In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations and it was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged. Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, what is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Some languages have words that can be translated as religion, but they may use them in a different way. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. There is no equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities
Religion
–
Urarina shaman, Peru, 1988
Religion
Religion
–
The
Yazılıkaya sanctuary in
Turkey, with the twelve gods of the underworld
Religion
–
Confucianism,
Taoism, and
Buddhism are one, a painting in the litang style portraying three men laughing by a river stream, 12th century,
Song dynasty
2.
Afterlife
–
The afterlife is the concept of a realm, or the realm itself, in which an essential part of an individuals identity or consciousness continues to exist after the death of the body. Belief in an afterlife, which may be naturalistic or supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death, in this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or Otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics, in metaphysical models, theists generally believe some type of afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions, tend to believe in an afterlife, the Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife. Reincarnation refers to a concept found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Spiritists. Reincarnation is also a belief described in Kabbalistic Judaism as gilgul neshamot and this succession leads toward an eventual liberation. One consequence of reincarnationist beliefs is that our current lives are both afterlife and a beforelife, according to those beliefs events in our current life are consequences of actions taken in previous lives, or Karma. In most denominations, heaven is a condition of reward for the righteous to go after they die, traditionally defined as eternal union with God. In contrast to heaven, hell is a condition of punishment and torment for the wicked, traditionally defined as eternal separation from God and confinement with other sinful souls and fallen angels. So they are seen as existing in a state of natural. In other Christian denominations it has described as an intermediate place or state of confinement in oblivion. The notion of purgatory is associated particularly with the Catholic Church, the tradition of the church, by reference to certain texts of scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire although it is not always called purgatory. Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief, traditional African religions are diverse in their beliefs in an afterlife. For each soul remains distinct and each represents a new soul. In some societies like the Mende, multiple beliefs coexist, the Mende believe that people die twice, once during the process of joining the secret society, and again during biological death after which they become ancestors. However, some Mende also believe that people are created by God they live ten consecutive lives. One cross-cultural theme is that the ancestors are part of the world of the living, interacting with it regularly, the afterlife played an important role in Ancient Egyptian religion, and its belief system is one of the earliest known in recorded history. When the body died, parts of its known as ka
Afterlife
Afterlife
–
Domenico Beccafumi 's Inferno: a Christian vision of hell
Afterlife
–
Mictlan
Afterlife
3.
Eschatology
–
Eschatology /ˌɛskəˈtɒlədʒi/ is a part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. This concept is referred to as the end of the world or end time. The word arises from the Greek ἔσχατος eschatos meaning last and -logy meaning the study of, the Oxford English Dictionary defines eschatology as The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind. In the context of mysticism, the phrase refers metaphorically to the end of ordinary reality, in many religions it is taught as an existing future event prophesied in sacred texts or folklore. More broadly, eschatology may encompass related concepts such as the Messiah or Messianic Age, the end time, history is often divided into ages, which are time periods each with certain commonalities. One age comes to an end and a new age or world to come, where different realities are present, begins. When such transitions from one age to another are the subject of eschatological discussion, the phrase, end of the world, is replaced by end of the age, end of an era, or end of life as we know it. Much apocalyptic fiction does not deal with the end of time but rather with the end of a period of time, the end of life as it is now. It is usually a crisis that brings an end to current reality and ushers in a new way of living, thinking, or being. This crisis may take the form of the intervention of a deity in history, a war, eschatologies vary as to their degree of optimism or pessimism about the future. In some eschatologies, conditions are better for some and worse for others, e. g. heaven, in Baháí belief, creation has neither a beginning nor an end. Instead, the eschatology of other religions is viewed as symbolic, in Baháí belief, human time is marked by a series of progressive revelations in which successive messengers or prophets come from God. In this view, the heaven and hell are seen as symbolic terms for the persons spiritual progress. In Baháí belief, the coming of Baháulláh, the founder of the Baháí Faith, signals the fulfilment of previous eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity and other major religions. Christian eschatology is concerned with death, a state, Heaven, hell, the return of Jesus. Eschatological passages are found in places, esp. Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Matthew 24, The Sheep and the Goats, and the Book of Revelation, the Second Coming of Christ is the central event in Christian eschatology. Most Christians believe that death and suffering will continue to exist until Christs return, there are, however, various views concerning the order and significance of other eschatological events
Eschatology
–
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by
Albrecht Dürer
4.
Intelligent design
–
Intelligent design is a creationist religious argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as an evidence-based scientific theory about lifes origins but found to be pseudoscience. Proponents claim that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, the leading proponents of ID are associated with the Discovery Institute, a politically conservative think tank based in the United States. Although they state that ID is not creationism and deliberately avoid assigning a personality to the designer, both irreducible complexity and specified complexity present detailed negative assertions that certain features are too complex to be the result of natural processes. Proponents then conclude by analogy that these features are evidence of design, from the mid-1990s, the intelligent design movement, supported by the Discovery Institute, advocated inclusion of intelligent design in public school biology curricula. This led to the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial in which U. S. District Judge John E. Teaching of evolution was effectively suspended in U. S. Young Earth creationists promoted creation science as a scientific explanation of the world in which we live. This frequently invoked the argument from design to explain complexity in nature as demonstrating the existence of God, the argument from design, the teleological argument or argument from intelligent design, has been advanced in theology for centuries. It can be summarised briefly as Wherever complex design exists, there must have been a designer, nature is complex, Thomas Aquinas presented it in his fifth proof of Gods existence as a syllogism. In 1802, William Paleys Natural Theology presented examples of intricate purpose in organisms, Creation science prefigured the intelligent design arguments of irreducible complexity, even featuring the bacterial flagellum. In the United States, attempts to introduce creation science in schools led to court rulings that it is religious in nature, and thus cannot be taught in public school science classrooms. Barbara Forrest writes that the intelligent design movement began in 1984 with the book The Mystery of Lifes Origin, Reassessing Current Theories, Thaxton, a chemist, with two other authors, and published by Jon A. Buells Foundation for Thought and Ethics. Thaxton held a conference in 1988, Sources of Information Content in DNA, in November of that year, Thaxton described his reasoning as a more sophisticated form of Paleys argument from design. At the Sources of Information Content in DNA conference in 1988, Intelligent design avoids identifying or naming the intelligent designer—it merely states that one must exist—but leaders of the movement have said the designer is the Christian God. The Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District court ruling held the latter to be the case, variations on the phrase appeared in YEC publications, a 1967 book co-written by Percival Davis referred to design according to which basic organisms were created. The first systematic use of the term, defined in a glossary and claimed to be other than creationism, was in Of Pandas and People, co-authored by Davis, a Discovery Institute report says that Charles B. Thaxton, editor of Pandas, had picked the phrase up from a NASA scientist, Stephen C. Meyer was at the conference, and later recalled that The term intelligent design came up. It thus represents the start of the intelligent design movement. Intelligent design was the most prominent of around fifteen new terms it introduced as a new lexicon of creationist terminology to oppose evolution without using religious language, although presented as a scientific textbook, philosopher of science Michael Ruse considers the contents worthless and dishonest
Intelligent design
–
Watchmaker analogy
Intelligent design
–
The concept of
irreducible complexity was popularised by
Michael Behe in his 1996 book,
Darwin's Black Box.
Intelligent design
–
William A. Dembski proposed the concept of
specified complexity.
Intelligent design
–
The
Discovery Institute 's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture used banners based on "
The Creation of Adam " from the
Sistine Chapel. Later it used a less religious image, then was renamed the
Center for Science and Culture.
5.
Miracle
–
A miracle is an event not explicable by natural or scientific laws. Such an event may be attributed to a supernatural being, magic, a miracle worker, other such miracles might be, survival of an illness diagnosed as terminal, escaping a life-threatening situation or beating the odds. Some coincidences may be seen as miracles, a true miracle would, by definition, be a non-natural phenomenon, leading many rational and scientific thinkers to dismiss them as physically impossible or impossible to confirm by their nature. The former position is expressed for instance by Thomas Jefferson and the latter by David Hume, theologians typically say that, with divine providence, God regularly works through nature yet, as a creator, is free to work without, above, or against it as well. The possibility and probability of miracles are then equal to the possibility and probability of the existence of God, a miracle is a phenomenon not explained by known laws of nature. Criteria for classifying an event as a miracle vary, often a religious text, such as the Bible or Quran, states that a miracle occurred, and believers may accept this as a fact. British mathematician J. E. Littlewood suggested that individuals should statistically expect one-in-a-million events to happen to them at the rate of one per month. By Littlewoods definition, seemingly miraculous events are actually commonplace, the Aristotelian view of God does not include direct intervention in the order of the natural world. Jewish neo-Aristotelian philosophers, who are influential today, include Maimonides, Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon. Directly or indirectly, their views are still prevalent in much of the religious Jewish community, in his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus Spinoza claims that miracles are merely lawlike events whose causes we are ignorant of. We should not treat them as having no cause or of having a cause immediately available, rather the miracle is for combating the ignorance it entails, like a political project. According to the philosopher David Hume, a miracle is a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent. According to the Christian theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher every event, even the most natural and usual, james Keller states that The claim that God has worked a miracle implies that God has singled out certain persons for some benefit which many others do not receive implies that God is unfair. If God intervenes to save life in a car crash. Thus an all-powerful, all-knowing and just God, as predicated in Christianity, the Haedong Kosung-jon of Korea records that King Beopheung of Silla had desired to promulgate Buddhism as the state religion. However, officials in his court opposed him, in the fourteenth year of his reign, Beopheungs Grand Secretary, Ichadon, devised a strategy to overcome court opposition. Ichadon schemed with the king, convincing him to make a proclamation granting Buddhism official state sanction using the royal seal, Ichadon told the king to deny having made such a proclamation when the opposing officials received it and demanded an explanation. Instead, Ichadon would confess and accept the punishment of execution, Ichadon prophesied to the king that at his execution a wonderful miracle would convince the opposing court faction of Buddhisms power
Miracle
–
The
Raising of Lazarus, (c. 1410) from the
Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
Musée Condé, France.
Miracle
–
A 16th-century
Persian miniature painting celebrating Muhammad's ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the
Miraj. Muhammad's face is veiled, a common practice in
Islamic art.
6.
Religious belief
–
Belief is the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case, with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty. Another way of defining belief sees it as a representation of an attitude positively oriented towards the likelihood of something being true. In the context of Ancient Greek thought, two related concepts were identified with regards to the concept of belief, pistis and doxa, simplified, we may say that pistis refers to trust and confidence, while doxa refers to opinion and acceptance. The English word orthodoxy derives from doxa, Jonathan Leicester suggests that belief has the purpose of guiding action rather than indicating truth. In epistemology, philosophers use the belief to refer to personal attitudes associated with true or false ideas. However, belief does not require active introspection and circumspection, for example, we never ponder whether or not the sun will rise. We simply assume the sun will rise, since belief is an important aspect of mundane life, according to Eric Schwitzgebel in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a related question asks, how a physical organism can have beliefs. Epistemology is concerned with delineating the boundary between justified belief and opinion, and involved generally with a philosophical study of knowledge. The primary problem in epistemology is to exactly what is needed in order for us to have knowledge. Plato dismisses this possibility of a relation between belief and knowledge even when the one who opines grounds his belief on the rule. Among American epistemologists, Gettier and Goldman, have questioned the true belief definition. Mainstream psychology and related disciplines have traditionally treated belief as if it were the simplest form of mental representation, philosophers have tended to be more abstract in their analysis, and much of the work examining the viability of the belief concept stems from philosophical analysis. The concept of belief presumes a subject and an object of belief, Beliefs are sometimes divided into core beliefs and dispositional beliefs. For example, if asked do you believe tigers wear pink pajamas, a person might answer that they do not, despite the fact they may never have thought about this situation before. This has important implications for understanding the neuropsychology and neuroscience of belief, if the concept of belief is incoherent, then any attempt to find the underlying neural processes that support it will fail. Jerry Fodor is one of the defenders of this point of view. Most notably, philosopher Stephen Stich has argued for this understanding of belief. In these cases science hasnt provided us with a detailed account of these theories
Religious belief
–
We are influenced by many factors that ripple through our minds as our beliefs form, evolve, and may eventually change
Religious belief
–
This article is about the general concept. For other uses, see
Belief (disambiguation).
Religious belief
–
Philosopher Jonathan Glover warns that belief systems are like whole boats in the water; it is extremely difficult to alter them all at once (e.g., it may be too stressful, or people may maintain their biases without realizing it).
7.
Faith
–
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or the observance of an obligation from loyalty, or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement. The word faith may refer to a particular system of religious belief. The term faith has numerous connotations and is used in different ways, the English word faith is thought to date from 1200–50, from the Middle English feith, via Anglo-French fed, Old French feid, feit from Latin fidem, accusative of fidēs, akin to fīdere. James W. Fowler proposes a series of stages of faith-development across the human life-span and his stages relate closely to the work of Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg regarding aspects of psychological development in children and adults. Fowler defines faith as an activity of trusting, committing, and relating to the world based on a set of assumptions of how one is related to others, intuitive-Projective, a stage of confusion and of high impressionability through stories and rituals. Mythic-Literal, a stage where provided information is accepted in order to conform with social norms, individuative-Reflective, In this stage the individual critically analyzes adopted and accepted faith with existing systems of faith. Disillusion or strengthening of faith happens in this stage, based on needs, experiences and paradoxes. This stage is called negotiated settling in life, no hard-and-fast rule requires individuals pursuing faith to go through all six stages. There is a probability for individuals to be content and fixed in a particular stage for a lifetime. Stage 6 is the summit of faith development and this state is often considered as not fully attainable. There is a spectrum of opinion with respect to the epistemological validity of faith. Fideism is a theory which maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other. It states that faith is needed to determine some philosophical and religious truths, the word and concept had its origin in the mid- to late-19th century by way of Catholic thought, in a movement called Traditionalism. The Roman Catholic Magisterium has, however, repeatedly condemned fideism, in the Baháí Faith, faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge, and second, the practice of good deeds, ultimately the acceptance of the divine authority of the Manifestations of God. In the religions view, faith and knowledge are required for spiritual growth. Faith involves more than outward obedience to authority, but also must be based on a deep personal understanding of religious teachings. Faith is an important constituent element of the teachings of Gautama Buddha— in both the Theravada and the Mahayana traditions, the teachings of Buddha were originally recorded in the language Pali and the word saddhā is generally translated as faith. Faith in Buddhism centers on the understanding that the Buddha is an Awakened being, on his role as teacher, in the truth of his Dharma
Faith
–
Mino da Fiesole, Faith (Armani).
Faith
–
Triumph of Faith over
Idolatry by
Jean-Baptiste Théodon (1646–1713)
Faith
–
Shinto faith.
8.
Religious text
–
Religious texts are texts which religious traditions consider to be central to their religious practice or set of beliefs. It is not possible to create an exhaustive list of religious texts, one of the oldest known religious texts is the Kesh Temple Hymn of Ancient Sumer, a set of inscribed clay tablets which scholars typically date around 2600 BCE. For example, the content of a Protestant Bible may differ from the content of a Catholic Bible, the word canon comes from the Sumerian word meaning standard. Hierographology is the study of sacred texts, the following is an in-exhaustive list of links to specific religious texts which may be used for further, more in-depth study. The writings of Franklin Albert Jones a. k. a, some denominations also include the Apocrypha. For Protestantism, this is the 66-book canon - the Jewish Tanakh of 24 books divided differently, some denominations also include the 15 books of the Apocrypha between the Old Testament and the New Testament, for a total of 81 books. For Catholicism, this includes seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament for a total of 73 books, called the Canon of Trent. For the Eastern Orthodox Church, this includes the anagignoskomena, which consist of the Catholic deuterocanon, plus 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, the Prayer of Manasseh,4 Maccabees is considered to be canonical by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Some Syriac churches accept the Letter of Baruch as scripture, christian Scientists The Bible Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This textbook, along with the Bible, serves as the permanent impersonal pastor of the church, the Community of Christ uses the Joseph Smith Translation, which it calls the Inspired Version, as well as updated modern translations. Seventh-day Adventists The Bible The writings of Ellen White are held to a status, though not equal with the Bible. Also known as the Gospel of Mani and The Living Gospel the Treasure of Life the Pragmateia the Book of Mysteries The Book of Giants the Epistles the Psalms, the Shabuhragan The Arzhang The Kephalaia, Discourses, found in Coptic translation. Odù Ifá Jaap Verduijns Odu Ifa Collection Primary religious texts, that is, the Avesta collection, The Yasna, the Visperad, a collection of supplements to the Yasna. The Yashts, hymns in honor of the divinities, the Vendidad, describes the various forms of evil spirits and ways to confound them. Shorter texts and prayers, the Yashts the five Nyaishes, the Sirozeh, there are some 60 secondary religious texts, none of which are considered scripture. The Khordeh Avesta, Zoroastrian prayer book for lay people from the Avesta, religious full text online library Ancient texts library Internet Sacred Text Archive
Religious text
–
Ancient style of scripture used for the
Pāli Canon
Religious text
–
The Chinese
Diamond Sutra, the oldest known dated
printed book in the world, printed in the 9th year of Xiantong Era of the
Tang Dynasty, or 868 CE.
British Library.
Religious text
–
Christian
Bible, 1407 handwritten copy
Religious text
–
The Bible (left) and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (right) serve as the pastor of the
Christian Science church.
9.
Soul
–
In many religious, philosophical and mythological traditions, the soul is the incorporeal essence of a living being. Depending on the system, a soul can either be mortal or immortal. In Judeo-Christianity, only human beings have immortal souls, for example, the Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas attributed soul to all organisms but argued that only human souls are immortal. Other religions hold that all organisms have souls, as did Aristotle, while some teach that even non-biological entities possess souls. The latter belief is called animism, Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, understood that the soul must have a logical faculty, the exercise of which was the most divine of human actions. Anima mundi is the concept of a world soul connecting all living organisms on planet Earth, the Modern English word soul, derived from Old English sáwol, sáwel, was first attested in the 8th-century poem Beowulf v.2820 and in the Vespasian Psalter 77.50. Further etymology of the Germanic word is uncertain, the Koine Greek word ψυχή psychē, life, spirit, consciousness, is derived from a verb meaning to cool, to blow, and hence refers to the breath, as opposed to σῶμα, meaning body. Vulgate, et nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus animam autem non possunt occidere sed potius eum timete qui potest et animam et corpus perdere in gehennam. Authorized King James Version And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, vulgate Creavitque Deus cete grandia, et omnem animam viventem atque motabilem. KJV And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, Paul of Tarsus used ψυχή and πνεῦμα specifically to distinguish between the Jewish notions of נפש nephesh and רוח ruah. The ancient Greeks used the word alive for the concept of being ensouled, the soul was considered the incorporeal or spiritual breath that animates the living organism. Francis M. Cornford quotes Pindar by saying that the soul sleeps while the limbs are active, but when one is sleeping, the soul is active and reveals an award of joy or sorrow drawing near in dreams. Erwin Rohde writes that an early pre-Pythagorean belief presented the soul as lifeless when it departed the body, drawing on the words of his teacher Socrates, Plato considered the psyche to be the essence of a person, being that which decides how we behave. He considered this essence to be an incorporeal, eternal occupant of our being, Socrates says that even after death, the soul exists and is able to think. He believed that as bodies die, the soul is reborn in subsequent bodies and Plato believed this as well, however. Thymos is located near the chest region and is related to anger, eros is located in the stomach and is related to ones desires. Plato also compares the three parts of the soul or psyche to a caste system. According to Platos theory, the soul is essentially the same thing as a states class system because, to function well
Soul
–
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of
The School of Athens, a
fresco by
Raphael.
Soul
–
The souls of Pe and
Nekhen towing the royal bargue on a relief of
Ramesses II 's temple in Abydos.
Soul
–
Soul carried to Heaven by
William Bouguereau
Soul
–
The Damned Soul. Drawing by
Michelangelo Buonarroti c. 1525
10.
Spirit
–
The English word spirit, from Latin spiritus breath, has many different meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. It can also refer to a subtle as opposed to gross material substance, the word spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality. e. A manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person, the term may also refer to any incorporeal or immaterial being, such as demons or deities. In the Bible, the Spirit, specifically denotes the Holy Spirit, the English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath, but also spirit, soul, courage, vigor, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *peis. It is distinguished from Latin anima, soul, in Greek, this distinction exists between pneuma, breath, motile air, spirit, and psykhē, soul. The word spirit came into Middle English via Old French, the distinction between soul and spirit also developed in the Abrahamic religions, Arabic nafs opposite rūħ, Hebrew neshama or nephesh נֶ֫פֶשׁ nép̄eš opposite ruach. In a lecture delivered to the literary Society of Augsburg, October 20,1926, on the theme of “Nature and Spirit, the mistrust of verbal concepts, inconvenient as it is, nevertheless seems to me to be very much in place in speaking of fundamentals. Spirit and Life are familiar enough words to us, very old acquaintances in fact, pawns that for thousands of years have pushed back. It can scarcely be an accident onomatopoeic words like ruach, ruch, roho mean ‘spirit’ no less clearly than the Greek πνεύμα and the Latin spiritus”. In spiritual and metaphysical terms, spirit has acquired a number of meanings, An incorporeal but ubiquitous, unlike the concept of souls a spirit develops and grows as an integral aspect of a living being. This concept of the individual spirit occurs commonly in animism, note the distinction between this concept of spirit and that of the pre-existing or eternal soul, belief in souls occurs specifically and far less commonly, particularly in traditional societies. One might more properly term this type/aspect of spirit life or aether rather than spirit, people usually conceive of a ghost as a wandering spirit from a being no longer living, having survived the death of the body yet maintaining at least vestiges of mind and consciousness. In religion and spirituality, the respiration of a human has for obvious reasons become seen as linked with the very occurrence of life. A similar significance has become attached to human blood, Spirit, in this sense, means the thing that separates a living body from a corpse—and usually implies intelligence, consciousness, and sentience. Latter-day Saint prophet Joseph Smith Jr. taught that the concept of spirit as incorporeal or without substance was incorrect, all spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. In some Native American spiritual traditions the Great Spirit or Wakan Tanka is a term for the Supreme Being, individual spirits envisaged as interconnected with all other spirits and with The Spirit. This concept relates to theories of a unified spirituality, to universal consciousness, the experience of such a connection can become a primary basis for spiritual belief. Christian spiritual theology can use the term Spirit to describe God, or aspects of God — as in the Holy Spirit, Spirit forms a central concept in pneumatology
Spirit
–
Theodor von Holst, Bertalda, Assailed by Spirits, c. 1830
11.
Problem of religious language
–
The problem of religious language considers whether it is possible to talk about God meaningfully if the traditional conceptions of God as being incorporeal, infinite, and timeless, are accepted. Because these traditional conceptions of God make it difficult to describe God, theories of religious language either attempt to demonstrate that such language is meaningless, or attempt to show how religious language can still be meaningful. Statements like God loves me are discussed largely in Religious Language, traditionally, religious language has been explained as via negativa, analogy, symbolism, or myth, each of which describes a way of talking about God in human terms. Alternative explanations of religious language cast it as having political, performative, empiricist David Humes requirement that claims about reality must be verified by evidence influenced the logical positivist movement, particularly the philosopher A. J. Ayer. The movement proposed that, for a statement to hold meaning, consequently, the logical positivists argued that religious language must be meaningless because the propositions it makes are impossible to verify. The analogy of games – most commonly associated with Ludwig Wittgenstein – has been proposed as a way of establishing meaning in religious language, religion is classified as a possible and legitimate language game which is meaningful within its own context. Various parables have also proposed to solve the problem of meaning in religious language. R. M. Hare used his parable of a lunatic to introduce the concept of bliks – unfalsifiable beliefs according to which a worldview is established – which are not necessarily meaningless. Basil Mitchell used a parable to show that faith can be logical, Religious language is a philosophical problem arising from the difficulties in accurately describing God. Because God is generally conceived as incorporeal, infinite, and timeless and this raises the problem of how God can be meaningfully spoken about at all, which causes problems for religious belief since the ability to describe and talk about God is important in religious life. The medieval doctrine of divine simplicity also poses problems for religious language and this suggests that God has no accidental properties – these are properties that a being can have which do not contribute to its essence. If God has no properties, he cannot be as he is traditionally conceived. If divine simplicity is accepted, then to describe God as good would entail that goodness, the theologian Sallie McFague believes that the more recent problem of religious language is based on individual experience, owing to the increased secularisation of society. She notes that human experience is of this rather than regular encounters with the divine. Because of this, she argues, religious language is both idolatrous because it fails to express sufficient awe of God, and irrelevant because without adequate words it becomes meaningless, Maimonides believed that God is simple and so cannot be ascribed any essential attributes. He therefore argued that statements about God must be taken negatively, for example, Maimonides did not believe that God holds all of his attributes perfectly and without impairment, rather, he proposed that God lies outside of any human measures. To say that God is powerful, for example, would mean that Gods power is beyond worldly power, in doing so, Maimonides attempted to illustrate Gods indescribable nature and draw attention to the linguistic limits of describing God. Thomas Aquinas argued that statements about God are analogous to human experience, an analogous term is partly univocal and partly equivocal because an analogy is in some ways the same and in some ways different from the subject
Problem of religious language
–
18th-century depiction of Maimonides, who developed the via negativa
Problem of religious language
–
Sikh religious text, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Nishan, in which religious language is used symbolically
12.
Problem of evil
–
The problem of evil refers to the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil with an omnibenevolent, omniscient and omnipotent God. An argument from evil attempts to show that the co-existence of evil, attempts to show the contrary have traditionally been discussed under the heading of theodicy. Besides philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is also important to the field of theology, the problem of evil is often formulated in two forms, the logical problem of evil and the evidential problem of evil. The problem of evil has been extended to life forms, to include animal suffering from natural evils. Responses to various versions of the problem of evil, meanwhile, a wide range of responses have been made against these arguments. There are also discussions of evil and associated problems in other philosophical fields, such as secular ethics. But as usually understood, the problem of evil is posed in a theological context, the problem of evil refers to the challenge of reconciling belief in an omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent God, with the existence of evil and suffering in the world. The problem may be described either experientially or theoretically, the problem of evil is also a theoretical one, usually described and studied by religion scholars in two varieties, the logical problem and the evidential problem. Originating with Greek philosopher Epicurus, the argument from evil is as follows, If an omnipotent, omniscient. There is evil in the world, Therefore, an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God does not exist. This argument is of the modus tollens, and is logically valid, If its premises are true. To show that the first premise is plausible, subsequent versions tend to expand on it, such as modern example. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, an omnibenevolent being would want to prevent all evils. An omniscient being knows every way in which evils can come into existence, an omnipotent being has the power to prevent that evil from coming into existence. A being who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, who is able to prevent that evil from coming into existence, If there exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God, then no evil exists. Both of these arguments are understood to be presenting two forms of the problem of evil. They attempt to show that the propositions lead to a logical contradiction. If God lacks any one of these qualities—omniscience, omnipotence, or omnibenevolence—then the logical problem of evil can be resolved, process theology and open theism are other positions that limit Gods omnipotence and/or omniscience
Problem of evil
–
William L. Rowe 's famous example of
natural evil: "In some distant forest lightning strikes a dead tree, resulting in a forest fire. In the fire a fawn is trapped, horribly burned, and lies in terrible agony for several days before death relieves its suffering."
Problem of evil
–
"The Deluge", by
John Martin, 1834. Oil on canvas.
Yale University
Problem of evil
–
Thetis gives her son Achilles weapons forged by Hephaestus (detail of Attic
black-figure hydria, 575–550 BC)
13.
Theodicy
–
Theodicy, in its most common form, is an attempt to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil. Unlike a defense, which tries to demonstrate that Gods existence is possible in the light of evil. The German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz coined the term theodicy in 1710 in his work Théodicée, Irenaeus German philosopher Max Weber saw theodicy as a social problem, based on the human need to explain puzzling aspects of the world. Sociologist Peter L. Berger argued that religion arose out of a need for order. Following the Holocaust, a number of Jewish theologians developed a new response to the problem of evil, sometimes called anti-theodicy, which maintains that God cannot be meaningfully justified. As an alternative to theodicy, a defense has been proposed by the American philosopher Alvin Plantinga, similar to a theodicy, a cosmodicy attempts to justify the fundamental goodness of the universe, and an anthropodicy attempts to justify the goodness of humanity. As defined by Alvin Plantinga, theodicy is the answer to the question of why God permits evil, the word theodicy derives from the Greek words Θεός Τheos and δίκη dikē. Theos is translated God and dikē can be translated as either trial or judgement, thus, theodicy literally means justifying God. In the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nick Trakakis proposed an additional three requirements which must be contained within a theodicy, Common sense views of the world, widely held historical and scientific opinion. As a response to the problem of evil, a theodicy is distinct from a defence, a defence attempts to demonstrate that the occurrence of evil does not contradict Gods existence, but it does not propose that rational beings are able to understand why God permits evil. A theodicy seeks to show that it is reasonable to believe in God despite evidence of evil in the world, defenses propose solutions to the logical problem of evil, while theodicies attempt to answer the evident problem. German philosopher Max Weber interpreted theodicy as a problem. Weber framed the problem of evil as the dilemma that the good can suffer and the evil can prosper and he identified two purposes of theodicy, to explain why good people suffer, and why people prosper. Sociologist Peter L. Berger characterised religion as the attempt to build order out of a chaotic world. He believed that humans could not accept that anything in the world was meaningless and saw theodicy as an assertion that the cosmos has meaning and order, despite evidence to the contrary. Berger presented an argument similar to that of Weber, but suggested that the need for theodicy arose primarily out of the situation of human society and he believed that theodicies existed to allow individuals to transcend themselves, denying the individual in favour of the social order. The term theodicy was coined by German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in his 1710 work, written in French, Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, bayle argued that, because the Bible asserts the coexistence of God and evil, this state of affairs must simply be accepted. Voltaire also includes the theme in his novel, Candide
Theodicy
–
Gottfried Leibniz coined the term "theodicy" in an attempt to justify God's existence in light of the apparent imperfections of the world.
14.
Augustinian theodicy
–
As such, it attempts to explain the probability of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God amid evidence of evil in the world. They typically assert that God is perfectly good, that he created the world out of nothing, the entry of evil into the world is generally explained as punishment for sin and its continued presence due to humans misuse of free will. Gods goodness and benevolence, according to the Augustinian theodicy, remain perfect, Augustine of Hippo was the first to develop the theodicy. He rejected the idea that evil exists in itself, instead regarding it as a corruption of goodness, Augustine believed in the existence of a physical Hell as a punishment for sin, but argued that those who choose to accept the salvation of Jesus Christ will go to Heaven. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas – influenced by Augustine – proposed a similar theodicy based on the view that God is goodness and he believed that the existence of goodness allows evil to exist, through the fault of humans. Augustine also influenced John Calvin, who supported Augustines view that evil is the result of free will and argued that sin corrupts humans, requiring Gods grace to give moral guidance. Hick regards evil as necessary for the moral and spiritual development of humans, the logic of Augustines approach has been adapted by Alvin Plantinga, among others. Plantingas adapted Augustinian theodicy, the free will defence – which he proposed in the 1980s – attempts to only the logical problem of evil. Some criticisms have also derived from science, as aspects of the Augustinian theodicy run contrary to scientific consensus regarding the beginning of the world. The Augustinian theodicy is a response to the problem of evil. Evidence of evil can call into question Gods nature or his existence – he is not omnipotent, not benevolent. Theodicy is an attempt to reconcile the existence and nature of God with evidence of evil in the world by providing explanations for its occurrence. The Augustinian theodicy asserts that God created the world ex nihilo, evil is not attributed existence in its own right, but is described as the privation of good – the corruption of Gods good creation. The Augustinian theodicy supports the notion of original sin, all versions of this theodicy accept the theological implications of the Genesis creation narrative, including the belief that God created human beings without sin or suffering. Evil is believed to be a just punishment for the fall of man, the free will of humans is offered by the Augustinian theodicy as the continued reason for moral evil, people commit immoral acts when their will is evil. Augustine of Hippo was a philosopher and theologian born in Roman Africa and he followed the Manichaean religion during his early life, but converted to Christianity in 386. His two major works, Confessions and City of God, develop key ideas regarding his response to suffering, in Confessions, Augustine wrote that his previous work was dominated by materialism and that reading Platos works enabled him to consider the existence of a non-physical substance. This helped him develop a response to the problem of evil from a perspective, based on his interpretation of the first few chapters of Genesis
Augustinian theodicy
–
Augustine of Hippo (354–430
CE) as painted by
Botticelli (c. 1445–1510). Augustine is credited with developing the first form of the
theodicy now named for him.
Augustinian theodicy
–
Gentile da Fabriano 's portrait of Thomas Aquinas, who developed a theodicy heavily influenced by Augustine
Augustinian theodicy
–
John Hick criticised the Augustinian concept of Hell, vividly depicted in this twelfth-century painting by Herrad von Landsberg.
Augustinian theodicy
–
Alvin Plantinga, who presented a version of the free will defence as an alternative response to the problem of evil
15.
Irenaean theodicy
–
The Irenaean theodicy is a Christian theodicy designed to respond to the problem of evil. As such, it defends the probability of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God in the face of evidence of evil in the world. Numerous variations of theodicy have been proposed which all maintain that, while evil exists, God is either not responsible for creating evil, typically, the Irenaean theodicy asserts that the world is the best of all possible worlds because it allows humans to fully develop. Most versions of the Irenaean theodicy propose that creation is incomplete, as humans are not yet fully developed, second-century philosopher and theologian Irenaeus, after whom the theodicy is named, proposed a two-stage creation process in which humans require free will and the experience of evil to develop. In 1966, philosopher John Hick discussed the similarities of the preceding theodicies and he supported the view that creation is incomplete and argued that the world is best placed for the full moral development of humans, as it presents genuine moral choices. The development of theology has challenged the Irenaean tradition by teaching that Gods power is limited. His free will defence was not a theodicy because he was trying to show the compatibility of evil. D. Z. Phillips and Fyodor Dostoyevsky challenged the use of suffering, suggesting that love cannot be expressed through suffering. However, Dostoyevsky also states that the beauty of love is evident, in love can continue to grow, withstand. Michael Tooley argued that the magnitude of suffering is excessive and that, in some cases, french theologian Henri Blocher criticised Hicks universalism, arguing that such a view negates free will, which was similarly important to the theodicy. The Irenaean theodicy was first identified as a form of theodicy by John Hick in Evil, Hick distinguished between the Augustinian theodicy, which is based on free will, and the Irenaean theodicy, which casts God as responsible for evil but justified in it. The Irenaean theodicy is distinguished by its acceptance that God is responsible for evil, the Irenaean theodicy is a response to the evidential problem of evil which raises the problem that, if an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God exists, there should be no evil in the world. Evidence of evil in the world would make the existence of God improbable, the theodicy attempts to demonstrate that the existence of God remains probable, despite the occurrence of evil. According to the Irenaean tradition, humans are not created perfectly, the theodicy teaches that creation has two stages, humans were first created in the image of God, and will then be created in the likeness of God. Humans are imperfect because the stage is incomplete, entailing the potential, not yet actualised. To achieve this likeness of God, humans must be refined and developed, the theodicy proposes that evil and suffering exists in the world because this is the best way for humans to develop. As such, the Irenaean theodicy is sometimes referred to as the soul-making theodicy, typical to variations of the Irenaean theodicy is the notion that the present world is the greatest possible world, or the best of all possible worlds. Second-century philosopher Irenaeus developed a theodicy based on the idea that the creation of humans is still in progress and he proposed that creation consists of two distinct parts, first in the image of God, then in the likeness of God
Irenaean theodicy
–
Saint
Irenaeus, the second-century philosopher and theologian who inspired the development of the Irenaean theodicy.
Irenaean theodicy
–
Irenaeus used the Biblical example of Jonah as someone whose suffering brought about a greater good
Irenaean theodicy
–
Process theologian David Ray Griffin contested "the utility of soul making"
Irenaean theodicy
–
D. Z. Phillips argued that the magnitude of suffering experienced in the Holocaust cannot be justified by any apparent gains
16.
Best of all possible worlds
–
The phrase the best of all possible worlds was coined by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz in his 1710 work Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de lhomme et lorigine du mal. The claim that the world is the best of all possible worlds is the central argument in Leibnizs theodicy. Historically, attempts to answer the question have been using various arguments, for example. As a Christian, Leibniz outlined his perfect world theory in his work The Monadology, stating the argument in five parts, only one of these universes can actually exist. Gods choices are subject to the principle of sufficient reason, that is, therefore, the universe that God chose to exist is the best of all possible worlds. To further understand his argument, these five statements can be grouped in three main premises, the first and second statements state that God can only choose one universe from the infinite amount of possible universes. The third and fourth statements state that God is a perfect existence, the final statement, which is the conclusion, says the existed world that is chosen by God is the best. Leibniz used Christianity to back up the validity of all the premises, the second premise is proven since God acts always in the most perfect and most desirable manner possible. Therefore, His choice will always be the best, and only perfect existence can make perfect decision throughout time, since all the premises are right, then Leibniz concluded, The universe that God chose to exist is the best of all possible worlds. To set his argument, Leibniz wrestled with the problem of sin, Leibniz, in this letter said, I do not believe that a world without evil, preferable in order to ours, is possible, otherwise it would have been preferred. It is necessary to believe that the mixture of evil has produced the greatest possible good, in other words, if a world without evil is more perfect in any way, then evil would have not happened, and the world without evil would be our world instead. God put evilness in the world for us to understand goodness which is achieved through contrasting it with evil, once we understood evil and good, it gives us the ability to produce the greatest possible good out of all the goodness. Evil fuels goodness, which leads to a perfect system, for Leibniz, an additional central concern is the matter of reconciling human freedom with the determinism inherent in his own theory of the universe. In his writing, Discourse on Metaphysics, Leibniz first establishes that God is a perfect being. He says people can logically conclude this through reason since the works must bear the imprint of the workman and he calls this the Principle of Perfection, which says that Gods knowledge and power is to the highest degree, more so than any human can comprehend. Due to Gods omnipotence, Leibniz makes the premise that God has thought of every single possibility there is to be thought of creating this world. His perfection gives him the ability to think beyond the power of a finite mind, out of all the possibilities, God chose the very best world because not only is God powerful, but He is also morally good. It would overall be a contradiction to His good and perfect nature, on the one hand, this view might help us rationalize some of what we experience, Imagine that all the world is made of good and evil
Best of all possible worlds
–
Gottfried Leibniz, the philosopher who coined the term "best of all possible worlds" in his 1710 work
Théodicée.
17.
God
–
In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
God
–
"God the Father", a representation of the theistic version of God, by
Ludovico Mazzolino (1480 –
c. 1528)
God
–
Detail of
Sistine Chapel fresco Creation of the Sun and Moon by
Michelangelo (c. 1512), a well-known example of the depiction of
God the Father in Western art
God
–
Depiction of God in the Catholic Church, Latin America
God
–
St. Thomas Aquinas summarized
five arguments which he believed were proof for the existence of God
18.
Conceptions of God
–
The first recordings that survive of monotheistic conceptions of God, borne out of henotheism and monism, are from the Hellenistic period. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle discusses meaning of being as being, Aristotle holds that being primarily refers to the Unmoved Movers, and assigned one of these to each movement in the heavens. God, according to Aristotle, is in a state of stasis untouched by change, the unmoved mover is very unlike the conception of God that one sees in most religions. It has been likened to a person who is playing dominos and pushes one of them over, so every other domino in the set is pushed over as well. The All is the Hermetic version of God and it has also been called The One, The Great One, The Creator, The Supreme Mind, The Supreme Good, The Father and The Universal Mother. The All is seen by some to be a panentheistic conception of God, One Hermetic maxim states that While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in All. The All can also be seen to be hermaphroditic, possessing both masculine and feminine qualities in equal part and these qualities are, however, of mental gender, as The All lacks physical sex. According to The Kybalion, The All is more complicated than simply being the sum total of the universe. Rather than The All being simply the physical universe, it is said that everything in the universe is within the mind of The All, since The All can be looked at as Mind itself. The Alls mind is thought to be more powerful and vast than humans can possibly achieve. The Kybalion states that nothing can be outside of The All or The All would not be The All, the All may also be a metaphor alluding to the godhead potentiality of every individual. That invisible power which all know does exist, but understood by different names, such as God, Spirit, Supreme Being, Intelligence, Mind, Energy, Nature. In the Hermetic Tradition, each and every person has the potential to become God, the All is also an allusion to the observer created universe. We create our own reality, hence we are the architect, another way would to be to say that the mind is the builder. Freemasonry often includes concepts of God as an entity, however, esoteric masonic teachings clearly identify God as the individual himself. We are all God and as such we create our own reality, although others believe God to be abstract. Meaning he is not seen in reality, but understood through deep contemplation and he is all around us everyday, just hiding in the miracles and beauty of our Earth. Judaism, Christianity and Islam see God as a being who created the world, God is usually held to have the following properties, holiness, justice, sovereignty, omnipotence, omniscience, benevolence and omnipresence
Conceptions of God
–
"Baptism of Christ" by Guido Reni (circa 1623)
Conceptions of God
–
Allah Jalla Jalālah in
Arabic calligraphy
19.
Aristotelian view of God
–
Aristotelian theology and the scholastic view of God have been influential in Western intellectual history. In his first philosophy, later called the Metaphysics, Aristotle discusses the meaning of being as being, thus captivated, their tireless performance is entirely the result of their own desire. This is one way in which the movers are said to be unmoved, in the Metaphysics, Aristotle discusses actuality and potentiality. The former is perfection, realization, fullness of being, the latter imperfection, incompleteness, the former is the determining, the latter the determinable principle. The unmoved movers are entirely actual, Actus Purus, because they are unchanging, all material beings have some potentiality. The Physics introduces matter and form and the four causes—material, formal, efficient, for example, to explain a statue, one can offer, The material cause, that out of which the statue is made, is the marble or bronze. The formal cause, that according to which the statue is made, is the shape that the sculptor has learned to sculpt, the efficient cause, or agent, is the sculptor. The final cause, is that for the sake of which the statue is made, contrary to the later so-called traditional view of prime matter, Aristotle asserts that there can be no pure potentiality without any actuality whatsoever. All material substances have unactualized potentials, Aristotle argues that, although motion is eternal, there cannot be an infinite series of movers and of things moved. Therefore, there must be some, who are not the first in such a series, because they eternally inspire uniform motion in the celestial spheres, the unmoved movers must themselves be eternal and unchanging. The life of the unmoved mover is self-contemplative thought, according to Aristotle, the gods cannot potentially be distracted from this eternal self-contemplation because, in that instant, they would cease to exist. John Burnet noted The Neoplatonists were quite justified in regarding themselves as the heirs of Pythagoras, and, in their hands, philosophy ceased to exist as such. And this tendency was at all along, hardly a single Greek philosopher was wholly uninfluenced by it. In later days, Apollonios of Tyana showed in practice what this sort of thing must ultimately lead to, the theurgy and thaumaturgy of the late Greek schools were only the fruit of the seed sown by the generation which immediately preceded the Persian War. Aristotles principles of being influenced Anselms view of God, whom he called that than which nothing greater can be conceived, Anselm thought that God did not feel emotions such as anger or love, but appeared to do so through our imperfect understanding. The incongruity of judging being against something that not exist. Many medieval philosophers made use of the idea of approaching a knowledge of God through negative attributes, for example, we should not say that God exists in the usual sense of the term, all we can safely say is that God is not nonexistent. We should not say that God is wise, but we can say that God is not ignorant and we should not say that God is One, but we can state that there is no multiplicity in Gods being
Aristotelian view of God
–
Aristotelianism
Aristotelian view of God
–
Aristotle, by
Francesco Hayez
20.
Brahman
–
In Hinduism, Brahman connotes the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient and it is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a concept is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe. Brahman is a Vedic Sanskrit word, and it is conceptualized in Hinduism, states Paul Deussen, Brahman is a key concept found in the Vedas, and it is extensively discussed in the early Upanishads. The Vedas conceptualize Brahman as the Cosmic Principle, in the Upanishads, it has been variously described as Sat-cit-ānanda and as the unchanging, permanent, highest reality. Brahman is discussed in Hindu texts with the concept of Atman, personal, impersonal or Para Brahman, or in various combinations of these qualities depending on the philosophical school. In dualistic schools of Hinduism such as the theistic Dvaita Vedanta, Brahman is different from Atman in each being, Brahman is thus a gender-neutral concept that implies greater impersonality than masculine or feminine conceptions of the deity. Brahman is referred to as the supreme self, puligandla states it as the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world, while Sinar states Brahman is a concept that cannot be exactly defined. In Vedic Sanskrit, Brahma, brahman from root bṛh-, means to be or make firm, strong, solid, expand, promote. Brahmana, from stems brha + Sanskrit -man- from Indo-European root -men- which denotes some manifested form of power, inherent firmness. In later Sanskrit usage, Brahma, brahman means the concept of the transcendent and immanent ultimate reality, the concept is central to Hindu philosophy, especially Vedanta, this is discussed below. Brahm is another variant of Brahman, Brahmā, Brahman, means the deity or deva Prajāpati Brahmā. He is one of the members of the Hindu trinity and associated with creation, but does not have a cult in present-day India. This is because Brahmā, the creator-god, is long-lived but not eternal i. e. Brahmā gets absorbed back into Purusha at the end of an aeon, and is born again at the beginning of a new kalpa. These are distinct from, A brāhmaṇa, is a commentary on the Vedic mantras—an integral part of the Vedic literature. A brāhmaṇa, means priest, in this usage the word is rendered in English as Brahmin. This usage is found in the Atharva Veda. Ishvara, in Advaita, is identified as a partial manifestation of the ultimate reality
Brahman
–
Impact of a drop of water in water, a common analogy for Brahman and the
Ātman
Brahman
–
Swan (Hansa, हंस) is the symbol for Brahman-Atman in Hindu iconography.
Brahman
21.
Demiurge
–
In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge is an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was adopted by the Gnostics, depending on the system, they may be considered to be either uncreated and eternal, or considered to be the product of some other entity. The philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Platos Timaeus, written c.360 BC and this is accordingly the definition of the demiurge in the Platonic and Middle Platonic philosophical traditions. In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school, the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world after the model of the Ideas, Plato, as the speaker Timaeus, refers to the Demiurge frequently in the Socratic dialogue Timaeus, c.360 BC. The main character refers to the Demiurge as the entity who fashioned and shaped the material world, Timaeus describes the Demiurge as unreservedly benevolent, and hence desirous of a world as good as possible. The world remains imperfect, however, because the Demiurge created the world out of a chaotic, Platos work Timaeus is a philosophical reconciliation of Hesiods cosmology in his Theogony, syncretically reconciling Hesiod to Homer. In Numeniuss Neo-Pythagorean and Middle Platonist cosmogony, the Demiurge is second God as the nous or thought of intelligibles and sensibles, Plotinus and the later Platonists worked to clarify the Demiurge. To Plotinus, the second emanation represents a second cause. In order to reconcile Aristotelian with Platonian philosophy, Plotinus metaphorically identified the demiurge within the pantheon of the Greek Gods as Zeus, the first and highest aspect of God is described by Plato as the One, the source, or the Monad. This is the God above the Demiurge, and manifests through the work of the Demiurge, the Monad emanated the demiurge or Nous from its indeterminate vitality due to the monad being so abundant that it overflowed back onto itself, causing self-reflection. This self-reflection of the indeterminate vitality was referred to by Plotinus as the Demiurge or creator, the second principle is organization in its reflection of the nonsentient force or dynamis, also called the one or the Monad. Plotinus form of Platonic idealism is to treat the Demiurge, nous as the contemplative faculty within man which orders the force into conscious reality. In this he claimed to reveal Platos true meaning, a doctrine he learned from Platonic tradition that did not appear outside the academy or in Platos text. This tradition of creator God as nous, can be validated in the works of philosophers such as Numenius. Before Numenius of Apamea and Plotinus Enneads, no Platonic works ontologically clarified the Demiurge from the allegory in Platos Timaeus. The idea of Demiurge was, however, addressed before Plotinus in the works of Christian writer Justin Martyr who built his understanding of the Demiurge on the works of Numenius. The figure of the Demiurge emerges in the theoretic of Iamblichus, here, at the summit of this system, the Source and Demiurge coexist via the process of henosis. The One is further separated into spheres of intelligence, the first and superior sphere is objects of thought, then within this intellectual triad Iamblichus assigns the third rank to the Demiurge, identifying it with the perfect or Divine nous with the intellectual triad being promoted to a hebdomad
Demiurge
–
A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in
Bernard de Montfaucon ’s L’antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge.
Demiurge
–
Drawing of the leontocephaline found at the
Mithraeum of C. Valerius Heracles and sons, dedicated 190 AD at
Ostia Antica, Italy (CIMRM 312).
22.
Holy Spirit
–
Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is a term found in English translations of the Bible that is understood differently among the Abrahamic religions. Holy Spirit is stated to be a realm beyond the ability of words to properly convey and it must be experienced, realized, kindled within like a holy fire. The term is used to describe aspects of other religions. The word Spirit appears as either alone or with words, in the Hebrew Bible. Combinations include expressions such as the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, the word Spirit is rendered as רוּחַ in Hebrew-language parts of the Old Testament. In its Aramaic parts, the term is rûacḥ, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translates the word as πνεῦμα. This is the word that is used throughout the New Testament. The English term Spirit comes from its Latin origin, spiritus, the alternative term, Holy Ghost, comes from Old English translations of spiritus. The Hebrew Bible contains the term Spirit of God in the sense of the might of a unitary God and this meaning is different from the Christian concept of Holy Spirit as one personality of God in the Trinity. According to theologian Rudolf Bultmann, there are two ways to think about the Holy Spirit, animistic and dynamistic, both kinds of thought appear in Jewish and Christian scripture, but animistic is more typical of the Old Testament whereas dynamistic is more common in the New Testament. The distinction coincides with the Holy Spirit as either a temporary or permanent gift, in the Old Testament and Jewish thought, it is primarily temporary with a specific situation or task in mind, whereas in the Christian concept the gift resides in man permanently. The Holy Spirit also has an equivalent in non-Abrahamic Hellenistic mystery religions and they included a distinction of the Spirit and psyche, which Paul the Apostle later incorporated into his epistles. According to proponents of the History of religions school, the Christian concept of the Holy Spirit cannot be explained from Jewish ideas alone without reference to the Hellenistic religions. However, according to theologian Erik Konsmo, the views are so dissimilar that the only legitimate connection one can make is with the term πνεῦμα itself, Another link with ancient Greek thought is the Stoic idea of the Spirit as anima mundi—or world soul—that unites all people. In his Introduction to the 1964 book Meditations, the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth wrote, cleanthes, wishing to give more explicit meaning to Zenos creative fire, had been the first to hit upon the term pneuma, or spirit, to describe it. The Hebrew language phrase ruach ha-kodesh is a used in the Hebrew Bible. It literally means spirit of the holiness or spirit of the holy place, the Hebrew terms ruacḥ qodshəka, thy holy spirit, and ruacḥ qodshō, his holy spirit also occur. The Holy Spirit in Judaism generally refers to the aspect of prophecy
Holy Spirit
–
Depiction of the Christian Holy Spirit
as a dove, by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the
apse of
Saint Peter's Basilica.
23.
Pandeism
–
Pandeism is a theological doctrine which combines aspects of pantheism with aspects of deism. It holds that the deity became the universe and ceased to exist as a separate. Pandeism is proposed to explain, as it relates to deism, why God would create a universe and then abandon it, and as to pantheism, the origin and purpose of the universe. The word pandeism is a blend of the root words pantheism and deism, combining Ancient Greek, πᾶν pan all with Latin. It was perhaps first coined in the present meaning in 1859 by Moritz Lazarus, Pandeism falls within the traditional hierarchy of monistic and nontheistic philosophies addressing the nature of God. For the history of the words, pantheism and deism, see the overview of deism section. Weinstein noted the distinction between pantheism and pandeism, stating even if only by a letter, we fundamentally differ Pandeism from Pantheism and it has also been suggested that many religions may classify themselves as pantheistic but fit more essentially under the description of panentheistic or pandeistic. The earliest seeds of pandeism coincide with notions of monotheism, which generally can be traced back to the Atenism of Akhenaten, Weinstein in particular identified the idea of primary matter derived from an original spirit as found by the ancient Egyptians to be a form of pandeism. Weinstein similarly found varieties of pandeism in the views held in China, India, especially in the Hindu Bhagavad Gita. He similarly found that ideas of pandeism were reflected in the ideas of Heraclitus, religious studies professor, F. E. Peters, however, found with respect to the Pythagoreans and the Milesians that hat appeared. At the center of the Pythagorean tradition in philosophy, is another view of psyche that seems to owe little or nothing to the pan-vitalism or pan-deism that is the legacy of the Milesians. Gottfried Große in his 1787 interpretation of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, describes Pliny, a contemporary statement of this idea is that, Since God is not a being, he is therefore not intelligible. This means not only that we understand him, but also that he cannot understand himself. Creation is a kind of effort by God to understand himself. Of Nicholas of Cusa, who wrote of the enfolding of creation in God and the unfolding of the human mind in creation, Weinstein wrote that he was, to a certain extent. This was reiterated by others including Discover editor Corey S. Powell, in the 1820s to 1830s, pandeism received some mention in Italy. Nannetti further specifically criticized pandeism, declaring, To you, fatal Pandeist, the laws that create nature are contingent and mutable, not another being in substance with forces driven by motions and developments. Neither Nannetti nor the 1838 author defines pandeism distinctly enough to distinguish it from pantheism
Pandeism
–
Physicist and philosopher
Max Bernhard Weinstein wrote that 6th century BC philosopher
Xenophanes of Colophon spoke as a pandeist in stating that there was one god which "abideth ever in the selfsame place, moving not at all" and yet "sees all over, thinks all over, and hears all over."
Pandeism
–
Italian theologian
Giordano Bruno was charged with heresy and burned at the stake for propounding what has been deemed by some commentators to be a pandeistic ideology.
Pandeism
–
Pandeism has been proposed to be a traditional religious view that accords with modern science.
24.
Supreme being
–
Supreme Being is a term for God used by theologians and philosophers of many religious faiths, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and deism. In Christian theology, the term Supreme Being is used to refer to God, although God is mostly reserved for God the Father in the New Testament, Supreme Being can be used to refer to Jesus Christ or the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Deists use the term Supreme Being to refer to the Godly, following the French Revolution, the Cult of the Supreme Being was intended to become the state religion of the new French Republic. In Hinduism, the term is used by several traditions and it is used by the Vaishnavite traditions in reference to Vishnu/Krishna, and by the Shaiva tradition in reference to Shiva. Islamic scholars have used the term Supreme Being to refer to Allah, the holy scripture of the Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib, uses terms that are sometimes translated as Supreme Being. Sikhs personally use Waheguru, or the term Ik Onkar, meaning One God, in the Yoruba religion the term Supreme Being is used in reference to Olorun, one of the three manifestations of the Supreme God in the Yoruba pantheon. In Yoruba cosmology, Olorun is the Supreme Being whose supremacy is absolute
Supreme being
–
Festival of the Supreme Being, 8 June 1794
Paris
25.
Unmoved mover
–
The unmoved mover or prime mover is a monotheistic concept advanced by Aristotle, a polytheist, as a primary cause or mover of all the motion in the universe. As is implicit in the name, the unmoved mover moves other things, in Book 12 of his Metaphysics, Aristotle describes the unmoved mover as being perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and contemplating only the perfect contemplation, itself contemplating. He equates this concept also with the active intellect, st. Thomas Aquinas, for example, elaborated on the unmoved mover in the Quinque viae. In the Physics Aristotle finds surprising difficulties explaining even commonplace change, Aristotles first philosophy, or Metaphysics, develops his peculiar theology of the prime mover, as πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀκίνητον, an independent divine eternal unchanging immaterial substance. While the number of spheres in the model itself was subject to change, Aristotles account of aether, as such, it would be physically impossible for them to move material objects of any size by pushing, pulling or collision. Their influence on lesser beings is purely the result of an aspiration or desire, the first heaven, the outmost sphere of fixed stars, is moved by a desire to emulate the prime mover, in relation to whom, the subordinate movers suffer an accidental dependency. Many of Aristotles contemporaries complained that oblivious, powerless gods are unsatisfactory, nonetheless, it was a life which Aristotle enthusiastically endorsed as one most enviable and perfect, the unembellished basis of theology. As the whole of nature depends on the inspiration of the unmoved movers. It is through the action of the Sun upon the terrestrial spheres. The intellect, nous, or whatever else it be that is thought to rule and lead us by nature and it is also the most sustainable, pleasant, self-sufficient activity, something which is aimed at for its own sake. This aim is not strictly human, to achieve it means to live in accordance not with mortal thoughts, according to Aristotle, contemplation is the only type of happy activity which it would not be ridiculous to imagine the gods having. In Aristotles psychology and biology, the intellect is the soul and he argues that in the beginning, if the cosmos had come to be, its first motion would lack an antecedent state, and as Parmenides said, nothing comes from nothing. The Cosmological argument, later attributed to Aristotle, thereby draws the conclusion that God exists, however, if the cosmos had a beginning, Aristotle argued, it would require an efficient first cause, a notion that Aristotle took to demonstrate a critical flaw. The purpose of Aristotles cosmological argument, that at least one eternal unmoved mover must exist, is to support everyday change, of things that exist, substances are the first. But if substances can, then all things can perish. and yet, time, now, the only continuous change is that of place, and the only continuous change of place is circular motion. Therefore, there must be a circular motion and this confirmed by the fixed stars which are moved by the eternal actual substance substance thats purely actual. Even though the foregoing might have suggested that generation of substances is fundamental for all the kinds of changes. Aristotle argues at the opening of Physics bk.8 that motion and change in the universe can have no beginning, with this argument Aristotle can establish an eternal chain of motions and refute those who hold that there could have been a previous stationary state of the universe
Unmoved mover
–
Aristotelianism
26.
Cosmological argument
–
It is traditionally known as an argument from universal causation, an argument from first cause, or the causal argument. Whichever term is employed, there are three variants of the argument, each with subtle yet important distinctions, the arguments from in causa, in esse. The basic premise of all of these is the concept of causality, contemporary defenders of cosmological arguments include William Lane Craig, Robert Koons, Alexander Pruss, and William L. Rowe. Cosmological argument has been used by atheists and theists. Plato and Aristotle both posited first cause arguments, though each had certain notable caveats, in The Laws, Plato posited that all movement in the world and the Cosmos was imparted motion. This required a self-originated motion to set it in motion and to maintain it, in Timaeus, Plato posited a demiurge of supreme wisdom and intelligence as the creator of the Cosmos. Aristotle argued against the idea of a first cause, often confused with the idea of a prime mover or unmoved mover in his Physics and Metaphysics, like Plato, Aristotle believed in an eternal cosmos with no beginning and no end. From an aspiration or desire, the spheres, imitate that purely intellectual activity as best they can. The unmoved movers inspiring the planetary spheres are no different in kind from the prime mover, correspondingly, the motions of the planets are subordinate to the motion inspired by the prime mover in the sphere of fixed stars. Aristotles natural theology admitted no creation or capriciousness from the immortal pantheon, plotinus, a third-century Platonist, taught that the One transcendent absolute caused the universe to exist simply as a consequence of its existence. His disciple Proclus stated The One is God, centuries later, the Islamic philosopher Avicenna inquired into the question of being, in which he distinguished between essence and existence. Thus, he reasoned that existence must be due to an agent cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, to do so, the cause must coexist with its effect and be an existing thing. Referring to the argument as the Kalam cosmological argument, Duncan asserts that it received its fullest articulation at the hands of Muslim and Jewish exponents of Kalam. Thomas Aquinas adapted and enhanced the argument he found in his reading of Aristotle and his conception of First Cause was the idea that the Universe must have been caused by something that was itself uncaused, which he asserted was God. In the scholastic era, Aquinas formulated the argument from contingency, since the Universe could, under different circumstances, conceivably not exist, its existence must have a cause – not merely another contingent thing, but something that exists by necessity. In other words, even if the Universe has always existed, it owes its existence to an Uncaused Cause, Aquinas further said. Aquinass argument from contingency allows for the possibility of a Universe that has no beginning in time and it is a form of argument from universal causation. Aquinas observed that, in nature, there were things with contingent existences, since it is possible for such things not to exist, there must be some time at which these things did not in fact exist
Cosmological argument
–
Plato and
Aristotle, depicted here in
Raphael 's
The School of Athens, both developed first cause arguments.
27.
Fine-tuned universe
–
The possible explanations for fine-tuning are discussed among philosophers, scientists, theologians, and proponents and detractors of creationism. The fine-tuned Universe observation is closely related to, but is not exactly synonymous with, the anthropic principle, in 1913, the chemist Lawrence Joseph Henderson wrote The Fitness of the Environment, one of the first books to explore concepts of fine tuning in the Universe. In 1961, the physicist Robert H. Dicke claimed that certain forces in physics, such as gravity and electromagnetism, fred Hoyle also argued for a fine-tuned Universe in his 1984 book Intelligent Universe. He compares the chance of obtaining even a single functioning protein by chance combination of acids to a star system full of blind men solving Rubiks Cube simultaneously. John Gribbin and Martin Rees wrote a history and defence of the fine-tuning argument in their book Cosmic Coincidences. According to Gribbin and Rees, The conditions in our Universe really do seem to be suitable for life forms like ourselves. But the question remains - is the Universe tailor-made for man, the premise of the fine-tuned Universe assertion is that a small change in several of the dimensionless physical constants would make the Universe radically different. The remarkable fact is that the values of these seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life. This would drastically alter the physics of stars, and presumably preclude the existence of similar to what we observe on Earth. The existence of the diproton would short-circuit the slow fusion of hydrogen into deuterium, hydrogen would fuse so easily that it is likely that all of the Universes hydrogen would be consumed in the first few minutes after the Big Bang. This diproton argument is disputed by other physicists, who calculate that as long as the increase in strength is less than 50%, the precise formulation of the idea is made difficult by the fact that physicists do not yet know how many independent physical constants there are. The current standard model of physics has 25 freely adjustable parameters with an additional parameter. In some candidate theories, the number of independent physical constants may be as small as one. Martin Rees formulates the fine-tuning of the Universe in terms of the following six dimensionless physical constants, N, the ratio of the strength of electromagnetism to the strength of gravity for a pair of protons, is approximately 1036. According to Rees, if it were smaller, only a small. Epsilon, a measure of the efficiency of fusion from hydrogen to helium, is 0.007. The value of ε is in part determined by the strength of the nuclear force. If ε were 0.006, only hydrogen could exist, according to Rees, if it were above 0.008, no hydrogen would exist, as all the hydrogen would have been fused shortly after the big bang
Fine-tuned universe
–
Watchmaker analogy
28.
Argument from morality
–
The argument from morality is an argument for the existence of God. Arguments from morality tend to be based on moral normativity or moral order, Arguments from moral normativity observe some aspect of morality and argue that God is the best or only explanation for this, concluding that God must exist. Argument from moral order are based on the asserted need for order to exist in the universe. They claim that, for moral order to exist, God must exist to support it. The argument from morality is noteworthy in that one cannot evaluate the soundness of the argument without attending to almost every important philosophical issue in metaethics, German philosopher Immanuel Kant devised an argument from morality based on practical reason. Kant argued that the goal of humanity is to achieve happiness and virtue and believed that an afterlife must exist in order for this to be possible. In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis argued that conscience reveals to us a law whose source cannot be found in the natural world. Newman argued that, because the conscience suggests the existence of moral truths. All variations of the argument from morality begin with an observation about moral thought or experiences, some of these arguments propose moral facts which they claim evident through human experience, arguing that God is the best explanation for these. Other versions describe some end which humans should strive to attain, many arguments from morality are based on moral normativity, which suggests that objective moral truths exist and require Gods existence to give them authority. For morality to be binding, God must exist, in its most general form, the argument from moral normativity is, A human experience of morality is observed. God is the best or only explanation for this moral experience, some arguments from moral order suggest that morality is based on rationality and that this can only be the case if there is a moral order in the universe. The arguments propose that only the existence of God as orthodoxly conceived could support the existence of order in the universe. Alternative arguments from moral order have proposed that we have an obligation to attain the perfect good of both happiness and moral virtue. They attest that whatever we are obliged to do must be possible, a natural moral order requires the existence of God as orthodoxly conceived, so God must exist. In his Critique of Pure Reason, German philosopher Immanuel Kant stated that no argument for Gods existence arises from reason alone. In his Critique of Practical Reason he went on to argue that, despite the failure of these arguments, morality requires that Gods existence is assumed, rather than proving the existence of God, Kant was attempting to demonstrate that all moral thought requires the assumption that God exists. Kant argued that humans are obliged to bring about the summum bonum, as ought implies can, Kant argued, it must be possible for the summum bonum to be achieved
Argument from morality
–
Portrait of Immanuel Kant, who proposed an argument for the existence of God from morality
Argument from morality
–
Portrait of John Henry Newman, who used the conscience as evidence of the existence of God
29.
Ontological argument
–
An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God that uses ontology. Many arguments fall under the category of the ontological, and they tend to involve arguments about the state of being or existing, more specifically, ontological arguments tend to start with an a priori theory about the organization of the universe. If that organizational structure is true, the argument will provide reasons why God must exist, the first ontological argument in the Western Christian tradition was proposed by Anselm of Canterbury in his 1078 work Proslogion. Anselm defined God as that than which nothing greater can be thought and he suggested that, if the greatest possible being exists in the mind, it must also exist in reality. If it only exists in the mind, then a greater being must be possible — one which exists both in the mind and in reality. Therefore, this greatest possible being must exist in reality, seventeenth century French philosopher René Descartes deployed a similar argument. Descartes published several variations of his argument, each of which centred on the idea that Gods existence is immediately inferable from a clear, in the early eighteenth century, Gottfried Leibniz augmented Descartes ideas in an attempt to prove that a supremely perfect being is a coherent concept. A more recent ontological argument came from Kurt Gödel, who proposed a formal argument for Gods existence, attempts have also been made to validate Anselms proof using an automated theorem prover. Other arguments have been categorised as ontological, including made by Islamic philosopher Mulla Sadra. Since its proposal, few philosophical ideas have generated as much interest, nearly all of the great minds of Western philosophy have found the argument worthy of their attention, and a number of criticisms and objections have been mounted. The first critic of the argument was Anselms contemporary, Gaunilo of Marmoutiers. He used the analogy of an island, suggesting that the ontological argument could be used to prove the existence of anything. This was the first of many parodies, all of which attempted to show that the argument has absurd consequences, later, Thomas Aquinas rejected the argument on the basis that humans cannot know Gods nature. Also, David Hume offered an empirical objection, criticising its lack of reasoning and rejecting the idea that anything can exist necessarily. Immanuel Kants critique was based on what he saw as the premise that existence is a predicate. He argued that existing adds nothing to the essence of a being, broad dismissed the coherence of a maximally great being, proposing that some attributes of greatness are incompatible with others, rendering maximally great being incoherent. The traditional definition of an argument was given by Immanuel Kant. He contrasted the ontological argument with the cosmological and physio-theoretical arguments, according to the Kantian view, ontological arguments are those founded on a priori reasoning
Ontological argument
–
Anselm of Canterbury was the first to attempt an ontological argument for God's existence.
Ontological argument
–
French thinker René Descartes composed several arguments that could be termed ontological.
Ontological argument
–
German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz attempted to prove the coherence of a "supremely perfect being".
Ontological argument
–
Alvin Plantinga criticized Malcolm's and Hartshorne's ontological arguments and proposed a variation of his own
30.
Teleological argument
–
It is an argument in natural theology. The earliest recorded versions of this argument are associated with Socrates in ancient Greece, Socratic philosophy influenced the development of the Abrahamic religions in many ways, and the teleological argument has a long association with them. In the Middle Ages, Islamic theologians such as Al-Ghazali used the argument, although it was rejected as unnecessary by Quranic literalists, later, the teleological argument was accepted by Saint Thomas Aquinas and included as the fifth of his Five Ways of proving the existence of God. In early modern England clergymen such as William Turner and John Ray were well-known proponents, in the early 18th century, William Derham published his Physico-Theology, which gave his demonstration of the being and attributes of God from his works of creation. From the beginning, there have been criticisms of the different versions of the teleological argument. Also starting already in classical Greece, two approaches to the argument developed, distinguished by their understanding of whether the natural order was literally created or not. The non-creationist approach starts most clearly with Aristotle, although many thinkers, such as the Neoplatonists, the Neoplatonists did not find the teleological argument convincing, and in this they were followed by medieval philosophers such as Al-Farabi and Avicenna. Later, Averroes and Thomas Aquinas considered the argument acceptable, religious thinkers in Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam and Christianity also developed versions of the teleological argument. Later, variants on the argument from design were produced in Western philosophy, Anaxagoras is the first person who is definitely known to have explained such a concept using the word nous. Aristotle reports an earlier philosopher from Clazomenae named Hermotimus who had taken a similar position, amongst Pre-Socratic philosophers before Anaxagoras, other philosophers had proposed a similar intelligent ordering principle causing life and the rotation of the heavens. For example Empedocles, like Hesiod much earlier, described cosmic order and living things as caused by a version of love. In his Philebus 28c Plato has Socrates speak of this as a tradition, saying that all philosophers agree—whereby they really exalt themselves—that mind is king of heaven, and later states that the ensuing discussion confirms the utterances of those who declared of old that mind always rules the universe. Xenophons report in his Memorabilia might be the earliest clear account of an argument that there is evidence in nature of intelligent design. In Platos Phaedo, Socrates is made to say just before dying that his discovery of Anaxagoras concept of a cosmic nous as the cause of the order of things, was an important turning point for him. But he also expressed disagreement with Anaxagoras understanding of the implications of his own doctrine, Socrates complained that Anaxagoras restricted the work of the cosmic nous to the beginning, as if it were uninterested and all events since then just happened because of causes like air and water. Socrates, on the hand, apparently insisted that the demiurge must be loving. Plato has a character explain the concept of a demiurge with supreme wisdom, Platos teleological perspective is also built upon the analysis of a priori order and structure in the world that he had already presented in The Republic. The story does not propose creation ex nihilo, rather, the demiurge made order from the chaos of the cosmos, Platos student and friend Aristotle, continued the Socratic tradition of criticising natural scientists such as Democritus who sought to explain everything in terms of matter and chance motion
Teleological argument
–
Plato and
Aristotle, depicted here in
The School of Athens, both developed philosophical arguments addressing the universe's apparent order (
logos)
Teleological argument
–
The fifth of Thomas Aquinas' proofs of God's existence was based on teleology
Teleological argument
–
William Paley popularized the "watchmaker analogy" used by earlier
natural theologians, making it a famous teleological argument.
Teleological argument
–
David Hume outlined his criticisms of the teleological argument in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
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