justificationsPossible Duplicate:
What is the most compelling argument for the existence of God?
One has to admit that there are people who are more justified in their God-believe than some people are justified in their lack of. There are a lot of bad arguments for the existence of God, but there are some not-so-bad ones too. I expect these to be the sort punted by leading theistic philosophers, for example. These are the sort that leave one scrumbling for resources so you can find decent rebuttals. What are those?
note: By good, I mean well-reasoned, not merely convincing.
Descartes did the proof from Solipsism: I think therefore I am, therefore God, therefore pokemon, etc, etc, etc.
Anselm did the self-implying definiton: God is a being of which no greater can be concieved. It is greater to exist than not exist, ergo God exists. QED.
Everyone and their mother has done the argument a posteriori: Look at all this stuff! Must have come from God.
But, in the end, there is no evidence for or against the existence of god, so the only arguments are purely deductive possible-world stuff, or in the form of “explain this if there is/isn’t a god.”
###Pascal’s Wager
The closest I’ve found is an argument for the belief in God, not the existence, that being Pascal’s wager, which is loosely:
God Exists God Does Not Exists
Believe +∞(Heaven) 0
Don’t Believe -∞(Hell) 0
The trick is that even if the chance of god existing is vanishingly small, it’s still worth it to believe, since N * ∞ = ∞ no matter how small N is (as long as it’s greater than 0). So, according to that argument, you’re much better off believing.
Of course, I said it’s the closest. It still falls apart; a few self-sufficient counter arguments:
Good arguments for the existence of god, none that I know of.
There are no good arguments just cleaver mental gymnastics. What are some of good arguments for the existence of Thor? The tooth fairy? at tea pot orbiting the moon? I say it is true, you cant prove me wrong.
Good as in logical and convincing, or good as in successfully used in the past to convince people? As an Atheist, by definition, I haven’t heard an argument I feel to be logically compelling to believe in God/gods/supernatural in general. But I am also aware that that puts me in the minority- most people on the planet have, in at least a vague sense, a belief that there is a God. What has convinced them? Again, not the best question for an atheist, but based on my own experiences, I can say that it is probably a combination of a need to feel purpose and a desire to fit in with society. These are not argument’s, but they are the reason many people believe arguments that they might not otherwise- think of what it would take to convince you that you own child is a beautiful genius that everyone likes. Now think of the standard of proof you would apply to the same proposition about some unrelated kid. People Want to believe in God, therefore, an argument like Descartes or Aquinas made can make a lot of sense, even though they same arguments could be applied to Thor without the same effectiveness.
I really do not think there are any. All of them are strident wishful thinking.
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