Download or read book Necessary Existence and Monotheism written by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-06-09 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Avicenna believes that God must be understood in the first place as the Necessary Existent (wâǧib al-wuǧûd). In his various works, he provides different versions of an ingenious argument for the existence of the Necessary Existent—the so-called Proof of the Sincere (burhân al-ṣiddîqîn)—and argues that all the properties that are usually attributed to God can be extracted merely from God's having necessary existence. Considering the centrality of tawḥîd to Islam, the first thing Avicenna tries to extract from God's necessary existence is God's oneness. The aim of the present Element is to provide a detailed discussion of Avicenna's arguments for the existence and unity of God. Through this project, the author hopes to clarify how, for Avicenna, the Islamic concept of monotheism is intertwined with the concept of essential existence.
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz written by Nicholas Jolley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most comprehensive account of the full range of Leibniz's thought.
Download or read book Maximal God written by Yujin Nagasawa and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yujin Nagasawa presents a new, stronger version of perfect being theism, the conception of God as the greatest possible being. Although perfect being theism is the most common form of monotheism in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition its truth has been disputed by philosophers and theologians for centuries. Nagasawa proposes a new, game-changing defence of perfect being theism by developing what he calls the 'maximal concept of God'. Perfect being theists typically maintain that God is an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent being; according to Nagasawa, God should be understood rather as a being that has the maximal consistent set of knowledge, power, and benevolence. Nagasawa argues that once we accept the maximal concept we can establish perfect being theism on two grounds. First, we can refute nearly all existing arguments against perfect being theism simultaneously. Second, we can construct a novel, strengthened version of the modal ontological argument for perfect being theism. Nagasawa concludes that the maximal concept grants us a unified defence of perfect being theism that is highly effective and economical.
Download or read book The Hiddenness Argument written by J. L. Schellenberg and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2015-07-02 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In many places and times, and for many people, God's existence has been rather less than a clear fact. According to the hiddenness argument, this is actually a reason to suppose that it is not a fact at all. The hiddenness argument is a new argument for atheism that has come to prominence in philosophy over the past two decades. J. L. Schellenberg first developed the argument in 1993, and this book offers a short and vigorous statement of its central claims and ideas. Logically sharp but so clear that anyone can understand, the book addresses little-discussed issues such as why it took so long for hiddenness reasoning to emerge in philosophy, and how the hiddenness problem is distinct from the problem of evil. It concludes with the fascinating thought that retiring the last of the personal gods might leave us nearer the beginning of religion than the end. Though an atheist, Schellenberg writes sensitively and with a nuanced insider's grasp of the religious life. Pertinent aspects of his experience as a believer and as a nonbeliever, and of his own engagement with hiddenness issues, are included. Set in this personal context, and against an authoritative background on relevant logical, conceptual, and historical matters, The Hiddenness Argument's careful but provocative reasoning makes crystal clear just what this new argument is and why it matters.
Download or read book God and Necessity written by Stephen E. Parrish and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God and Necessity: A Defense of Classical Theism argues that the God of classical theism exists and could not fail to exist. The book begins with the definition of key terms and analysis of the concepts of God and necessity. Extended examinations of the ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments are given. The last chapters give an extended exposition and defense of the transcendental argument for God's existence. It is shown that rival accounts of the existence of universe, the Brute Fact and the Necessary Universe theories completely fail, while Necessary Deity, the concept of God existing in all possible worlds, succeeds. Only the latter can account for reality as it is, and can account for knowledge and justification.
Download or read book Five Proofs of the Existence of God written by Edward Feser and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2017-08-25 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a detailed, updated exposition and defense of five of the historically most important (but in recent years largely neglected) philosophical proofs of God’s existence: the Aristotelian, the Neo-Platonic, the Augustinian, the Thomistic, and the Rationalist. It also offers a thorough treatment of each of the key divine attributes—unity, simplicity, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, perfect goodness, and so forth—showing that they must be possessed by the God whose existence is demonstrated by the proofs. Finally, it answers at length all of the objections that have been leveled against these proofs. This work provides as ambitious and complete a defense of traditional natural theology as is currently in print. Its aim is to vindicate the view of the greatest philosophers of the past— thinkers like Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Aquinas, Leibniz, and many others— that the existence of God can be established with certainty by way of purely rational arguments. It thereby serves as a refutation both of atheism and of the fideism that gives aid and comfort to atheism.
Download or read book The Non existence of God written by Nicholas Everitt and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguments for the existence of God have taken many different forms over the centuries: in The Non-Existence of God, Everitt considers all the arguments and examines the role that reason and knowledge play in the debate over God's existence.
Download or read book A Neomedieval Essay in Philosophical Theology written by Ramon M. Lemos and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2001 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extended essay presents the meditations of an eminent scholar on medieval philosophical theology. Beginning with a discussion of faith and reason, Ramon M. Lemos argues that we can be practically justified in accepting certain religions even though we may not know that their central claims are true. Lemos moves on to his operational definition of God, based on St. Anselm's concept of God as a being that which no greater can be conceived. From this ground, he considers various medieval arguments for the existence of God and refutes the ability of the major arguments to succeed in demonstrating God's existence. He concludes that it is impossible to demonstrate the existence of God philosophically. This provocative book addresses the fundamental issues in the philosophy of religion--from a Christian perspective--while maintaining the necessary intellectual distance between revealed theology and philosophy.
Download or read book Arguing about Gods written by Graham Oppy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-09-04 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Graham Oppy examines arguments for and against the existence of God. He shows that none of these arguments is powerful enough to change the minds of reasonable participants in debates on the question of the existence of God. His conclusion is supported by detailed analyses of the arguments as well as by the development of a theory about the purpose of arguments and the criteria that should be used in judging whether or not arguments are successful. Oppy discusses the work of a wide array of philosophers, including Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Kant, Hume and, more recently, Plantinga, Dembski, White, Dawkins, Bergman, Gale and Pruss.
Download or read book In Defense of Natural Theology written by James F. Sennett and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2005-10-04 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James F. Sennett and Douglas Groothuis have assembled a distinguished array of scholars to examine the Humean legacy with care and make the case for a more robust, if chastened, natural theology after Hume.
Download or read book Introducing Apologetics written by James E. Taylor and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2006-03-01 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Questions about the truthfulness of Christianity deserve thoughtful, balanced, and reasonable answers. James Taylor provides a fresh, comprehensive survey of the many methods of Christian apologetics using a unique, whole-person approach. He addresses core apologetics issues facing Christians in the twenty-first century, including the evidence for God's existence, the challenge of evil, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, world religions, and more. This accessible text, now in paper, will appeal to students and all who wrestle with intellectual obstacles to faith. Each chapter contains an outline, summary, list of basic terms, reflection and discussion questions, and guide to further reading. Chapter overviews and sidebars enhance the text.
Download or read book Metaphysics and the Tri Personal God written by William Hasker and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-08-02 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first full-length study of the doctrine of the Trinity from the standpoint of analytic philosophical theology. William Hasker reviews the evidence concerning fourth-century pro-Nicene trinitarianism in the light of recent developments in the scholarship on this period, arguing for particular interpretations of crucial concepts. He then reviews and criticizes recent work on the issue of the divine three-in-oneness, including systematic theologians such as Barth, Rahner, Moltmann, and Zizioulas, and analytic philosophers of religion such as Leftow, van Inwagen, Craig, and Swinburne. In the final part of the book he develops a carefully articulated social doctrine of the Trinity which is coherent, intelligible, and faithful to scripture and tradition.
Download or read book The Ontological Argument written by Jonathan Barnes and published by Springer. This book was released on 1972-06-18 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Humanism A Very Short Introduction written by Stephen Law and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2011-01-27 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion is currently gaining a much higher profile. The number of faith schools is increasingly, and religious points of view are being aired more frequently in the media. As religion's profile rises, those who reject religion, including humanists, often find themselves misunderstood, and occasionally misrepresented. Stephen Law explores how humanism uses science and reason to make sense of the world, looking at how it encourages individual moral responsibility and shows that life can have meaning without religion. Challenging some of the common misconceptions, he seeks to dispute the claims that atheism and humanism are 'faith positions' and that without God there can be no morality and our lives are left without purpose. Looking at the history of humanism and its development as a philosophical alternative, he examines the arguments for and against the existence of God, and explores the role humanism plays in moral and secular societies, as well as in moral and religious education. Using humanism to determine the meaning of life, he shows that there is a positive alternative to traditional religious belief. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Approaching God written by Patrick Masterson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-08-15 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approaching God explores the ways in which phenomenology, metaphysics and theological enquiry can throw light upon each other. This is a matter of great interest and importance to the future of philosophical theology and the philosophy of religion. What, if anything, has philosophical reflection about God to contribute to Christian theology? And if indeed philosophy plays a positive role in theological reflection-what kind of philosophy? The first-person philosophical perspective of phenomenology or the objective philosophical perspective of metaphysics? Masterson devotes three chapters to, respectively, phenomenological, metaphysical, and theological approaches to God. Each are seen as animated by a first principle from which a comprehensive account of everything is said to follow-'Human Consciousness' in the case of phenomenology; 'Being' in the case of metaphysics; and 'God' in the case of theology. Although philosophers and theologians such as Ricoeur, Levinas, Kearney, Caputo, and Barth are considered briefly, Approaching God essentially provides a dialogue about theological and theistic issues between the phenomenological approach of the leading French Christian phenomenologist Jean-Luc Marion and the realist metaphysical approach of Aquinas. Masterson maintains that all three approaches are needed in trying to speak appropriately about God-they are irreducible but complementary.
Download or read book Philosophy of Religion written by Keith E. Yandell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-20 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keith Yandell's Philosophy of Religion: A Contemporary Introduction was one of the first textbooks to explore the philosophy of religion with reference to religions other than Christianity. This new, revised edition explores the logical validity and truth claims of several world religions—Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism—with updated, streamlined discussions on important topics in philosophy of religion such as: Religious pluralism Freedom and responsibility Evidentialist Moral Theism Reformed Epistemology Doxastic Practice Epistemology The problem of evil Ontological and cosmological arguments Other new features include updated Questions for Reflection,and new Annotated Bibliographies for each chapter, as well as an updated Glossary. This exciting new edition, much like its classic predecessor, is sure to be a classroom staple for undergraduate students studying philosophy of religion, as well as a comprehensive introductory read for anyone interested in the subject.
Download or read book God and Being written by Nathan Lyons and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-12-31 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Element examines how the Western philosophical-theological tradition between Plato and Aquinas understands the relation between God and being. It gives a historical survey of the two major positions in the period: a) that the divine first principle is 'beyond being' (Example Plato, Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius), and b) that the first principle is 'being itself' (Example Augustine, Avicenna, Aquinas). The Element argues that we can recognize in the two traditions, despite their apparent contradiction, complementary approaches to a shared project of inquiry into transcendence.
