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Philosophy of Religion. Michael Lacewing enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. Two central questions. What does it mean to talk of, or believe in, God? Is talk about God talk about something that exists independently of us? Or a way of talking about life?
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Philosophy of Religion Michael Lacewing enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk
Two central questions • What does it mean to talk of, or believe in, God? • Is talk about God talk about something that exists independently of us? Or a way of talking about life? • Does ‘God exists’ state something that can be true or false? Or express an attitude? • Does God exist? • Can we answer this question by argument?
Belief-that • Standard analysis: content + attitude • Content: what the person believes, given by a proposition • E.g. ‘He believes that elephants are grey.’ • Belief-that aims at truth: • To believe that p is to believe that p is true. • ‘I believe him’ = • ‘I believe that what he says is true’ • ‘I believe that he is trustworthy/sincere’
Belief in • ‘I believe in God’ = ‘I believe that God exists’? • ‘I believe in love’ • Not belief-that (no truth claim), but faith, trust, commitment
Religious belief • Does belief in God presuppose belief that God exists? • Yes: you can’t believe in a person if you think they don’t exist • No: you don’t have believe that love exists (literally) to believe in love • What is more basic in religious belief? Should belief-that be analysed as (really) belief-in or vice-versa?
Does ‘God exists’ state a fact? • Not tested against empirical experience • Not purely intellectual • Theism not acquired by argument or evidence • Religious ‘belief’ is belief-in, an attitude or commitment, towards life, others, history, morality… a way of living.
Objections • Different religions can prescribe similar ways of life while arguing for different beliefs about God • Orthodoxy (right belief) has been thought very important • What supports or justifies the attitude if not beliefs about how things are? • Perhaps religions distinguished by their stories • But stories don’t justify commitments • This approach makes religion too subjective
Traditional belief • ‘God exists’ is objectively true or false. • ‘God’ refers to a being (in some sense) that exists independently of us, and has certain attributes. • Monotheism: perfect knowledge, power, goodness, creator of the universe…
Faith • So: can we know whether God exists? • Belief in God = faith • What is faith based on? • Reason: at least reason can justify faith, even if it doesn’t often cause it • Revelation: scripture • (Religious) Experience: mundane and miraculous
Approaches • Pope John Paul II: rational knowledge and philosophical discourse are important for ‘the very possibility of belief in God’. • Richard Swinburne: The Coherence of Theism: God’s existence is probable, considering all the evidence. • Extreme ‘fideism’: sin has damaged our ability to reason, so ignore reason. • Moderate ‘fideism’: faith goes ‘beyond’ reason, but doesn’t oppose it.
Objection • Many religious believers think that they do have some reason to believe in God. • But they are willing to accept that the evidence for God’s existence is not very strong, so they say it is a matter of faith. • This seems inconsistent: it accepts belief in God is a matter of evidence and argument, but that we don’t need to justify our conclusion by the balance of evidence.
Amazement • Two natural phenomena often inspire amazement in us: the night sky and life • The first is vast, awesome • The second is wonderful and intricate • Philosophers can also be amazed that we can understand the world at all
Life • Organs serve a purpose – heart – pump blood; eye – seeing • We understand parts of an organ in relation to serving this purpose • A living organism requires huge coordination of tiny parts each functioning well – complexity
Design • Complexity of this kind, the way parts work together, can indicate planning and design – intentional purpose • If life involves design, by definition, there must be a designer • But are living organisms designed?
Evolution by natural selection • Darwin explained how the appearance of design is possible without design • Genetic alterations happen randomly; most disappear. But those that improve reproduction survive and spread in a population, altering the species • Such alterations are not actually ‘selected’ – natural forces secure their survival
The ‘fine tuning’ argument • Why do we live in a universe in which life (and evolution) is possible? • The conditions for life are very, very improbable. Life needs planets, and planets need stars. • For stars to exist, the conditions of the Big Bang (how big, how much bang) had to be exact to 1/1060
1 in 1060 • 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent • As precise as hitting a one-inch target on the other side of the universe • That’s for stars– life is even more improbable • Of course, if God designed the universe to develop life, this is not a massive coincidence
Does the universe need explaining? • The lottery argument • It’s incredibly unlikely, before the draw, that whoever wins will win. • But someone will win. • With enough chances, the incredibly unlikely can become inevitable. • If there are lots of universes, one of them would have the right conditions for life.
More questions • What explains why and how the universe – any universe – exists in the first place? • What is the best explanation for religious experience and miracles? • If God is all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing, why does evil and suffering occur?
