by Jaimi Hemmerich

Created on: August 31, 2009   Last Updated: September 16, 2009

From the first philosophical discussions, there has been speculation as to the origins of existence. How did we come to be? Do we have a purpose? Is there a God? These are all questions that philosophers have tried to answer and, to me, are the most important questions a person can ask. In this article we will cover some of the most valuable philosophical contributions to this topic throughout the years.

How do we know God exists? There are three basic philosophical arguments for the existence of God. The ontological argument seeks to prove that God exists from the very concept of God. Thus, because we can conceive God in our minds, God has to exist in reality. The cosmological argument is an argument in which the existence of God is proven by the existence of other things contingent on God's existence; for instance, the concept of the "first mover" which implies that everything had to start from something, and that something had to be God. Another argument, the teleological argument, states that everything acts according to a divine plan or design in which God is the master of the plan.

There have been many philosophers that have contributed to the aforementioned arguments. However, there are three that I find to be the most influential: St. Anselm, Gaunilo and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Anselm was one of the first philosophers to debate a Christian God from a philosophical perspective, developing the ontological argument to prove God's existence. St. Anselm never doubted the existence of God, so he felt that because we all can conceive of a God of which nothing can be greater, that it had to be so. However, Gaunilo, who was a contemporary of Anselms, disagreed with the ontological argument. Gaunilo attacked the very basis of Anselm's argument - we can dream up anything that we want in our minds, but that doesn't mean that it can or does exist in reality. Anselm believed, though, that we can apply this type of reasoning to God.

St. Thomas of Aquinas helped introduce the cosmological, teleological and moral arguments in his "Five Ways". Aquinas believed there were five definite ways to prove the existence of God. His first way was the fact that there had to be a "first mover" that created all of existence. Aquinas' second way was similar to the first in that there must have been a first cause to put all things into motion. His third way stated that all things need not exist but God. In this way, God existed before anything else and must have created all things

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>