Is there a God?

David Cooper

8 July 2000

Intro to Philosophy

Instructor Steve Beck

Where did we come from? Is there a God? If so, did he create us?

These questions were addressed by David Hume, a prominent lawyer of the 1700s and by Saint Thomas Aquinas, who was a Dominican (Roman Catholic) Priest. Both had opposing views as to there being a God.

Aquinas' view

Aquinas sought to support and explain his writings of basic Christian guidelines, known as the Catechism. He did this by writing Summa Theologica. In building support for a God, Aquinas listed different arguments, one being from a design angle. He knew there is a god through evidence found in the world we see. The order and detail we see in all matter, living and nonliving shows this. Aquinas explained that even ignorant beings, things that lack knowledge... humans for example, work to some conclusion. It is repeated in the same way over and over... to achieve the best result possible. And when they reach the goal, it is by intention and on purpose not by accident. A painter paints a wall in the best way he knows... and the task is completed not by chance but methodically not by chance or as a fluke. This paper was written after I went through a long and methodical process... first my brain organized a general outline of what I wanted to say... then it told my fingers which keys to press to author it on paper. Along these lines, Aquinas felt if something lacks knowledge... a worm for example... it can't do a similar task, let's say burrow to a food source, unless it was directed by a higher intelligence to do so. Therefore God must exist if there is order and premeditation all around us (Solomon, 92).

Hume's view

Hume disagreed when he wrote Dialogues on Natural Religion . He first referred to Cleanthes -a Greek stoic who felt indifferent or ignorant to the truth all around him, but did believe in a creator and a creation. In a mocking tone, Hume acknowledges this and points out our inability to prove the idea.... calling it 'fancy' and a 'hypothesis'. So, he rejects the idea of a god, as an atheist. For, why would a perfect being create an imperfect situation here on earth where there is not order as he sees it. He refers to the earth and creation as a "rude essay" if it were indeed made by someone. In a humourous tone he suggests that maybe the creator started his project and botched it so bad that he had to give up. The madness and evil around us today is what resulted from this blunder. He also suggests, again mockingly, that this Creator was an inferior one... and is probably dead now anyway (Solomon, 92).

Works Cited

Solomon, Robert C. The Big Questions. 1998. Harcourt Brace Publishers. Fort Worth.