LECTURE NO.

12

What are the Rational Arguments for the

Existence of God?

1
 The Teleological Argument or The
Design Argument
1) The material universe resembles the intelligent
productions of human beings in that it exhibits
design.
2) The design in any human artifact is the effect
of having been made by an intelligent being.
3) Like effects have like causes.
4) Therefore, the design in the material universe
is the effect of having been made by an
intelligent creator.
2
 Cosmological Argument or First Cause Argument for
the Existence of God
1) A contingent being (a being such that if it exists, it could have not-existed or
could cease to exist) exists.
2) This contingent being has a cause of or explanation for its existence.
3) The cause of or explanation for its existence is something other than the
contingent being itself.
4) What causes or explains the existence of this contingent being must either be
solely other contingent beings or include a non-contingent (necessary) being.
5) Contingent beings alone cannot provide a completely adequate causal
account or explanation for the existence of a contingent being.
6) Therefore, what causes or explains the existence of this contingent being
must include a non-contingent (necessary) being.
7) Therefore, a necessary being (a being such that if it exists, it cannot not-
exist) exists.
8) The universe is contingent.
9) Therefore, the necessary being is something other than the universe.
3
 The Ontological Argument for the
Existence of God
1) It is a conceptual truth (or, so to speak, true by definition) that God is a
being than which none greater can be imagined (that is, the greatest
possible being that can be imagined).
2) God exists as an idea in the mind.
3) A being that exists as an idea in the mind and in reality is, other things
being equal, greater than a being that exists only as an idea in the mind.
4) Thus, if God exists only as an idea in the mind, then we can imagine
something that is greater than God (that is, a greatest possible being
that does exist).
5) But we cannot imagine something that is greater than God (for it is a
contradiction to suppose that we can imagine a being greater than the
greatest possible being that can be imagined.)
6) Therefore, God exists.

4
 The Pragmatic Argument for the
Existence of God
 Pragmatic arguments have often been
employed in support of theistic belief. Theistic
pragmatic arguments are not arguments for the
proposition that God exists; they are
arguments that believing that God exists is
rational.
 The most famous theistic pragmatic argument
is Pascal’s Wager.

5
 Pascal's wager
Pascal presents the following argument in his book
“The Pensées (Thoughts)”: 
1) God is, or God is not. Reason cannot decide between the two
alternatives.
2) A Game is being played... where heads or tails will turn up
3) You must wager (it is not optional).
4) Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us
estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you
lose nothing
5) Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. (...) There is here an infinity
of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite
number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. And so our
proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game
where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain.
6
 If God exists then theists will enjoy eternal bliss (cell
a), while atheists will suffer eternal damnation.
 If God does not exist then theists will enjoy finite
happiness before they die (say 250 units worth), and
atheists will enjoy finite happiness too, though not so
much because they will experience angst rather than
the comforts of religion.
 Regardless of whether God exists, then, theists have
it better than atheists; hence belief in God is the most
rational belief to have.

7
Your Belief God exists God does
not exist

You believe (a) infinite (c) 250 utiles

in God reward

You do not (b) infinite (d) 200

believe in punishment utiles
God

8
Problem of Evil & Epicurus’ Trilemma

9
THE END

10