Religious knowledge and the nature of God - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 938 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/07/26 Category Religion Essay Level High school Tags: Existence of God Essay Did you like this example? In David Humes Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion he argues about the existence of God and the rationality of religion. Hume is an empiricist and believes that in order for a belief to be rational it must be supported by experiences. Hume presents three characters, Demea, Philo and Cleanthes who all have their own explanation and rationality about religion and present different arguments concerning Gods existence. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Religious knowledge and the nature of God" essay for you Create order In Dialogue IX Hume presents Demeas a priori argument for Gods existence and Cleanthes objection to the argument. Early in the text the three characters started by arguing about religious knowledge and the nature of God. Cleanthes was very optimistic about understanding religion and God, while Philo was very skeptical and believed that Gods nature should not be sought after or understood by mortal men. Amidst all this Demea presents the idea that the nature of God is incomprehensible to usfinite weak and blind creatures and we should humble ourselves in his presence (Hume 9). Philo agrees with Demea that Gods existence cannot be known be us and goes on to say that whoever questions this derives to be punished (Hume 10). But Cleanthes objects he believes that even though we do not have any direct experiences about God, there is enough evidence in nature to allow us to make conclusions about what God is like. As the argument progresses in Dialogue IX, Demea presents a priori argument, the cosmological argument, challenging Philos doubt. Demea broke his argument into four parts. The first claim he presented was, Whatever exists must have a cause or reason for its existence, as it is absolutely impossible for anything to produce itself, or be the cause of its own existence (Hume 38). He uses this first claim to present the idea that nothing just happens by itself and nothing can bring its own existence. In the second part of his argument he claims In working back therefore, from effects to causes, we must either (1) go on tracing causes to infinity, without any ultimate cause at all, or (2) at last have recourse to some ultimate cause that is necessarily existent (Hume 38). In this part, he is drawing the conclusion that because part one of the claim is unrealistic then it has to be part two, which is the idea that there is something that exists that causes everything else. The third part o f his argument was related to the previous claim and Demea thinks since there is no explanation for part one then an infinite sequence of causes is not possible. So he finally concludes in the fourth part of his argument We must adopt supposition and have recourse to a necessarily existent being, who carries the reason of his existence in himself and cannot be supposed not to exist without an express contradiction. So there is such a being: that is, there is a God (Hume 38). He concludes with the last part of his argument tying everything together that something exists and that thing is God. After Demea presents his argument Cleanthes refutes everything he says, he claims that his argument is flawed and cannot prove what he is trying to claim because of its a priori structure. Cleanthes presents these five claims to refute Demeas argument first, nothing is demonstrable unless its contrary implies contradiction. Second, nothing that is distinctly conceivable implies a contradiction. Third, whatever we conceive as existent, we can also conceive as non-existent. Next, there is no being whose non-existence implies a contradiction and finally there is no being whose existence is demonstrable (Hume 39). Cleanthes believes that although Demeas argument claims that there is a cause, his argument is not substantial enough to make the point, that God exists or is that cause. He proposes the idea of the material world in relation to Demeas argument in order to refute his a priori argument that God exists by claiming why shouldnt the material universe be the necessarily existent bei ng? We dare not claim to know all the qualities of matter; and for all we can tell, matter may have some qualities which, if we knew them, would make matters non- existence appear as a contradiction Any particle of matter, Dr Clarke has said, can be conceived to be annihilated; and any form can be conceived to be altered. Such an annihilation or alteration, therefore, is not impossible. But it seems very biased not to see that the same argument applies just as well to God (39). This claim that Cleanthes presents is valid in his argument based on the premises that Demea presented in his argument because based on Demeas argument the material universe does have all the attributes that God is said to have according to Demea. He concludes his argument discussing the idea of a chain of items and he argues that there is not a first cause as stated early that causes the items in the chain but each part of the chain is caused by the part that preceded it, and causes the one that follows. (39 ) Although Cleanthes, Philo and Demea all believed that some God exists they all had their personal ideas of how God exists and the relation between humans and God. Philo and Demea who had more conservative arguments and believed that there should be some mystery in the relationship between humans and God and that it is good that humans dont know God in entirety. Cleanthes on the other hand believed that God should be sought after and humans should try to understand who God is. These beliefs were represented in dialogue IX in the argument between Cleanthes and Demea after Demeas a priori argument about Gods existence.

Different Definitions Of The Word Family - 1432 Words

There are a multitude of different definitions of the word â€Å"family†. There is not a set definition of what a family must look like, or how a family should behave. When it comes to families there is only one thing that truly matters, and that is love. Whether it is a non-traditional family, such as a single-parent, gay or lesbian, or a cohabiting, or the stereotypical â€Å"traditional† family of a married man and woman with a few biological children, the members themselves are not the what matters when it comes to families. A family is determined, not by color, size, marital status, or sexual orientation, but by the love the members have for one another. In my opinion, I have an incredibly undiverse family; at least, initially, I thought I did. However, as I think about it more deeply, I realize there are aspects of my family that make it incredibly unique from someone else’s. I have three aunts; one of them is happily married to her husband and their only child, a son, is enrolled in college and engaged-to-be-married, the other is a recently divorced pastor with three children, and my last aunt is a (seemingly) happy and single fifty-year-old woman. Diversity is always present within a family, it just might not be as easily detectable as an adopted sibling, gay parents, or a mixed race family. The fact that my parents have been married for over twenty years could also be considered incredibly impressive and rare, especially in the divorce laden world we live in. TheShow MoreRelatedFamily As A Traditional Family885 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Family† Language constantly evolves and changes as it is adopted by different cultures. 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Country Ghrammer Essay Example For Students

Country Ghrammer Essay Hmm, Im going down down baby yo street in a Range Rover Street Sweeper baby cocked ready to let it go Shimmy Shimmy cocoa wha listen to it now Light it up and take a puff, pass it to me now Hmm, Im going down down baby yo street in a Range Rover Street Sweeper baby cocked ready to let it go Shimmy Shimmy cocoa wha listen to it now Light it up and take a puff, pass it to me now (Nelly) You can find me, in St. Louis rollin on dubs Smoking dubs in clubs, blowin up like cocoa puff Sippin Bud, gettin perved and getting dubbed Daps and hugs, mean mugs and shoulder shrugs And its all because, accumulated enough stretch Just to navigate it, fully decorated on chrome And its candy painted, fans fainted While Im entertaining, wild aint it How me and mugs, I hang with Hannibal Lector (Hot sh*t) So feel me when I bring it, sing it loud wha Im from the Loop and Im proud Run a mile for the cause Im righteous above the law Playa my styles raw Im Born to Mack like Todd Shaw Forget the fame, and the glamour Give me Ds wit a rubber hammer My grammar bes ebonics, gin tonic and chronic Fuc* bionic its ironic, slammin nig*as like Onyx Lunatics til the day I die I run more game then the Bulls and Sonics Chorus 2X (Nelly) Who say pretty boys cant be wild nig*as Loud nig*as, O.K. Corral nig*as Foul nig*as, run in the club and bust in the crowd nig*a How nig*a, ask me again its going down nig*a Now nig*a, come to the circus and watch me clown nig*a Pound nig*a, what you be givin when Im around nig*a Frown nig*as, talkin sh*t when I leave the town nig*a Say now, can you hoes come out to play now Hey Im, ready to cut you up any day now Play by, my rules boo and you gon stay high May I, answer yo third question like hey I Say hi, to my nig*as left in the slamma From St. Louis to Memphis From Texas back up to Indiana, Chi-Town K.C. Motown to Alabama L-A, New York Yankee niggas to Hotlanta, Louisiana All my niggas wit Country Grammar Smokin blunts in Savannah Blow thirty mill like Im Hammer Chorus 2X (Nelly) Lets show these cats to make these milli-ons So you nig*as quit acting silly, mon My +Kid+ quicker than +Billy+, mon Talking really and I need it mon, foes I keep filly mon Specially off Remi, mon, keys to my Beemer, mon Holla at Beenie Man, see me, mon Cheifin rollin deeper than any mon, through Jennings mon Through U-City back up to Kingsland, wit nice nig*as Sheist nig*as, who snatch yo life nig*a, trife nig*as Who produce and sell the same beat twice, nig*a, ice nig*a All over close to never sober From broke to havin dough, cause my price Range is Rover Now Im knockin like Jehovah Let me in now, let me in now Bill Gates Donald Trumph let me in, we spin now I got money to lend my friends now, we in now Candy Benz, Kenwood and 10s now (Whoo!) Fu**in lesbian twins now Seein now, through the pen I make my ends now BibliographyA website