Example research essay topic: Greater Can Be Conceived Idea Of God - 1,457 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

Throughout history there has been a concept of a greater being (s) that guided our lives. In the beginning the main idea was that of plurality and polytheism. In ancient Greece and Rome, there were various gods that were believed to control different aspects of life. At some point, people began to worship only one god, the god of their own tribe. This religious position of henotheism eventually shifted to monotheism, for many. With monotheism comes the idea that your god is not only the god of your tribe, but of all humanity.

And it is this position of that has undergone the most change and evolution throughout time. Yet, it remains with us today. As John Robinson explains, the most profound change within monotheism is that of the idea of God changing from up there to out there. This change has brought us to the most traditional concept that we have of God today. This is a concept in which we imagine God as a purely spiritual being, separate and independent from the world.

He is supremely good, all-powerful, all-knowing, etc. (these attributes will be discussed later in the paper). Whether Robinson's ideas of the existence of God are right or wrong, we can say that it is undeniably true that there is an idea of God that most of us reference to. And, that is the idea of traditional theologians. It is for this reason that it is beneficial to elucidate our own thoughts about God and to investigate more thoroughly the concept of God that emerged from the thinking of past theologians.

The Attributes of God: As a closer study of past theologians advances, we come to St. Anselm. Anselm, a good philosopher and great theologian developed a formula for what we can claim to be the attributes of God. He began this formula by stating that (1) God is a being than which none greater can be conceived and (2) God is the greatest conceivable being (Notice here that Anselm leaves room for a being greater than God. He urges us to not disprove the idea that there could be a being greater than can be conceived).

With these two statements we can begin to formulate what Anselm meant by greater: power, goodness, knowledge? This analysis eventually lends itself to the God Hypothesis of Theism. The notion of this hypothesis is that there is one and only one being which possesses a certain list of attributes. There are numerous attributes within this hypothesis that the being, God, must possess in order to be the greatest being that can be conceived. For example, God must be omnipotent. This means that God can do all that is logically possible, as long as it does not conflict with another characteristic.

For example, God destroying the world conflicts with omni-benevolence, another necessary attribute. An additional trait that God must possess is that of omniscience, God knowing all that can be known. There are problems that arise with this attribute, especially between it and the attributes of immutability and being separate and distinct (this conflict will be discussed later). Another quality is the idea of God being eternal. This characteristic also carries disagreement. It is oftentimes argued whether this is meant to mean that God has infinite duration or if it is meant to mean that He is timeless (outside of time).

It must also be stated that God is creator of all that exists but himself and God must be spiritual, not bound to the laws of nature. God must also be personal, caring for each individual, and independent of laws of space and time, and of human conceptions. Lastly there is the attribute of self-existence, which Anselm considers to be the most significant, and which will be discussed further. As was stated previously, Anselm gave God the title of a being than which none greater can be conceived. With this statement by Anselm, comes the Ontological Argument. This argument states that of this being of which none greater can be conceived, there is one necessary property that is necessary and that is its self-existence.

For if the being has all properties yet does not exist, then there is a greater being that can be conceived (one that has all of these properties and exists). Anselm first realized, through various arguments, that among the beings that exist, and have existed, there is one that is supremely good and that nothing that ever existed or will exist will be its equal (Rowe 9). With this, Anselm was brought to question what accounts for or explains for the fact that it exists? He was led to three possibilities: somethings existence is explained by another, explained by nothing, or explained by itself. Anselm states that the supremely good being could not have its existence due to another thing, for then it would be dependent on that thing, and no longer be the supreme being. Anselm then moves on to say that it is utterly inconceivable that...

something should exist through nothing (Howe 10). He leaves this point unexplained, believing it to be such apparent truth that it needs no explanation. He then professes that all that he is sure of points to the fact that a supreme being is due only to itself. This does not mean God created himself, though. For eternity is one of Gods characteristics, so He clearly can not come into existence at a certain time. (Howe 10) So, with this we are left to believe that God can not be explained by anything else but His nature, just as a fires warmth can be explained by nothing more than the nature of fire.

So, it can be concluded that since nothing can exist whose existence lacks explanation (Anselm's own basic principle), and since the supreme being would not be supreme if its existence were due to something else, it is inevitable that the supreme being, God, has the explanation of His existence within His own nature (Howe 11). Arguments for Existence: There are two common arguments that have been developed by theologians and philosophers for believing in the being that we have been examining. They are the Cosmological Argument and the Teleological Argument. It has been debated over time as to which, if either, is a better argument for believing that there exists such a being. I feel that neither does a sufficient job of truly helping one to believe that there is such a being, yet I am more comfortable with the Cosmological Argument.

There are many reasons as to why I feel that it is a better argument. First, though, I will say why I feel that the Teleological Argument fails to be the better argument. First of all, I feel that this argument is based too much on observation. Secondly, the entire formulation for the argument is based on the statement that the universe is orderly, purposeful, and efficient. I have reservations with this statement. What can one say is the purpose of the universe?

Does is have one? Moving on, I feel that there are also problems with the argument sketch. First, trying to justify Gods intelligence through us can cause problems. Also, at the end of Hume's article, Philo himself destroys theism. He states that for the argument to be good, you need close analogies.

But, if the analogy between machine and universe are too tight, then divine and human intelligence are too close, and therefore there is proof that there is no existence of God. The argument that I am more comfortable with, though, is Aquinas Cosmological Argument. This argument relies on empirical observation; it begins with an observation of a factual feature of the world and reasons itself back to what may have been the case in order for the world to be this way. It is in this way that we observe the world not as a cause of another thing, but as the effect of something prior. For example, we can see the world in these terms: if a cause exists, so does its effects; if the effects exist, so does the cause; the effects exist; so the cause is.

It is through this idea that Aquinas tries to show that God exists (God being the cause). Now that we can see God as a cause that exists, Aquinas tries to demonstrate that there is a first cause, and that this is God. This is shown through the following: (1) There is a casual order (2) Nothing causes itself to exist (Note: this does not contradict what I have stated above, that God exists due to himself- this is because above it is Gods nature to exist himself- yet here I am saying that one c...

Research essay sample on Greater Can Be Conceived Idea Of God