Philosophy of Religion: God, Faith and Reason
Philosophy of Religion examines God, faith, reason and religious language. The paper tests arguments for and against God's existence, the relation of faith and reason, and Indian debates.
Core rules and concepts
- The ontological argument moves from the concept of God to existence; Anselm formulates it, and Kant objects that existence is not a predicate.
- The cosmological argument argues from contingency or motion to a first cause; the teleological from design; the moral argument from moral experience.
- Indian Nyaya offers proofs for Ishvara; Advaita distinguishes nirguna Brahman (without qualities) and saguna Brahman (with qualities).
- The problem of evil: if God is omnipotent, omniscient and good, why evil? Responses include free will, soul-making and karma.
- Faith and reason: fideism separates them; scholasticism harmonises them; critical rationalism tests religious claims.
Worked example
'The world shows order, so a designer exists.' Reconstruct: order implies intelligence; the world has order; therefore God. The analogy is weak if order can arise from natural selection. The argument is inductive, not deductive, so it supports probability, not proof. A strong answer states the premise, the inference and the objection.
Traps
Do not treat atheism as lack of ethics. Do not say karma explains all suffering without addressing natural evil. Do not confuse 'faith' with 'blind belief' in every context. Do not present one proof as conclusive.