Essential Scholars

Question 1

David Hume and Richard Dawkins general argument?

Answer 1

• Belief in the transcendent (ideas that exist above and beyond our universe) goes against common sense (counterintuitive)
• Both require stronger (empirical and material) evidence
• Transcendent and spiritual reality is meaningless

Question 2

Logical positivists general argument?

Answer 2

• Emphasis on empiricism and rejecting ‘a priori’
• Knowledge is gained through experience, not an innate connection to the world of forms
• Against all arguments concerned with the existence of God or metaphysical existence

Question 3

AJ Ayer quote on metaphysical

Answer 3

“The term ‘God’ is a metaphysical term. And if ‘God’ is a metaphysical term, then it cannot even be probable that God exists.”

Question 4

Aristotle general arguments

Answer 4

• Experience is a requirement of how we learn
• Challenges Plato and dualism of the soul
• Also applies to ontological argument as it relies on reason instead of empirical evidence

Question 5

Aristotle experience quote

Answer 5

‘If a man has the theory without the experience … he will often fail’

Question 6

Davis Hume and Bertrand Russell arguments

Answer 6

• Challenged the existence of God and ancient Greek understanding of metaphysics
• The universe holds no purpose of telos, it is just ‘brute fact’

Question 7

Richard Dawkins arguments (materialism and evolutionary theory)

Answer 7

Materialism –
- ‘transcendent is meaningless’
- Hard materialist approach
Evolutionary Theory –
- Evolutionary biologist who builds upon Darwin’s work
- Challenges Augustine, Design, and Aristotle

Question 8

Jean Paul Sartre arguments

Answer 8

• No intrinsic purpose to the universe

- Existential philosopher who relies on empirical evidence

Question 9

Sigmund Freud arguments

Answer 9

• Psychological challenge to God’s existence
• Psychiatrist who’s his studies into religion and religious experience led him to conclude that the idea of God was a form of neurosis