was feeling a bit philosophical this afternoon, and was contemplating this thought…
does not the very fact that we even think about the existence of God prove his existence?
i have serious doubts as to whether any other living thing asks these sorts of questions, which (it seems to me) proves an inherent difference between us and other critters.
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I think you are alluding to
16. The Argument from Desire
19. The Common Consent Argument
Twenty Arguments For The Existence Of God
God exists and He is good, all the time!
strange you should mention kreeft – haven’t thought about him for years, but actually had reason to think about him this evening (independently) about another matter. i like kreeft’s stuff a lot, but i didn’t have him in mind during my contemplations.
actually, it’s is one of those interesting feelings, when you feel you’ve just had a “big thought”, but also have the sense that surely somebody else a lot smarter must have thought this before somewhere…
there’s actually a mathematician who has some philosophical ideas about the inevitable development of key ideas, but i don’t have time to ramble right at the moment… :-)
an interesting assumption…I sometimes think about the existence of life elsewhere in the universe and other odd things – can we apply the same reasoning?
“I think therefore I am,” said Rene Descartes, “and if I am, then something must have caused me to be.
What could have caused me to be?
- Myself? but surely I would have made myself perfect.
- I could be eternal myself? but I don’t exist independently, I need something to sustain me.
- My parents? but then what caused my parents to be, and their parents, ad infinitum.
- Something less perfect than God? but how could something imperfect create the concept of perfection in me?
- God? but of course!
from “Discourse on Method” (somewhere near the back, I think)
yes, yes, yes… good old descartes! so, i think now that i might have thought this once before during a dream in one of my philosophy classes… :-)