... there are a few points that must be established. First is a clear definition of Philosophy of Religion, which is the area of philosophy that applies philosophical methods to study a wide variety of religious issues including the existence of God. The use of the philosophical method makes Philosophy of Religion distinct from theology, which is the study of God and any type of issues that relate to the divine. Now there are two types ... might notice Natural Theology is akin to philosophy of religion in the sense that both use human reasoning in their attempts to explain the divine. The m...

• Word Count: 3256
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

... principle embodied in beings and an active or essential part to every being in the universe. For the purpose of this philosophical view on the soul, we will not only focus on this commonly accepted definition, but we will also focus on the definition that philosophers have clung to over the years. A philosopher states that the soul is "the vitalizing principle by which ... a thing is able to perform activities which we associate with being alive." Philosophers further narrow their definition down to describing the functions of vital activity to the "minimum powers of nutrition, growth, ...

• Word Count: 1720
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... perfection then you are a fool. By this, Gaunilo is trying to criticize the process by which Anselm moves from his definition of God to his suggestion of God's existence. Of course Gaunilo has a point: If the idea that a type of thing "than which no greater could be conceived" must necessarily exist, might this not apply to the most perfect potato or the greatest monkey? Aquinas ... and therefore there are also no sides. He said that in the same way, if you don't accept the concept of God in the first place, it is a useless argument. Further criticism comes from the Empiricist David Hum...

• Word Count: 662
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene" Descartes discusses the existence of external objects, primarily in the First Meditation. Descartes doubts the existence of external objects based upon the idea that an "evil genius" exists instead of an ideally good God. This "evil genius" strives at deceiving Descartes. Descartes now assumes that all external objects- "the heavens, the air, the earth, colors, shapes, sounds"- ... "being than which none greater can be thought". The meaning of the argument is that the concept of God is the greatest being who can be thought, and therefore He must exist...

• Word Count: 701
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... century, better known as the Enlightenment, initiated a paradigm shift in metaphysical thought. Empiricism and Rationalism are contrasting schools of philosophy which portray the attitudes of the Enlightenment, these philosophies radically changed the contemporary thought of religion, and human existence, but most importantly empiricism, academically questioned the existence of God. Descartes, a chief exponent to rationalism, argued the Empirical premises and maintained that God necessarily exists. Descartes ... attributed to sense data George Berkeley's (1685-1753) concept of God was f...

• Word Count: 1995
• Approx Pages: 8