Great Ideas of Philosophy

Lecture SixtyGod⎯Really?Scope: Aristotle regarded theology as the “first philosophy,” foundational for both natural science andmathematics. Philosophy of religion is a various and profoundly important field of inquiry for both theobvious substantive reasons and because of its ability to illuminate and test resources used in many otherareas of philosophy. Of these, special importance attaches to the nature of belief in relation toepistemology, the nature of free will in relation to determinism, and the basis of just deserts. The corequestion, of course, pertains to the existence of God and the grounds on which belief in that is defensible.The most venerable argument favoring the proposition is Thomas Aquinas’s “five way” proof. The assetsand liabilities of these proofs are rehearsed. Several of the more popular criticisms are answered byinvoking the notion of strong and weak warrants of belief, reliance here on Thomas Reid and WilliamJames. Two special challenges come by way of the problem of evil and the alleged incompatibility ofhuman freedom and divine omnipotence. Each of these challenges is summarized and rebuttals are offered.OutlineI. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle distinguishes between natural science, or physics, which is theoretical and dealswith what is inseparable from matter, and theology, what he calls that “first philosophy,” which is prior to allthe rest, is not confined to matter, and embraces what is universal.A. Philosophy of religion is a thriving specialty within philosophy, as much for the richness of religiousconcepts requiring philosophical analysis as for the substantive claims of religion, the implications ofwhich are judged to be the most momentous.B. As the claims of religion either transcend the level of experience or include possibilities not given directlyin experience, their acceptance requires faith, which has much in common with ordinary belief.C. According to Reid, for a child to learn, at least two core principles must be at work; otherwise the child isuneducable.1. The principle of veracity holds that there must be a native and universal inclination to speak the truth.2. According to the principle of credulity, there must be an equally native and universal inclination toaccept what others say as truthful.3. Without the former, there could be no possibility of cooperative behavior, no efficacy to contracts andagreements, no social life.4. Absent the principle of credulity, we would all begin life as skeptics. If skepticism of this sort were tobe habitual, the resulting distrust would deprive us of the greatest benefits of society.D. Such basic principles are “intuitive” and foundational for other principles.1. The specific principle of credulity, for example, is clearly not the gift of philosophical reflection,because this presupposes an inclination to believe the implications and conclusions arising from suchreflection.2. It is what makes the practice and the prospects of such reflection intelligible.3. Only insofar as one is strongly inclined to believe the evidence of sense, the canons of logic, thepotential efficacy of one’s actions is any initiative plausible or even conceivable.E. William James associates his concept of the “will to believe” with a passage found in Alexander Bain’streatise on The Emotions and the Will: “The leading fact in Belief, according to my view of it, is ourPrimitive Credulity. We begin by believing everything.”F. Though life soon alerts the child to the painful fact that not everyone is trustworthy, credulity is a natural,not an acquired, disposition. It is strongest in childhood and diminished in strength by experience andgreater independence of mind.II. As credulity gives way to caution and critical appraisals, a standard is developed so that judgment is notarbitrary and counterproductive. In the ordinary course of events, that standard is a pragmatic one.A. To seek a “warrant” for a given belief is to seek a justification that would distinguish the belief from amerely preferred fantasy. James looked to life on the whole as the source of any such warrant.©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership 37