The Question of God

Research record

The question of God is one of the oldest and most enduring questions in philosophy. But whether there is a God is not the only question. It is first necessary to explain what is meant by God. The Creator The omniscient and omnipotent moral being The Reason for the World The Absolute Reality of the Absolute Nullity of Brahman A personal tribute to the or the symbolic center of religious experience. Different traditions take the word God to have different meanings; therefore, logic also varies in meaning. The concept of God is not uniform in Indian philosophy. The later acharyas of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika tradition, particularly Udayana, develop speculative arguments in favour of the existence of God. The classical form of Samkhya explains the world through the elements of Prakriti and Purusha and does not consider the creator God as indispensable. Purva-mimamsa tries to protect the authenticity of the Vedas without the need for a God-writer. Major schools of Buddhist philosophy do not accept a need for a creator God. Even within Vedanta, there are serious differences of opinion on the relationship between Brahman, Ishvara, and the world and the living entity. The first lesson to be drawn from this variety is that Indian philosophy is theistic or that Indian philosophy is atheistic; this is an oversimplification. The correct approach is to ask tradition-specific questions. A common argument in favor of God is based on causality: the world is changing, connected, or dependent; therefore, there must be a sufficient reason for it. Various forms of inference from intelligent agents developed within the juridical tradition, considering the world as work. In Western philosophy, there are several forms of cosmological reasoning: first cause, necessary being, sufficient cause, etc. But the objection immediately arises: if everything needs a cause, then what is the cause of God? In response, theists often say that reason is not the cause of all things but the cause of everything that exists or is possible. This answer does not eliminate the problem. The question remains, why can 't the universe itself be necessary? The reason why the chain is not infinite Whether it is right to apply the principle of causality to the whole universe Parallel philosophy does not consider this argument to be deductive or immediately deductive. Each line of reasoning must be tested separately. Intelligent planners have been inferred from the order of the world, mathematical structures, biological complexity, or life-adapting conditions. The power of this argument lies in its questioning of the comprehensibility and structure of the world. But natural selection, self-organization, physical laws, and the vast cosmic scale provide natural explanations for many complex phenomena. The philosophical question is therefore not as simple as the question of īlātilāt = God. The question is whether the existence or intelligibility of a final law demands additional interpretation when a natural explanation is available. The theists and naturalists differ on this point. Some thinkers associate material moral values or duties with the existence of God. If indeed some actions are not merely a question of choice but objectively improper, what is the ultimate basis for them? The theists may answer that the divine nature is full of auspiciousness. Objection: If an action is right only because God commands it, then morality can be arbitrary. if God commands what is right because it is freely right, then the basis of morality seems separate from God. This ancient dichotomy is a serious problem for religious morality. Parallel philosophy here regards the equal dignity of human beings as a public moral criterion. Religious morality may inspire, but the justification of a citizen 's rights cannot depend on sect-specific injunctions alone. A person experiencing prayer, meditation, devotion, mystical oneness, and purity considers this experience as evidence of God. It is unfair to call experience a direct illusion because experience is a real human event. However, the interpretation of the experience is disputed. Practitioners of different religions report different ultimate selves or realizations of truth. Psychological, social, and neurological explanations are also possible.

Structured debate

Pūrvapakṣa

The Question of God Eliminated from Science According to this view, the scientific explanation of natural phenomena, by extension, eliminates the need for God.

Uttarapakṣa

The level of the question is different. With the progress of logic and science, the gods of certain realms become weaker. But the philosophical question of God touches not only on what physical processes produce phenomena but also on questions of existence, causality, value, consciousness, and ultimate interpretation. Just because something is a philosophical question does not make God perfect. Science and metaphysics communicate on a different level. The State of Parallel Philosophy The question of God can neither be settled by ridicule nor by fear. The philosopher 's respect for the positions of the theist, atheist, and agnostic is when he explains his reasons, listens to the opposition, and accepts uncertainty honestly.

Parallel conclusion

God-criticism is not a yes / no vote but a multi-layered philosophical field of reason, morality, experience, suffering, freedom and interpretation. Parallelism does not privilege theism, nor does it automatically regard atheism as an intellectual triumph. Equal access to evidence, strong opposition, and dignified dialogue are the basic tenets of this chapter.

Section index

1. 51.1 The Plurality of the God-Concept
2. 51.2 From Reason to God
3. 51.3 Order and Purpose and Intelligence
4. 51.4 Ethical reasoning
5. 51.5 The experience of the religious
6. 51.6 The Argument Against God
7. 51.12 The Interconnectedness of the Attributes of God
8. 51.13 Prayer and the Causes of
9. 51.14 The Many Forms of Atheism
10. 51.15 Preface: The question of God is beyond judgment
11. 51.7 Not a proof without clarifying the concept
12. 51.8 The form of the cosmological argument
13. 51.9 Arrangements and micro-compatibilities
14. 51.10 The experience of the religious
15. 51.11 The Silence of the Gods

Cite this record

Gajendra Thakur. “The Question of God.” Videha Digital Research Archive: Mithila–Vajji–Anga. Videha — https://www.videha.co.in/ · ISSN 2229-547X · GitHub mirror: https://videha-ejournal.github.io/videha/ · Digital Research Archives on GitHub: https://github.com/videha-ejournal. https://videha-ejournal.github.io/mithila-vajji-anga/records/idea/philosophy-51/