The Existence of God: Ontological, Teleological and Moral Arguments

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The existence of God:
Ontological, teleological and Moral arguments
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Does God exist?
Introduction
The argument that God exists has traversed generations of philosophical arguments and
over time various individuals have come up with propositions that support or not the probability
of God’s existence. There has been a heated debate on the existence of God with different
arguments put forward to support either side of the whole storyline. The arguments have
contributed greatly to the upsurge of both beliefs in God and none believers. In the United States,
for example, philosophical arguments about whether God exists has contributed greatly to an
increase in the none believers, those who believe that there is no God whatsoever1. God's
existence, however, is said to have a massive boost of proof from probabilities of rational forms
that are both at a traditional point of view's disposal and to the self-professed atheists2. It is
important to note however that the much precedence of propositions is not only emanating from
the Christian point of view but also have connections with both Muslim and Jewish societies all
of whom have presented masterpieces about the whole idea of God's existence.
Ontological argument
The ontological argument on the probability of God’s existence has existed for ages since
its proposition by Anselm of Canterbury in 1078 during his work of the Proslogion3. The proof
of God’s existence under this argument is based on the abstract voice of reason4. In the
mentioning of God, we speak of a perfect being. The aspect and mention of "being" come with
1 Michael Peligro, "Arguments Why God (Very Probably) Exists", The Conversation, Last modified 2017,
http://theconversation.com/arguments-why-god-very-probably-exists-75451.
2 Robert H Nelson, God? Very Probably, n.d.
3 J.R Lucas, "The Ontological Argument", Users.Ox.Ac.Uk, Last modified 1998,
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/ontolarg.html.
4 Philosophy of Religion, "Philosophy Of Religion » Arguments For The Existence Of God",
Philosophyofreligion.Info, Last modified 2018, http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/.

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the sense of existence. The ontological argument begins with the mention and understanding of
God as a perfect being. A being is something that exists, if so is true, then God, from the mention
of “perfect being” is something in existence and that supersedes all other beings. St. Anselm
points out God as a being that no greater other can be thought of5. This is proof in itself of God's
existence since there is nothing so far greater than a being no greater other can be thought of, so
then God exists.
Rene Descartes also attempts to prove God's existence in his fifth meditation of
seventeenth century. In his analogy, Renes uses a mathematical representation in proofing God's
existence through abstract reason. In his assertion, he identifies a contradiction that exists when
one chooses to believe the likely non-existence of a triangle whose interior angles do not add to
180 degrees and fail to believe the supremacy of a being that no other who lacks in existence.
Therefore, since we anticipate the supremacy of a being greater and perfect than us, and we are
in full knowledge of the supreme being, then we should conclude that the supreme being ideally
exists, thus God exists6.
Gottfried Leibniz, the father of calculus uses the potential of reason as a proof of God’s
existence in his cosmological argument7. In his argument, Leibniz asserts that there must be an
explanation about the existence of the world. Through his work on the principle of sufficient
reason, Leibniz concludes that everything that is represented in the world happens so for a
reason, for instance when the sky is blue, Leibniz notes, why is it blue and not another color? For
this question, for instance, Leibniz argument is based on the premise that if nothing existed
besides what we can see in the world, there would lack an explanation for the things we see.
5 "Ontological Arguments (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy)", Plato.Stanford.Edu, Last modified 1996,
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/.
6 "Ontological Arguments (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy)", Plato.Stanford.Edu, Last modified 1996,
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/.
7 Craig, William L. The cosmological argument from Plato to Leibniz. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001.

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According to Leibniz therefore, everything in the world exists for a reason for much more than
what we can see. There exists supremacy in the things we can see. Hence God exists.
Teleological argument
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the teleological assertion for the
existence of God is anchored on the premise of design with which the world is naturally
occurring. It is often referred to as the design argument8. The naturally occurring world comes in
unconceivable design far from human thinking, with details and serving different purposes. Even
so, it is reasonable to think of a designer far much greater in thinking and reason from the human
perspective and understanding. All the creation and design would not have occurred by chance
and therefore a hint to that effect of supreme being in existence.
William Paley's analogy of the watch and the watchmaker is another classic example of
proof of God's existence. Paley asserts in his analogy of the watch that after his careful analysis
of the watch and all its parts jointly working together for a purpose, it is coherent to deduce that
this masterpiece has a creator since it comes with inconceivable complexity far much ordinarily
unthinkable of simply coming to being by other means such as evolution9. The natural existence
of some phenomena which come in some form of fineness and daintiness, function and
connections, should act as a purge for people to realize that there existed a directive sensor
behind these naturally occurring phenomena, God10. To think therefore that the world came about
by chance would be unreasonable and unsatisfactory, there must have been a perfect being who
8 Phillip Pecorino, "The Teleological Argument", Qcc.Cuny.Edu, accessed 17 November 2018,
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%203%20Religion/Teleological.htm.
9 Stephen Hicks, "The Watch And Watchmaker Analogy For The Existence Of A God – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.",
Stephenhicks.Org, Last modified 2016, http://www.stephenhicks.org/2016/10/01/the-watch-and-watchmaker-
analogy-for-the-existence-of-a-god/.
10 "Teleological Arguments For God's Existence (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy)", Plato.Stanford.Edu, Last
modified 2015, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleological-arguments/.