Philosophy 102: Does God Exist? - Exposition: Literature Survey

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Does God exist?
The existence of God is a debate that has continued to intrigue scholars and philosophers
for over centuries. The attempt to establish and prove the existence of God has been going on
since ages, and philosophers have developed several arguments to support their views. It is not
necessary that the contributions have been made only by Christian philosophers, for both the
Muslim and the Jewish have also explained various theories pertaining to it (Philosophy of
religion, 2010). Recently, the classical theistic arguments have been revived and further refined,
which has added to the refreshing outlook and revised form of this subject. This has added a
whole new angle to how the matter is perceived, and it can be said with a certain amount of
emphasis that there are proofs that validate the existence of God. The following essay holds the
notion that yes, God exists.
The question whether God exists or not is a rather fascinating one, probably because it
gives rise to many more questions in return. These questions deal with the proof that support the
claim, or the arguments that validate that there isn’t one. The existence of God has been
questioned by many philosophers over the past many centuries. They have wondered whether it
is something that can be defended with evidence, or if it is something that is based wholly on
human faith and understanding, devoid of any real, palpable logic. There are several arguments,
which are philosophical in nature, that corroborate the belief that God does exist.
David Hume is one of the philosophers who can be said to be an atheist, as believed by
his contemporaries. Nietzsche is also famous for making the statement “God is dead”, which
shook the very foundations of deeply religious Europe during his time. Hume can be said to be a
skeptic who valued human reasoning and stressed that it must not surpass itself (Strawson,
2014). Although he may not be strictly called an atheist, he can perhaps be classified as an