26 God? Self?
Does God Exist? The Ontological and Cosmological Arguments
- Ontological Argument
- “An attempt to prove the existence of God by a priori reasoning from the content of the concept of God. As formulated by Anselm, the ontological argument begins with a notion of ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived.’ Anything that satisfies this concept must exist in reality as well as in thought (since otherwise it would be possible to conceive something greater — one that really exists); hence, God exists.” (41)
- Cosmological Argument
- “An attempt to prove the existence of God by appeal to contingent facts about the world. The first of Aquinas’s five ways (borrowed from Aristotle’s Metaphysics ), begins from the fact that something is in motion: since everything that moves must be moved by another but the series of prior movers cannot extend infinitely, there must be a first mover (which is God). The second and third of the five ways begin from efficient causation and the existence of contingent beings.” (42)
Where Is the Self?
Read: The Questions of King Milinda from Book II — Lakkhana Pañha – The Distinguishing Characteristics of Ethical Qualities — Chapter 1 from Internet Sacred Text Archive website. (43)