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Mollie Stein

SPL 100 02/ Dr. Martino

God of the Philosophers Paper

December 1, 2016

God of the Philosophers

As a child growing up in a Catholic school setting, I would have to say that in a way I

was forced to approach God in a personal way. Throughout middle school and high school in a

public school setting, I lost a lot of my faith traditions that I once had. Being in a Catholic school

setting kept me on track and reminded me to always reflect on my faith while public school did

none of this. Now that I am attending Seton Hill, a Catholic university, I am gradually gaining

those traditions back as well as my personal connection to God. While I have always believed in

God as our higher power, my faith has been constantly changing throughout the years. I believe

that no matter what faith one practices, each and every person has a conscious that guides him or

her to make moral decisions in their lives. While I believe every person has the moral obligation

to be kind and generous towards others, I personally believe a moral lifestyle will lead me to God

in the afterlife. He has made this world for us, and we must treat all of his creation well in order

to return to Him in Heaven. I have never doubted the existence of God but I have often

questioned his choices in times of suffering or tragedy. God making choices that might

negatively affect others seems more logical to me than the scientific argument behind God and

the creation of our Earth. I have never rejected God but I am open to others beliefs and opinions,

even if their ideas reflect Atheism. I believe that for those of us who still keep God in our

everyday lives, God is not dead.

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Thomas Aquinas explained five arguments or proofs for Gods existence. These five

arguments were motion, efficient cause, possibility and necessity, different degrees of perfection

found in finite things, and governance of the world (Chaffee 363 365). Aquinas explains that

everything that is in motion has been put in motion by someone. It is impossible for there to be a

chain of movers leading to the conclusion that there is one and only mover, and that is God

(Chaffee, 363). Aquinas then goes on to explain his reasoning behind efficient cause. He explains

that in nature there is only one efficient cause, there is no order of causes. Aquinas concludes that

there is, A first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God. (Chaffee, 363). Next

is possibility and necessity. Aquinas says that for existence to continuously increase as it does,

something had to exist before to give life to a new existence. Aquinass argues that an existence

had to give existence to the world, as for the world did not just give existence to itself. God had

to give the world its existence (Chaffee, 364). Aquinas then goes on to explain different degrees

of perfection found in finite things. He says that humans are constantly judging others by degree

of perfection. To be able to judge, there has to exist something that is ultimately perfect. There

must be a set standard by someone or something to compare others to. God must be the standard

of perfection to which we constantly judge existing things off of (Chaffee, 364). The last

argument for Aquinas is governance of the world. He explains that God gives living bodies the

intelligence to move to an ultimate end which we hope will be the best result we can individually

obtain (Chaffee, 365). After Thomas Aquinas offered his opinion on the existence of God, other

followed but with a different view on the matter. John Leslie Mackie argues that there can be no

God because of the existence of evil. If God truly did exist, then evil would not simultaneously

because a perfect God would not allow it (Chaffee, 370). Pascal then offered the view that

without the belief of God, one would have the opportunity to feel freedom and pleasure because
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one would not worry about their existence in the afterlife (Chaffee, 380). William James

explained that the truth behind God is not as set in stone as some believe. One must have faith to

be able to achieve the real truth (Chaffee, 387). Kierkegaard believed that all attempts to reveal

the existence of God will fail. He believed that we as humans create our own vision of God, and

any vision that we may have had can be destroyed by a terrible event (Chaffee, 395). Discussion

of the existence of God led to the careful analysis of humans and how they approach the subject

of a Transcendent Reality.

William James tried to analyze how humans attempt to engage with God through his

piece of work, The Variety of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. James uses

descriptions of others religious experiences to aid in his analysis. By analyzing how one

engages with God through experiences with human nature and conditions, William James is

informing others of how to examine God with a philosophical approach (Morneau, 1). James

also focused on the importance of our own passional natures in his time of analysis. William

James stated that, We also need to make full use of the abilities of our passional natures

when attempting to make sense of and discover truth in areas like morality, religion, and

human relationships (Chaffee, 387). James touches on these areas regarding our passional

natures and what the best strategy is to take when approaching each area. James further

explains that, When you are confronted with a genuine option that cannot be decided on

evidential grounds, you have the right to decide the issue according to your passional nature

(Chaffee, 387). James proposes the question as to whether we as humans have the freedom to

choose in our lives or are our choices influenced and controlled by outside influences we

cannot control? We should use our passional natures to answer this question for ourselves

because scientific reasoning cannot answer it for us (Chaffee, 387). Since scientific evidence
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cannot answer this question nor can determine the truthfulness or falsity of religious

experience, we must trust our religious experiences to determine our religious beliefs. In

William James work, The Variety of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, he

writes about ten insights that he has had throughout his work. One that I believe best advances

philosophys aim to examine the human experience of belief in God in an objective way was

the insight James stated as, The human condition applies to everyone (Morneau, 1). God has

made each of us the same, but we shape ourselves. We as humans are all clay who form and

mold ourselves throughout our lives whether we seek the guidance of God or not. We are born

completely objective and how our experiences shape us leads us to our personal opinions and

feelings (Morneau, 1). I believe what James was trying to say is that we are born with the

belief of God in us, but how the outside world shapes us will determine our future beliefs and

opinions. Through questioning our world and seeking our own truths, we are able choose and

seek our own individual awareness to a Transcendent Reality.

Friedrich Nietzsche has a different approach to God and his approach led to his

conclusion that God is dead because we as humans have killed him. His background and life

journey is what has led him to come to this conclusion. Friedrich Nietzsches father was a

preacher, a servant of God, and taught Nietzsche the difference between good and evil. He

wanted his son to be a servant of God also (Cavani, 1977). When Friedrich Nietzsche was

young, both his brother and father died within a short amount of time. Before his father died,

he watched him suffer tremendously. He did not understand how his father could be so faithful

to God yet all he got in return was suffering. This sparked Friedrich Nietzsches doubts

regarding God (Cavani, 1977). Friedrich Nietzsche did not mean that God is literally dead

when explaining the death of God, he meant that we as human have killed the concept of God
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and no longer look to him for intervention in our lives (Chaffee, 496). According to Nietzsche

the implications of the death of God were that, No longer can humans depend on a

supernatural being to provide purpose and a moral code to live by and we cannot call

ourselves children of God anymore as well as the fact that there is no one to ask forgiveness to

and no one to take away our sins best advances philosophys aim to examine the human

experience of belief in God or the awareness of a Transcendent Reality in a more objective

way. It is now up to us humans to create this moral code for ourselves since we have taken God

away from this job by killing Him (Chaffee, 496). Friedrich Nietzsche represents his feelings

towards the death of God by writing The Gay Science, which he tells of a madman in the

marketplace yelling and pleading with people (Chaffee, 496). This madman is asking the

people in the marketplace to tell him where God is. No one can answer this question because

the people in this marketplace were nonbelievers. Because of their stance on God, they found

the madmans question absurd and laughable. This text proves Nietzsches belief of the death

of God (Chaffee, 496). We as people have pushed Him away, ignoring Him and no longer

asking Him for his guidance. Many of us humans no longer believe in Him, and God is a thing

of the past to us. He is buried in the past, He is dead. The amount of nonbelievers in the text

who laugh at the madmans question represent humans as a whole, people who believe that

there is no God and that we no longer need Him (Chaffee, 496).

After reading the article, Millennials Are Less Religious than Older Americans, but just

as Spiritual, Ive concluded that this article aids in Nietzsches argument of the death of God.

There is an overwhelming amount of people that do not believe in God, more than ever before,

and the amount is increasing. It is interesting to see that while less and less millenials believe

that there is a God, there is still a great belief in Heaven and Hell (Alper, 1). Aquinas explains
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in his five arguments that we as humans hope to obtain the best result in our end (Chaffee,

365). If one believes in Heaven, which according to the statistics in the article many do, then

that would be the greatest end to obtain. God made this end for us and the least we could do is

repay him with our faith and love towards Him. We do not do this but yet expect an ultimate

end, and this is why why we are killing God if God is not already dead already. The author of

the article, Q&A: Why Millennials Are Less Religious than Older Americans, gives reasoning

behind why millenials are the least religious group. Masci explains that the parents of

millenials encourage children to think for themselves and that being a good kid does not

necessarily mean being obedient which leads to this change in following religion (Masci, 1).

William James explained that we are all clay who are later formed and shaped by outside

forces (Morneau, 1). This also aids in Mascis explanation. The reason that religion is

decreasing throughout generations is because parents are molding and shaping their children to

be that way. Thomas Aquinas further established my belief in God with his arguments of His

existence. None of these things would be possible without God himself. William James points

and Nietzsches points affected my hand in hand. We are clay being shaped to help aid in the

death of God. While I refuse to help with this, many are unknowingly on board. By spreading

the truths and action of God, hopefully our generation or the next one will be able to be the

ones to rebuild Gods powerful and all-knowing stance on our world.

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Works Cited

Alper, B. A. (2015, November 23). Millennials are less religious that older Americans, but just

as spiritual.

Retrieved November 29, 2016, from

http://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2015/11/23/millennials-are-less-religious-than-

older-americans-but-just-as-spiritual/

Cavani, L. (Director). (1977). Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil [Motion picture on TV Film].

United States: Les Artistes Associes.

Chaffee, J. (2011, 2013, 2016). The Philosophers Way: Thinking Critically About Profound

Ideas (Fifth ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

Masci, D. (2016, January 08). Q&A: Why Millennials are less religious than older Americans.

Retrieved November 29, 2016, from http://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2016/01/08/qa-

why-millennials-are-less-religious-than-older-americans/

Morneau, R. F. (2014, February 3). Varieties of Insights: The Wisdom of William James.

Retrieved November 29, 2016, from http://www.americamagazine.org/issue/varieties-

insights