Does God exist?

PROS

God is the first cause of the universe

The order and complexity of the world presuppose a creator

There are divine interventions

There is a morality independent of men

Only God is the guarantor of the reality and veracity of the world.

God's existence is contained in his concept

We have concepts within us that only God could have created.

The God hypothesis is simpler than the atheist hypothesis

Human nature aspires to God

God's existence can be experienced with immediate certainty

Human freedom is inexplicable in atheism

Test 01

CONS

No evidence of a god

There is no spirit outside matter

There is too much suffering and injustice for there to be a god

Religions contradict each other

Man is free

Man is determined

God is a contradictory concept

Human existence is no match for God

God is an invention

God is but the name of our ignorance

Arguments for the existence of God are all argumentative biases

The universe is too empty, too ancient and too vast to correspond to the God of religions.

Keywords: God, existence, first cause, materialism.

Warnings

This article aims to present all the pros and cons of the debate “Does God exist?”, to help everyone form a critical, informed opinion.

Learn more: Founding Principles

This debate is under construction. Arguments are missing or not written. The introduction and bibliography need improvement.

Feel free to complete them.

To understand the debate

Definition

God is the transcendent Creator of the Universe. This is what we mean when we speak of God, leaving aside the thousand and one particular conceptions we may have of him.

Kant did not abolish Metaphysics

For most continental philosophers, rational questioning about the existence of God is no longer relevant after the Kantian Critique. Following many other contemporary philosophers, the analytical philosopher Nicholas Woterstorff, a specialist in Kant, questions the skeptical reading of the master of Konigsberg: "In my opinion, although Kant denied that we can have knowledge of God, he defended not only the possibility of judgments about God, but also the possibility of judgments about God based solely on reason."[1] According to this expert, Kant has been (very) misinterpreted.

A revival of the debate over the last few decades

"Never since the end of the Middle Ages have the philosophy of religion and philosophical theology been as flourishing as in the last forty years in the philosophy of the analytic tradition. During this period, analytic philosophers have had intense and serious discussions on topics such as the relationship between God and evil, the precise nature of divine omnipotence, the question of whether God knows in advance what persons will do freely, whether God is eternal, whether he is impassible, simple, and so on."1 Clearly, one can no longer say that metaphysical questions must be excluded from philosophy, unless one is very unfamiliar with the Anglo-Saxon domain.

See Nicholas Wolterstorff, "The Origins of Analytical Philosophy of Religion", online in Revue Théo-Rème, 2/2012. Link:

https://journals.openedition.org/theoremes/265

See also: God and Arguments for the existence of God on Wikipedia

Pros

What are the pros of ?

• God is the first cause of the universe
• The order and complexity of the world presuppose a creator
• There are divine interventions
• There is a morality independent of men
• Only God is the guarantor of the reality and veracity of the world.
• God's existence is contained in his concept
• We have concepts within us that only God could have created.
• The God hypothesis is simpler than the atheist hypothesis
• Human nature aspires to God
• God's existence can be experienced with immediate certainty
• Human freedom is inexplicable in atheism
• Test 01

Cons

What are the cons of ?

• No evidence of a god
• There is no spirit outside matter
• There is too much suffering and injustice for there to be a god
• Religions contradict each other
• Man is free
• Man is determined
• God is a contradictory concept
• Human existence is no match for God
• God is an invention
• God is but the name of our ignorance
• Arguments for the existence of God are all argumentative biases
• The universe is too empty, too ancient and too vast to correspond to the God of religions.

Further reading

Bibliography

“Pro” side

• Anselme de Cantorbery, Monologion. Proslogion, Cerf, Paris, 1986
• Averroès, Discours décisif, Flammarion, Paris, 1996
• George Berkeley, Trois dialogues entre Hylas et Philonous, Flammarion, Paris, 1999 (1713)
• René Descartes, Méditations métaphysiques, Flammarion, Paris
• Fénelon, Traité de l'existence de Dieu, Éditions Universitaires, 1995
• Étienne Gilson, L'Athéisme difficile, Vrin, Paris, 1979
• Frédéric Guillaud, Dieu existe, Le Cerf, Paris, 2013
• Karl Jaspers, Introduction à la philosophie, Plon, Paris, 1951
• Raymond Ruyer, Dieu des religions, Dieu de la science, Flammarion, Paris, 1970
• Richard Swinburne, Y a-t-il un Dieu ?, Ithaque, Paris, 2009
• Jean Staune, Notre existence a-t-elle un sens ? (Une enquête scientifique et philosophique), Fayard, coll. Pluriel, 2017

“Con” side

• Michel-Yves Bolloré, Olivier Bonnassies, Dieu, la science, les preuves : l'aube d'une révolution, Guy Trédaniel, 2021
• Paul Davies, L'esprit de Dieu, Hachette Littérature, 1998
• André Comte-Sponville, « Dieu existe-t-il ? », L'esprit de l'athéisme, Albin Michel, Paris, 2006
• Richard Dawkins, Pour en finir avec Dieu, Robert Laffont, Paris, 2008
• Ludwig Feuerbach, L'essence du christianisme, Gallimard, Paris, 1992 (1841)
• Richard Dawkins, L'horloger aveugle, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1999
• Sigmund Freud, L'avenir d'une illusion, 1927
• Christopher Hitchens, Dieu n'est pas grand, Belfond, Paris, 2009
• Michel Onfray, Traité d'athéologie, Grasset, Paris, 2005
• Bertrand Russell, Pourquoi je ne suis pas chrétien, Montréal, 2011

Neither “pro” nor “con”

• Jean-Paul Sartre, L'existentialisme est un humanisme, Gallimard, Paris, 1946
• David Hume, Dialogues sur la religion naturelle, Folio, 2009
• Leszek Kołakowski, Philosophie de la religion, Gallimard, 1985
• Bernard Sève, La question philosophique de l'existence de Dieu, PUF, 1994
• Hans Küng, Dieu existe-t-il ?, Le Seuil, 1981

Webliography

“Pro” side

No references have been entered yet.

“Con” side

No references have been entered yet.

Neither “pro” nor “con”

• God's_existence Arguments for the existence of God, Wikipedia
• The pathetic God of theology, Agora Québec
• The origins of analytic philosophy of religion, ThéoRèmes magazine, Nicholas Wolterstorff, 2012

Videography

“Pro” side

No references have been entered yet.

“Con” side

• Proof of god's non-existence

Neither “pro” nor “con”

• Does science bring us closer to God? (Skeptical interview #7)