Skip to main content

The Seven Ways

Udayana wrote "The Seven Ways" as an attempt to answer the question, does God really exist? Udayana gives seven arguments effects, atomic combinations, suspension and other states of the world, the existence of human skills, the existence of authoritative knowledge, the existences of Revelation, and the numerical combination of atoms. Udayana believes that the explanation of each argument will indeed prove not only that God exists but that God is both all-knowing and imperishable. After Udayana's arguments were stated there were objections to the first objection for example it was stated "you deny that God is corporeal: so you must deny that He is a cause" (100), but it was countered because "there is no effect without a cause" (101)

Most people who answer the question are bias in their answer because they are either religious or not. For those who believe in the presence of God base their belief on "faith" and in the bible it explains that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So proving the presence isn't something they desire. Those who have the desire to prove whether God exists or not is based on facts and reason. So often times arguments from this point of view isn't to prove the possibility that God exists but poke wholes in order to provide reasonable doubt and convince those that believe that God doesn't exist.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 22, 2017 at 8:30 PM

    I found your analysis of "The Seven Ways" very interesting. The idea that there is no way of looking into the existence of God from an unbiased perspective is novel to me. I guess because we live in a society so driven by religious and antireligious views it's never given me reason to pause and ask about the middle.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Seven Ways

Udayana states that there are seven ways to prove that God is in existence; effects, atomic combination, suspension, human skills, authoritative knowledge, Revelation, and atoms. He also calls Him the "all-knowing, imperishable God." He is imperishable God because he is the only one who could create atoms because humans are not able to. Also, humans can not break atoms or destroy them and he is stating that the only person that can do that is God because he created atoms. He mentions the difference between the cause and effect to validate if there is a God. He brings up the argument that "Things like the earth must have a cause, because they are produced by a body (101)." Some deity had to have made the earth for their pleasure. He also relies on objections to prove that God is real. Udayana does bring up good ideas to prove that God is real. The best argument to me is that he created atoms. Humans are unable to destroy atoms or to create them; so they had to be...
1 comment
Read more

The Five Ways

How can we justify the existence of God? Aristotle proposed an argument of an eternal universe and a temporary universe. He questions if the universe is one that has always been or one that is temporarily here for a moment in time. Many ponder the question and often go back and forth between answers, but nevertheless, many can agree that either way, the universe must have a cause or an overall creator and this is what St. Thomas Aquinas argues in, "The Five Ways." The five reasons are as follows: “The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. It is certain and evident to our senses that some things are in motion.” Motion is caused by a movement of an object or person, but who does the initial movement? This is the question that must be answered. If there is motion, who is the mover? Who has created this cause and effect relationship? This leads us to the second reason of evidence: “The second way is from the formality of efficient causation.” Who started th...
2 comments
Read more

Is the Concept of Ultimate Reality Coherent

     Ultimate reality is dependent on a human beings's perspective. Ultimate reality, or the concept of God are compiled of different beliefs  and conceptual models. Questions are raised with  transcendent reality in  nature and existence. Chad Meister, addresses some of these questions. Humans desire to escape the suffering of this world with the faith and belief that another more perfect existence is obtainable where the flaws of this world does not exist (89). Wainwright states that from human beings needs and experiences came the concept of ultimate reality. Advaita Vedanta takes the Hinduism traditions of Upanishadic to interptet the concept of ultimate reality. Upanishadic traditions, such as the teaching of Brahman, could be traslated as ultimate reality. The world is simutaniously external and unchanging whole, and a individuated plurality that is constantly morphing or changing. Vedanta had taken up this particular insight and gives empahasis on th...
1 comment
Read more