God And The World

God And The World is a module in the AQA AS Unit 2 Philosophy course.

Course Outline

For some, that the world is as it is suffices to justify their belief in God. For others, the existence of God is incompatible with the world as they find it. Do facts about this world make God's existence more or less plausible? What kinds of arguments support our conclusions and what are their limitations? How do we decide on the right way to describe the world and from what perspective? If the evidence cannot determine whether the existence of God is more or less likely, then should we see the disagreement as merely a reflection of different personal feelings, attitude and commitments?

Students will be introduced to two arguments: one for the existence of God (the argument from design) and one against the existence of God (the problem of evil).

Issues to be covered

• God and the world
  • The argument from design
    • Arguments for design based on apparent order and purpose and challenges to those arguments.
    • Arguments from design (analogy, the inadequacies of naturalistic explanations) and challenges to those arguments.
  • The problem of evil
    • That the existence of evil counts against the existence of an all loving and all powerful God. Moral and natural evil and their relation to one another.
    • Attempts to reconcile the evil we perceive with the existence of God (the free will defence, the best of all possible worlds, soul making and the afterlife).
  • The religious point of view
    • Consideration of the claim that the world can accommodate different perspectives ("seeing as").
    • The status of the religious hypothesis; is it a "hypothesis" at all? Consideration of the claim that religious "belief" mirrors the feelings, attitudes and commitments of the religious rather than facts about the world.

Steve's Resources

The Argument From Design

The Design Argument is an empirical argument aiming to prove the existence of God. It looks at the world around us and suggests that the apparent design and order implies there must be a designer and that this designer is God.

The Problem Of Evil

The Problem of Evil is the contradiction between evil in the world and God's attributes of omniscience, omni-benevolence and omnipotence. It is claimed that God cannot have all these attributes and allow for so much evil and suffering in the world. Many religious philosophers have tried to solve this problem by offering defences of God.

The Religious Point of View

In this section of the module you need to understand how religious and non-religious people view the world differently, the concept known as seeing as. Also, you need to be aware of the discussions into whether or not religious language is actually meaningful or not.

Seeing as.pptx
The Religious Hypothesis.pptx

Mel's Resources

Introductory/General

The Argument From Design

The Design Argument is an empirical argument aiming to prove the existence of God. It looks at the world around us and suggests that the apparent design and order implies there must be a designer and that this designer is God.

The Problem Of Evil

The Problem of Evil is the contradiction between evil in the world and God's attributes of omniscience, omni-benevolence and omnipotence. It is claimed that God cannot have all these attributes and allow for so much evil and suffering in the world. Many religious philosophers have tried to solve this problem by offering defences of God.

The Religious Point of View

In this section of the module you need to understand how religious and non-religious people view the world differently, the concept known as seeing as. Also, you need to be aware of the discussions into whether or not religious language is actually meaningful or not.

Seeing As
John Wisdom's Parable of the Gardener.pptx
Verification and Falsification.pptx
The Religious Hypothesis.pptx
Is The Religious Hypothesis A Hypothesis At All.pptx