Essay on Moral Argument for Existence of God - 1607 Words

All moral arguments for the existence of God work on the principle that we all have a shared sense of morality. Despite cultural differences, broadly speaking, humans worldwide have a vague idea of what is right and what is wrong; a moral argument for the existence of God would say that this mutual understanding is proof of Gods existence. Immanuel Kant put forward this argument (although, not a moral argument); God as the source of objective morality. Firstly, he addressed the categorical imperative; our own sense of duty, and that being moral was case of following this principle, for example, paying your debts. He said that it was our duty to promote the highest good (summum bonum), however virtue and happiness are independent of one†¦show more content†¦Kants other assumption is that everybodys aim is achieve summum bonum, but it would be wrong to assume that everybody has the same goals in life. We can summarise Kants argument into three different stages, firstly; morali ty demands us to aim for the highest good, secondly; we cannot attain this unless there is a God to assist us, and lastly; God must exist to ensure that we achieve that which we are duty bound to do. If you were to share Kants assumptions, it would become necessary to assume that there is a God. Although Kants argument is indeed notable, there are a number of criticisms. Firstly, it does not prove the God of classical theism, for if summum bonum can be achieved by humans, then it means that not only God can, and he is not omnipotent. Secondly, Kant makes the enormous assumption that virtue must be rewarded by happiness, but gives nothing to back up why this has to be the case. It is like saying that salt and vinegar must go together on chips, but as they cant in this life, there must be an afterlife where this can happen, such an assumption seems absurd. Another weakness, as previously mentioned above, is that it seems wrong to assume that everyone feels that the same sense of duty to strive for summum bonum. HP Owen and Cardinal Newman put forward another moral argument, morality as derived from God (via conscience and objective laws or rules). ForShow MoreRelatedThe Adequacy of the Moral Argument for Explaining the Existence of God540 Words   |  3 PagesThe Adequacy of the Moral Argument for Explaining the Existence of God The moral argument like many arguments for the existence of God comes in many different forms. All of these set out to prove God’s existence from the evidence of morality in the world. Morality is about understanding the difference between the right and wrong action in a situation, the moral person has this understanding and then acts appropriately. 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I will briefly explain the â€Å"Does Ethics need God?† fundamental argument about morality that is presented in Zagzebski’s argument. After the first two parts of my essay I will discuss some objections and respond them. I will argue that Zagzebski’s argument indeed proves that God exists and I w ill do this by outlining the main claims of this argument and by responding to objections to this argument. According to