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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Philosophy of Religion (booklet) Arguments for the Existence of God Within the Arguments for the Existence of God section, the arguments are arranged under the following headings: “Pascal’s Wager”, “The Ontological Argument”, “The Cosmological Argument” (including the first cause argument), “The Teleological Argument” (i.e. the argument to design), “The Moral Argument”, “Religious Experience” and “The Argument from Miracles”.

Pascal’s Wager Pascal’s Wager is an argument for belief in God based not on an appeal to evidence that God exists but rather based on an appeal to self-interest. It is in our interests to believe in God, the argument suggests, and it is therefore rational for us to do so. The claim that it is in our interests to believe in God is supported by a consideration of the possible consequences of belief and unbelief.

If we believe in God, the argument runs, then if he exists then we will receive an infinite reward in heaven while if he does not then we have lost little or nothing. If we do not believe in God, the argument continues, then if he exists then we will receive an infinite punishment in hell while he does not then we will have gained little or nothing.

Either receiving an infinite reward in heaven or losing little or nothing is clearly preferable to either receiving an infinite punishment in hell or gaining little or nothing. It is therefore in our interests to believe in God. The Ontological Argument The ontological argument is an argument that attempts to prove the existence of God through abstract reasoning alone. The argument begins with an explication of the concept of God.

Part of what we mean when we speak of “God” is “perfect being”; that is what the word “God” means. A God that exists, of course, is better than a God that doesn’t. To speak of God as a perfect being is therefore to imply that he exists. If God’s perfection is a part of the concept of God, though, and if God’s perfection implies God’s existence, then God’s existence is implied by the concept of God. When we speak of “God” we cannot but speak of a being that exists.

To say that God does not exist is to contradict oneself; it is literally to speak nonsense. The Cosmological Argument The cosmological argument is the argument from the existence of the world or universe to the existence of a being that brought it into and keeps it in existence.