Abstract
The article critiques the seven major arguments supporting a belief in God. The arguments are presented as Inferences to the Best Explanation with the use of charts. The charts graphically demonstrate that naturalistic explanations are being ignored by the theist, who favors inherently unverifiable supernatural explanations over naturalistic ones. The paper also discusses why metaphysical beliefs should not be trusted, and how such beliefs differ from scientific beliefs. The paper concludes that the arguments for the existence of God fail because the naturalistic explanations are the best explanations and should be accepted over the supernatural explanation of God. To the extent that the charting of all seven arguments is new, it should be a helpful explanatory tool, especially for students.
Highlights
This paper will look at seven major arguments supporting a belief in God—the Cosmological, Teleological, and Fine-Tuning Arguments, in addition to the Argument from the Reliability of Scripture, Argument from Miracles, How to cite this paper: Firestone, R
Naturalistic explanations which are consistent with science, and which do not rely on forces that cannot be measured or sensed, always have a greater likelihood of truth than corresponding supernatural metaphysical claims because they do not assume the existence of a non-physical entity
I have argued that these naturalistic explanations should be favored over supernatural ones
Summary
This paper will look at seven major arguments supporting a belief in God—the Cosmological, Teleological, and Fine-Tuning Arguments, in addition to the Argument from the Reliability of Scripture, Argument from Miracles, How to cite this paper: Firestone, R. Argument from Religious Experience, and one version of the Ontological Argument1 It is the position of this paper that the manner in which philosophical discussions regarding the existence of God have proceeded to date has tended to be unfair because naturalistic explanations have not been given their due. To the extent that the charting of all seven arguments is new, it is my hope that it will prove to be a helpful explanatory tool, especially for students These charts will display how each of the arguments for God can be couched as an Inference to the Best Explanation, and will graphically highlight the ignored or discounted naturalistic choices. It is those naturalistic explanations which are the best explanation and should be accepted
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