Sunday, October 14, 2018

How to Demonstrate That God Must Exist

On God; "The Being"

I. The Existence

  1. A disjunction (‘OR’) is true if and only if one of its disjuncts is true.
  2. What is potential is made actual if and only if by what is actual.
  3. A composite being is caused (at all times) by its parts.

  1. There exist some actualizations of a recipient thing’s potentials which occur if and only if the actor’s potentials are themselves actualized by some other third thing’s actuality. (“Essentially-ordered causes”, True for all N, incl. infinity)
  2. There exist potential, composite things. (Sometimes exist, sometimes not)

  1. ( D1, A1 )
    Therefore, for any essentially-ordered causal sequence, there must be some thing which actualizes but is not actualized in the manner under consideration, and therefore which is primary in the sequence.
  2. ( A2, S1 )
    Therefore, when considering “Being as such”, common to all things, there must be a unique uncaused cause of the being of all subsequent things.
    [ “Being as such” is considered because Existence & Essence differ in things. ]

( Symbolic )

Braces and parentheses simply designate groupings,
Lowercase letters designate ‘things’,
Bolded capital letters designate special states, namely “True” and “Causes”,
The ◊ designates what is potential/possible,
The -t> designates temporal sequence,
Pairings of italicized capital and lowercase letters designate things with Attributes,
Underlined letters designate that attribute was held by the thing at initiation,
The ⇔ designates “if and only if” relationships,
A floating equality is a compression of the left into new form on the right,
The | surrounding a character is only to facilitate readability,
The ∃ designates the assertion of real existence,
Subscript designates ordinal position of the member of a sequence,
The specific Greek letter Omega ( Ω ) designates “Being as such”.

  1. { ( a ∨ b ∨ c... ) == T }{ ( a == T ) ∨ ( b == T ) ∨ ( c == T )… }
  2. { (◊A)y -t> Ay } Ax    == Ax|C|Ay
  3. (Ω)a ⇔ {(Ω)x, (Ω)y… }|C|(Ω)a    == Ca
  4. { ( A-1|C|A0 ) ⇐...⇒ ( A(-n)|C|A(-n)+1 ) }    == An|C|A0 ==    A{Σn}
  5. ∃ (◊Ω)Ca
  6. ∴ A{Σn}An
  7. ∴ Ω{Σn}Ωn

II. The Attributes or Energies

  1. What is uncaused is necessary.
  2. A thing can be either uncaused or other-caused, not both. ( Corollary of ↑D2 )
  3. What is spatial (including matter) is in some way always in potentiality with respect to space, because motion is always possible given a continuous quantity.
  4. A thing is called “good” to the extent that it is complete in being.
    [ This is because a thing is called “good” because it either is a more complete/fulfilled version of its kind, or because it is contributive to something else attaining its completion/fulfillment, as a “good” pen is one that writes well, or a “good” sandwich is one that is filling &/or tasty, etc. -- This is known as the “convertibility” of being and goodness, which, like the other direct, universal attributes of being itself, “true” and “one”, are called “transcendentals”. ]

  1. There exists The Being. ( S2 above: Ωn == “The Being” )
  2. All actions and attributes which are not being are consequent upon being.

  1. ( I.D3, A1 )
    Therefore, The Being is not composite.
  2. ( D1, A1 )
    Therefore, The Being is necessary.
  3. ( I.D2 [& D2], S1 )
    [ If The Being were to change attributes, there would need to be some actualizable potential with respect to its being, since it is with respect to this that the attributes are either in potentiality or actuality, but since The Being is known to be actual in at least one way, and simple, there can be no other part of its being which is able to change from potentiality to actuality. ]
    Therefore, The Being is unchanging/eternal.
    Therefore, The Being is perfect.
  4. ( D3, S3 )
    Therefore, The Being is not spatial (nor material).
  5. ( A1, A2 )
    Therefore, The Being is the cause (actual & possible) of all actions and attributes.
  6. ( D4, S3 )
    Therefore, The Being is all-good, and Goodness itself.
    Therefore, The Being is the fulfillment of all beings.

III. The Intellect

  1. A nature is a principle of motion toward some end.
    [ That is: what a thing is determines the pattern of what it can do. ]

  1. II.(sum)
    There exists “The Being”, which is the unique, uncaused, necessary, simple, perfect, eternal, immaterial, all-powerful, cause and fulfillment of all subsequent things, being Goodness itself.
  2. There are five attributes unique to intellect to be considered:
    1. Abstraction of Essences/Natures
    2. Propositional Truths
    3. Logical Reasoning
    4. Production of Words
    5. Free acts of will
[ This is the least clear axiom of all, but basically means minds can think abstractly,
have intentional/propositional states, reason logically, communicate using true signs
(syntax and lexis cannot be derived from each other), and make choices on the basis
of the sum of their abstract reasoning. ]
  1. Causes produce effects in an orderly manner, according to forms they contain.
    [ This is because a thing is determined by its form, not its matter, and the form must come from the cause in some way, when a new thing is the effect. ]
  2. Logical causality cannot be reduced to physical causality.
    [ That is, if someone arrives at a conclusion due to compulsion from some other cause than the merit of the argument itself, it is considered irrational and invalid, as when someone is insane, or biased, or severely mentally ill. ]
  3. The end toward which non-human things naturally move is often not yet existent.
  4. The immaterial human intellect is uniquely known to act for an abstract end.
    [ The five attributes above are taken to demonstrate the intellect is immaterial. ]

Syllogisms: < There are five ways - (#5 follows from #4 as a special case) >

  1. ( D1, A5 [& A1] )
    Therefore, The Being directs natures toward their ends, which is mind-like.
    [ This is the argument made in the Fifth Way of Aquinas. ]
  2. ( A1, A2-b )
    Therefore, The Being contains the ultimate ground of all propositional truths.
  3. ( A1, A4 )
    Therefore, The Being must, itself, be Rational.
  4. ( A1, A2-a )
    Therefore, The Being contains all perfections immaterially, which is mind-like.
    [ This is Aristotle’s argument. ]
  5. ( A1, A3 )
    Therefore, The Being contains within itself something analogous to intellect.
  6. ( A1, A6 )
    Therefore, The Being is like the human intellect in being immaterial and in having the power to act toward an abstract end.

THEREFORE, There exists THE BEING, which is One, Uncaused, Necessary, Simple, All-Perfect, Eternal/Unchanging, Immaterial, Intangible, Infinite, All-Good, All-True, All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Sovereign Mind, Who is the Creator of all things, Governor of all things, Enlightener of the human intellect, and Fulfillment of all things, beyond definition or comprehension.
This we call “GOD”.

No comments:

Post a Comment