ಓದು - The God Delusion - Chapter 3

ಟಿಪ್ಪಣಿಗಳು: 

Chapter 3: 

1) Thomas Aquinas's five proofs of the existence of god: 

a. Unmoved mover: Nothing moves without a mover. There must be a first mover (who moves him?) 

b. Uncaused Cause: Nothing is caused by itself. Hence there must be a first cause. (who caused him?)

c. Cosmological argument: The physical things did not exist once upon a time. Now they exist and hence must have been brought into existence by something non physical. 

d. Degree argument: There must be something which is maximum in goodness/perfection to compare anything in goodness with it. 

e. Design (most popular of all five): Anything which looks designed must be designed by someone. 

2) "Omnipotence" and "Omnscient" are not compatible. Karen Owens poem: 

Can omniscient God, who

Knows the future, find

The omnipotence to

Change His future mind? 

3) Ontological (priori argument - not based on after effects): St. Anselm' argument: ಗ್ರಾಹ್ಯವೆಲ್ಲವಕ್ಕೂ ಗ್ರಹಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಾದರೂ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವವುಂಟು. "ತನಗಿಂತ ಹಿರಿದಾದ್ದು ಮತ್ತೊಂದಿರಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲದಂತ ಯಾವುದೋ ಒಂದು ಇದ್ದಿರಲೇಬೇಕು" ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಗ್ರಹಿಕೆಗೆ ನಿಲುಕುವುದರಿಂದ, ನಮ್ಮ ಗ್ರಹಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಾದರೂ ಇದಕ್ಕಸ್ತಿತ್ವ ಉಂಟು. ಆದರೆ ಇದರ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವ ಗ್ರಹಿಕೆಗಷ್ಟೇ ಸೀಮಿತವಲ್ಲ. ಅದು ವಾಸ್ತವದಲ್ಲೂ ಉಂಟು. ಇಲ್ಲವಾದಲ್ಲಿ "ವಾಸ್ತವದಲ್ಲೂ ಆ ರೀತಿಯ ಪರಮೋಚ್ಛವೊಂದು ಇರಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯ'' ಎನ್ನುವುದಕ್ಕೂ ಗ್ರಹಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿಯಷ್ಟೇ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವ ಇರುವುದರಿಂದ, ಇದು ಆ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಹೇಳಿಕೆಗಿಂತ ಉತ್ತಮವಾದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಆ ಹೇಳಿಕೆಯ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವಕ್ಕೆ ಧಕ್ಕೆಯುಂಟು ಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ, ' ಆ ಯಾವುದೋ ಒಂದು' ವಾಸ್ತವದಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಉಂಟು! ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ದೇವರಿಗೆ ವಾಸ್ತವದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವ ಉಂಟು  

Whatever is Understood, exists in the understanding. Something, than which nothing greater can be conceived. And assuredly that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, cannot exist in the understanding alone. For, suppose it exists in the understanding alone: then it can be conceived to exist in reality which is greater, which is a contradiction. Hence God exists in reality. 

Objections: 

a) Hume and Kant: Why existence is assumed to be perfect than non existence? 

b) Something, nothing greater can be achieved, if it exists in reality, then why it should be omnipotent? Omniscient? Omnipresent? What does it mean by 'greater?' Is it subjective? 

c) Additional reading: Point Counter point by Aldous Huxley. 

4. On Desert Island Disc show: Suppose I do not believe in religion or God but admire a piece of work on religion or God. That doesn't mean that I admire God or religion. It may be the idea, the process involved in the generation of the piece of that work. As Dawkins points out - how can one enjoy Wuthering Heights when one knows perfectly that Cathy and Heathcliff never really existed? (Cathy and Heathcliff are characters of that novel). 

5) "It's a sort of jealousy of genius. How dare another human being make such beautiful music/poetry/art when I can't? He must be God." (Amazing!)

6) ಪ್ರತ್ಯಕ್ಷವಾಗಿ ಕಂಡರೂ ಪ್ರಮಾಣಿಸಿ ನೋಡು - How well our ancestors knew about Solipism or Advaita! The brain creates simulations for whatever is heard or listened to. It doesn't take everything in one go to create an exact picture of what it receives. It has its own simulations which runs based on some bits and pieces of information it receives and then constructs a picture for us. That may be an illusion! Hence a rope, a snake!

If one believes in the above science, the miracle at Fatima where 70 thousand witnessed the dancing of Sun in 1917 and also the Satan raising from smoke in 2001 can be discarded in the light of the illusions created by our brain. 

7) God from scriptures: "Why nobody asked questions such as 'who wrote it and when?' 'How did they know what to write?' 'Did they, in their time, really mean what we, in our time, understand them to be saying?' 

8) How we Believe: The search for God in an Age of Science, Michael Shermer (survey) - religiosity is negatively correlated with education. Religiosity is also negatively correlated with interest in science and with political liberalism. There is a positive correlation between religiosity and parent's religiosity. Only one out of twelve British children break away from their parent's religious beliefs. 

Chapter 4: Why there almost certainly is no God

1) Additional reading - Fred Hoyle's books. 

2) " If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an under achiever "  Woody Allen 

3) The complexly of life is statistically improbable. Hence there can be no chance that life could have come to this complexity. But the other alternative to this, as otherwise 'hence concluded' by theists, the design argument, is also unacceptable. It should have been natural selection. The reason is, any entity capable of intelligently designing something very improbable thing would have to be even more improbable than that thing. Resorting to designer argument turns out to be a redoubling of the problem (central argument of Dawkins to reject designer).