Philosophy- Does God exist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philosophy- Does God exist - Essay Example If so, then there must be a mover. This mover cannot be the thing itself for a thing cannot itself to move. So it must have been a first unmoved mover, i.e. God. Therefore, God exists. For many years, I was convinced of Aquinas’ argument until I learned of a philosopher who was quite skeptical of Aquinas’ ways. His name is David Hume. Hume was an empiricist who accepted the senses as the source of knowledge. He formulated his empiricist principle based on what we can know through our senses alone. Thus, metaphysical notions such as â€Å"God† are, for Hume, imaginary fictions of our minds, due to our notion of cause and effect. Therefore, the idea of a God is meaningless for Hume. â€Å"So God does not exist?† Asked my friend. â€Å"Hume does not think that should be the question to ask. But rather, is man capable of knowing if there’s anything beyond the realm of sense experience? And the answer is: we don’t know.† I answered. â€Å" But there must be a way to know!† My friend said. So I told her about a philosopher named Rene Descartes. Descartes was, unlike Hume, a rationalist. He provided three proofs for God’s existence. Only one however, drew my attention as well. Here, Descartes uses the process of elimination when asking whether I, who has an idea of a perfect being, can exist without that perfect being, i.e. God.