[...]... degree The atheist’s arguments, apart from the argument from evil, have been largely in the form of criticisms of the theist’s arguments I therefore discuss such arguments in the course of discussing each of the main arguments for the existence of God In discussing arguments for the existence of God, I shall consider forms of cosmological and teleological argument, the argument from the existence of consciousness,... concepts, to the existence of a supreme cause The first proof is the physico-theological, the second the cosmological, the third the ontological There are, and there can be, no others.9 The distinction is made in terms of the nature of the premiss Either you start from a conceptual truth—in which case you have the ontological argument; or from existence in general’—in which case you have the cosmological... arguments to the existence of God, but they start from premisses that are far from generally accepted On the other hand, I shall argue that most of the arguments (taken separately and together) for the existence of God are good C-inductive arguments— that is to say, their premisses make it more probable (or likely) that God exists than it would otherwise be Some of these arguments of course confirm the existence. .. each of the factors is necessary, given the others and the world being in other ways the same, for the occurrence of E—that is, without any one of them, the world otherwise remaining the same, E would not have occurred Normally, perhaps, too the set of factors together is sufficient for the occurrence of E—that is, given their occurrence, E must necessarily occur We may call all the factors together... arguments of either species,6 and no a posteriori arguments other than those that I discuss, have any significant force Although my theme is arguments for and against the existence of God, it will seem that I concentrate on arguments for the existence of God I do discuss in a separate chapter the main argument against the existence of God the argument from evil, which claims that the existence of pain... existence of God much more strongly than do others I shall allow that the argument against the existence of God from evil is a good C-inductive argument of very limited force I shall claim that the argument from hiddenness to the non -existence of God is not a good C-inductive argument The crucial issue, however, is whether all the arguments taken together make it probable that God exists, whether the balance... out the nature of the theist’s explanations, and Chapters 3 and 4 will provide essential tools for answering the question of when it is right to invoke them With these tools we shall then be in a position to look in detail at the theist’s arguments 2 The Nature of Explanation General Considerations When the theist argues from phenomena such as the existence of the universe or some feature of the universe... from hiddenness against the existence of God, and ask how much the premisses of each argument add to or subtract from the force of the previous arguments To give advance notice of some of my conclusions, I shall argue that (neither separately nor in conjunction) are any of the arguments that I consider for or against the existence of God good deductive arguments There are, of course, as I have pointed... existence of God in isolation from each other There can, of course, be no objection to considering each argument initially, for the sake of simplicity of exposition, in isolation from others But clearly the arguments may back each other up or alternatively weaken each other, and we need to consider whether or not they do Sometimes, however, philosophers consider the arguments for the existence of God. .. represents the probability of p given q Thus p might represent the proposition: The next toss of this coin will land heads’, and q might represent the proposition: ‘505 of the last 1,000 tosses of this coin have landed heads’ Then P(pjq) represents the probability that the next toss of the coin will land heads, given that 505 of the last 1,000 tosses have landed heads (The value of P(pjq) would then generally . concepts, to the existence of a supreme cause. The first proof is the physico-theological, the second the cosmological, the third the ontological. There are, and there can be, no others. 9 The distinction. against the existence of God, it will seem that I concentrate on arguments for the existence of God. I do discuss in a separate chapter the main argument against the existence of God the argument. Introduction The Existence of God is a sequel to The Coherence of Theism, originally published in 1977. The Coherence of Theism was concerned with what it means to say that there is a God and whether the