From Existence to God: A Contemporary Philosophical Argument

Description

From Existence to God offers a radically new response to critics of the possibility of establishing the existence of God. Miller constructs an argument which, contrary to widespread contemporary convictions, concludes that there is in fact a hidden contradiction in claiming that the Universe exists and that God does not.This conclusion, which is central to From Existence to God, is achieved without any appeal to such principles as the principle of sufficient reason, or of intelligibility, or of causation. It does, however, draw on insights from Frege, Geach, and Dummett concerning the logical structure of propositions, and inter alia argues at some length for existence being a real property of concrete individuals rather than a Cambridge one. Besides developing a new kind of causal series, the very form of which precludes its being causal unless it is closed, Miller draws attention to the relevance of logically simple propositions to God-talk. From Existence to God therefore advances an argument that is insusceptible to the standard strictures of Hume, Kant, and contemporary critics, and which also reveals how seriously the contingency argument has been misconceived by Leibniz and Clarke. The existence of God remains one of the most fundamental issues of philosophy of religion. From Existence to God is certain to provoke renewed debate in this area. It will be of considerable interest to all philosophers, and not merely to philosophers of religion and theologians.