Epicurus And Epicureanism ( Pghc11181 )

Ancient philosopher Plato’s affiliation with religion is evident across multiple dialogues and referenced during his discussion of both metaphysical and ontological questions. Plato did not believe in one singular god, but many [2]. In his work Timaeus, he proposed that the universe

Having examined the omnipotence and omnibenevolence of the God of the Bible, as they relate to the atheist’s argument against God’s existence, it is also important to note other

Born of different stations, languages and creeds, Epictetus and Seneca are Roman philosophers who externally appear to be very different. Epictetus was born to a slave mother, sold as a slave himself and spent the majority of his youth as a slave in Rome. Seneca was born into money; he became tutor to a boy named Nero who later acquired position of Emperor of Rome in 54 A.D. Though these two men seem to be from very different worlds, they have a shared purpose in studying philosophy. The purpose of their writings was to teach people how to live well. Though they had a shared purpose, they suggested its achievement through different means. Epictetus professed an ‘expect the worst so you wont be disappointed when it happens’

God has been believed to be that being which is all good, all knowing, and all powerful. St. Thomas Aquinas in, The Five Ways—Question II, Third Article, responds to two specific objections which aim to prove God’s nonexistence. The first objection rests upon the notion that if one of two contradictions are infinite, the other cannot possibly exist. That is to say, if God does exist, there would be no evil in the world because God is believed to be infinitely good. If he were all good, all knowing, and all powerful, he would be more than capable of creating and maintaining a world in which no evil exists.

The traditional God in the Judeo-Christian tradition is known to be as an “Omni-God” possessing particular divine attributes such as omniscient, which means he knows everything he is also omnipotent, or all powerful. God has also been said to be also he is omnipresence which means he exists in all places and present everywhere, however there are many philosophical arguments on whether if any of that is actually true or if there is a God at all. This paper argues that it is not possible to know whether the traditional God exists or not. While there have been philosophers such as Aquinas, Anselm, Paley and Kierkegaard who are for god and present strong argument, likewise philosopher like Nietzsche and arguments like the problem of evil both make valid point on why God isn’t real.

The debate of the existence of God had been active since before the first philosopher has pondered the question. Anselm’s Ontological Argument was introduced during the 11th century and had stood deductively valid until the 18th century. Then there are the arguments to aim disprove God, such as the Argument from Evil.

Epicurus supported that the images people had for gods were varying due to the different preconceptions that had been implanted to every person separately. Very often there were false convictions expressed by people even if their preconceptions reflected their own natural goals. Lucretius protested against voices who presented gods as having evil intents and as prone to partiality and fury: “Unhappy human race, to attribute such behavior, and bitter wrath too, to the gods! What lamentations did they lay up for themselves in those days, what wounds for us, what tears for our descendants’’? Moreover, Lucretius stated: ‘‘Unless you expel these ideas from your mind and drive far away beliefs unworthy of the gods and alien to their tranquillity,

Medieval philosophers developed very precise notions of God and the attributes that he has, many of which are even now well-known among believers. For example, God is all-powerful all-knowing and all-good Other commonly discussed attributes of God are that he is eternal, that he is present everywhere and that he has foreknowledge of future events. While these traditional attributes of God offer a clear picture of the kind of being that he is, many of them present special conceptual problems, particularly when we try to make them compatible them with potentially conflicting facts about the world.

By the time of the third century theologian, Origen, the concept of God as espoused by Greek philosophers’ prevailed in the then current Christian theology.

There has been many thinkers in history who have lacked a belief in God. Some ancient Greek philosophers, such as Epicurus, obtained natural explanations for these superior miracles. Epicurus was the first to question the compatibility of God with suffering. In contrast, Descartes proves God 's existence as an external reality and that ideas of perfection or infinity cannot come from oneself. He explains that “I am a finite being and thus cannot generate these ideas on my own. I have also never experienced perfection or infinity in the world, so they cannot come from experience, either”. God is a “perfect being”.

Stephen Law conducted a thought experiment with a purpose of establishing the existence of an evil God, whereby he challenged those who believed in the presence of a kind and good God, doing nothing evil, and argued that the existent God is wicked indeed. The hypothesis developed into the challenge based on the argument that, if an omnibenevolent God is said to exist, yet there is so much evil in the world, then there is as well a possibility that an evil God exists, yet there is so much good. Law aimed to doubt not the fact of the existence of God, but the generally accepted assumption that the existing God is benevolent. Another researcher, Rowe, refutes this approach, arguing that the existence of a Supreme Being, who created people and hence cares for them, cannot be associated with evil. In fact, the presence of evil is a clear sign of the absence of a God. This paper seeks to take a position opposing to Law’s theory and prove that, despite the presence of evil, an omnibenevolent God still exists.

Atheism has a long and colorful history, but that history has been largely hidden from the public's view due to religious suppression. It is therefore, with great effort, that modern atheists are re-discovering their heritage. Some early Greek philosophers were among the first to write down atheistic ideas. Great thinkers such as Heraclitus, Democritus, Protagorus, and Lucretius expressed views that questioned the existence of gods.

They are deductive arguments that try to prove Gods existence is logically incompatible with Evil

Most major arguments of God are rooted in the existence, or lack thereof. However there has been a continuous debate regarding the specific characteristics of God. In this debate, Charles Hartshorne, Alfred North Whitehead, and other the processed theologians oppose Anselm, Augustine, and other classic theologians. Although there are many points of disagreement, there are some characteristics for which both sides can agree upon. I will show one strong point of agreement and one strong point of opposition, and allow you the opportunity to decide for yourself how different, or similar, these two camps are.

With the passage of time, there also have been scriptures appearing that support the existence of God. Stories, events and many supernatural occurrences that is beyond human’s intellect. The Myths of Fire, Water, Earth and Air were famous for their supernatural existence in the Roman Era. Before the Ancient Greek religion turned into mythology, existence of God was well practiced by the Greek people. Homer, a famous Greek writer, writes in the ‘Odyssey’ about how if man does not follow the God and believe in them, then man will fall and be doomed. The Greeks were a very religious civilization. They showed that one could believe in the gods without having solid, concrete proof. Looking at this religion we can see that God does exist.