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Philosophy is the study of ultimacy through reason, there have been many influential Greek philosophers asking and trying to find answers to fundamental questions of human existence. A few of those philosophers include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, to name a few. Specifically, Epicurus firmly argued over the Problem of Evil. The Problem of Evil is defined as a logical conflict involving the mere existence of evil not being compatible with the existence of God. This is also the core objection to Theistic belief. Theodicy is a response to the Problem of Evil, or rather an attempt to reconcile the belief in God with the existence of evil.
There are various positions regarding beliefs in God. Theism is having a belief in God, one affirming His belief. That being said, there are also distinct variations of “isms” that negate or simply have a skeptical theory over whether God exists or not. Atheism is disbelief in God, a subcategory of this is called devotional atheism, where one refuses to worship God. On the other hand, agnosticism is a position in which one neither affirms nor denies that there is a supreme being. Over time, there have been three classical arguments for God’s existence.
Primarily, the first argument is called the Teological argument, root word telos meaning purpose, goal, aim or end. The argument states that the universe is remarkably complex, and that complexity suggests corresponding intelligence. This claim is supported by inductive reasoning, meaning that there is evidence we can observe, making it difficult to deny the presence of complexity and order in the universe. However, inductive reasoning has its flaws since it doesn’t lead to absolute certainty, only probable conclusion.
The second argument is defined as the Ontological argument, claiming God contains all perfections; to exist in reality is greater than to exist in mere imagination. Also, existence is a perfection, meaning God exists in reality. This point succeeds as it is deductive and clear conclusions can be drawn from it, it is believed that this argument has only one answer; God exists. Nonetheless, existence is not a predicate. If we add or take away existence from something, it does not change the definition. Therefore, you cannot define God into existence and this point falls short.
The third and final argument is the Cosmological argument, declaring God as the initial cause or principal of motion in the universe. This concluding line of reasoning’s strong point is that it is logical, dictating that objects do not bring themselves into existence and so they must have a cause, which this argument provides. Despite this, the explanation of the universe and God isn’t needed. It’s known that the universe exists because we are in it, so why do we need to explain the existence of something we know exists? Surely its existence is enough. After learning about each of the three different standpoints about the existence of God, I consider the Cosmological argument as the most compelling for the reason that the universe most likely had a beginning. If all things in the natural world have a cause, then the universe would also need an external cause, resulting in the existence of the one supreme being known as God.
Touching on the subject of Aristotle, he spent a significant amount of time discussing friendship. When asked what it is, he dedicates the answer to this question in all of book 8 of his Nichomachean Ethics series. His first viewpoint is that man is a social animal, part of what makes us human is our interaction with members of our species. Having said this, he also claims that friendship exists in a hierarchy and has levels of importance. Some forms are higher in quality than others and motivations are critical, why we do something is essential to how good it is, therefore motivation equals friendship. The three main types of friendships are utility, pleasure, and virtue. Utility friendships occur where people have benefits in exchange which is a very common and low-quality kind of friendship, the least temporal. Next is pleasure, deriving contentment from the same activity. In this case, when one person brings to an end the mutual bliss from said activity, the friendship ends. The last kind of friendship is arguably the most permanent, difficult, and rarest form of friendship, virtue.
Virtue is the highest level of friendship and often seen as the most unique because it is the only form of friendship requiring honesty and integrity. I agree with his viewpoint since no one enjoys being criticized, but if a friend does it, it means a virtuous friendship is based on a person wishing the best for someone else regardless of utility or pleasure. To put your own needs and selfishness behind in order to consider someone else’s is one of the most noble and generous acts a person can do.
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