A Critical Assessment of Etienne Gilson's "God and Philosophy"

Introduction

Etienne Gilson provides historical philosophy regarding the existence of God and the relationship associated with God's idea. There have been many scholarly works regarding the existence of god and the ideas revolving supernatural beings and religions. All the issues are related to the aspects of philosophy, cosmological arguments, teleological points, amd theology concepts. Specifically, the articles selected section will talk more about god and Christion philosophy, which explores the aspects of the existence of god subsisting the truth of nature and reasoning. Further, it is also subdivided into some subsections, which include contemporary thought, greek and god philosophy, modern philosophy, and Christion philosophy. There is some criticism noted in the history of philosophy that enables enlightenment of issues like metaphysics and the notion of god. Gilson offers philosophical aspects that help understand the existence of God and several criticisms, which are evident in every subsection of the article.

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The Act of "To Be"

To Be is used as the existential thought, which includes energy and the flows of everything that is regarded as being. Gilson believed that there must be a supernatural being that would be considered to be since the power enables people to live throughout in many years; he followed Jewish-Christian revelation of to be, which also shows that the belief and faith of many Christians do not guarantee the existence of God. However, there are several aspects of being, which include concepts of Aristotle's intrigued by self-thinking of powerful energy (Nodelman, Allen & Perry, 2003). There is a mere fact that people do not observe the existence of maker in many aspects, and therefore, it does not guarantee that the maker was involved in the art world itself. In answering the question of what is to be, there several things to consider. Saint Thomas askes several issues relating to the names given to god. He always described the existence and the name to be with metaphysics questions. Gilson (2002) says that "What is being? The correct answer is: Being vis that which is or exists" (p.63).

The existence of god is hidden in the metaphysical structure that excites people's reality. However, their several aspects that include confusion that explain the presence of God; first people have been relating the existence of god with imagination and faith, and there have been several theories which associate with the presence of god. For instance, the arguments which are centered on the existence of god rely on beneath human curiosity, and therefore, because of insufficient knowledge, people choose to affiliate themselves with something rather than nothing. To understand the deeper level of substantial and existence of being, there is some knowledge that is used by scholars that revolve around people thinking and the so-called facts. For instance, Gilson (2002) says that "...such is the natural order followed by our rational knowledge: we first conceive certain beings, then we define their existence, and last we affirm their existence using a judgment" (p.64). This knowledge is sufficient to go through the next section and have cosmological reasoning accounting for the existence of god.

Cosmological Aspects and Arguments

Cosmological arguments revolve around the causation and facts of the existence of being about the universe at the entirety Cosmological Argument (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2019). There several approaches that are used by people to understand the existence of being, which varies from a human understanding of the manner it related to metaphysical order. Human thinking is associated with the initial "in-sense" belief that god exists where people have a natural law that is rational to being existence. The other approach s the metaphysical order, which relates to different knowledge on energies used by philosophers about the life of Gog e.g., abstract law. Moral order which is the reverse of the first approach; it starts with the universe and people and then includes the concepts of human knowledge. However, human experience failed to go beyond the experiential energies, which included the causes of happening in the universe. Therefore, they also were unable to get to the connection between the formation of the world and the maker; they opted to believe the Jewish-Christian way of thinking, including changing to be to a supreme being.

Ontological Reasoning and Arguments

Ontological arguments are basically to state why some issues happen around the questions relating to the existence of God. Further, it concludes that the reasons God must exist if there are some connections in the organizational structure of the universe. To be has been used in several instances in the text and finally turned to the Supreme Being as per the knowledge of Jewish-Christian revelation. The formation of the world is perceived as that which concerns the nature the world is formed. Greek minds spontaneous dwelt with the notion of the universe and why something happens the way they behave.

Further Gibson shows that some of the ultimate explanations can be deduced from the human experience and the way things have been happening. Gilson (2002) says that "We directly know hoe only specific and sensible existing things whose existence merely consists of being this and that only thing (p.70). This shows that people believe that being things must be owned by an individual or a group of people just like everything in the universe. Therefore, the same can be concluded as what many people believe in the manner that the world must be owned by a supreme being who is not physically known to anyone. Thomas Aquinas also shows the existence of nature and its relation to what is and therefore concludes that there is nothing that exists in to be.

Philosophical Religion

Philosophical religion is the thoughtful exploration of themes and all aspects related to the significance and traditions of beliefs Philosophy of Religion (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2019). It includes several areas, which add value theory, epistemology, and metaphyphics history, and politics. However, studies show that religion is the state of being that directs and in individual or practitioners in a sacred reality which involves transmissible and communal body teaching. Beliefs include moral guidelines that exist as reality around personal and group regenerations. However, religions do not include the origin of gods or God but rather involves transmissible and communal body teaching.

The nature of religions is surrounded by some vibrancy of accounts that describes the beliefs in concepts of the world population, philosophy, theology, and history. Currently, there is a large number of people in the USA, and the UK who have scholarly contributed to the masses of atheism (Smart, 1979). The research has been centered on issues surrounding social and regional aspects. To engage in nature od the world population, it is necessary to get in touch with issues that affect a specific group of people rather than targeting social concerns in entirety. Second, the idea of the philosophy of religion has been influenced by overlapping interests that are philosophically and religiously related.

However, philosophical reasoning has never included historical aspects of religion but rather the current happening in society. The modern philosophers contribute to the issues around religion without engaging in a historic incident in matters concerning religious beliefs. Gilson shows that they fail to include past scenarios in their severe problems; they only base issues on the question of why everything is in the manner it is in societal and individual terms. Gilson (2002) says that "why is there something rather than nothing? Her again, I fully understand a scientist who refuses to ask it" (p.138). He continues to say that such questions do not add value to matters of religion and the existence of God. However, the problem seems to direct the philosophers to the initial structure and setting of the world. It is again understood that everything in the world exists in the act of existence, which driven by a supreme question and existential energy. The existence is still regarded as absolute and creative, which contains the principles of order. These principles are known to people in the sense of experience, thought, and namely.

Conclusion

There is much confusion in the religion and existence of God, which is caused by questioning, structures of the world, perceive ownership, and scientific contribution. Scientists can be held accountable for many beliefs that are made by people today. Again, it has been related to several philosophical arguments where these scholars tend to rethink the existence of the universe and the considerations made by others. The study shows that God can be regarded as God of religion (communal and transmissible body). Several failures are caused by a metaphysical relationship between philosophy and theology. The existence can just be labeled as a pure account of existence in people's essence.

References

Cosmological Argument (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2019). Retrieved 28 October 2019, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmological-argument/

Gilson, E. (2002). God and philosophy. Yale University Press.

Nodelman, U., Allen, C., & Perry, J. (2003). Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy.

Philosophy of Religion (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2019). Retrieved 28 October 2019, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philosophy-religion/

Smart, N. (1979). The philosophy of religion (Vol. 6). London: Sheldon Press.