Cosmological and Design Argument

"This week, we are focusing on the Cosmological argument and the Design argument. These arguments represent how one can think about religion from a philosophical perspective.In your blog, I would like you to reflect more generally on what, if anything, you think philosophy might contribute to the understanding of religion. Think about i) whether you think these arguments might change someone's religious convictions, and ii) whether there is anything about religious experience that is left out of these arguments (for example, some people might say that faith is important for religious conviction, yet of course faith has no role in philosophical argument)."

I think that philosophy contributes a lot of new perspectives on how one would face and understand religion. Both the cosmological and design arguments have some very convincing arguments such as Aquinas' "First Cause Argument". His argument suggests that because the world is made up of causalities, everything that exists is either uncaused or caused by the existence of another. This means that God must exist as he would be the first cause. Aquinas also based his beliefs on the Bible rather than philosophical arguments which may have shown that his faith played a major role in his argument. Paley's design argument claims that the universe is like a watch and that they exhibit a certain design and connections of a complex nature that are meant to fulfill goals and purposes of intelligence. This would mean that intelligent will or a "creator" would be responsible for the design. People of religious faith may conclude that this creator would be God who is responsible for such complex existences of human beings and nature. I think that these arguments would probably reinforce a person's faith in their religion. I think for some people such as myself, would need objective evidence in order for my religious beliefs to sway to one side or another.