Key term
AQA A-Level Religious Studies 7062
Arguments for the Existence of God
Evil and Suffering
Religious Language
Self and Life After Death
Religious Experience
Ethical Theories
Issues of Human Life and Death
Meta Ethics
Free Will and Moral Responsibility
Conscience
Bentham and Kant
Issues of Animal Life and Death
Buddhism: Sources of Wisdom and AuthorityBuddhism
Buddhism: Good Conduct and Key Moral PrinciplesBuddhism
Buddhism: Religion, Gender and SexualityBuddhism
Buddhism: Religion and ScienceBuddhism
Buddhism: Religion and SecularisationBuddhism
Buddhism: Religion and Religious PluralismBuddhism
Buddhism: Dialogue with PhilosophyBuddhism
Buddhism: Dialogue with EthicsBuddhism
Buddhism: God and Ultimate RealityBuddhism
Buddhism: Self, Death and the AfterlifeBuddhism
Buddhism: Expression of Religious IdentityBuddhism
Christianity: God and Ultimate RealityChristianity
Christianity: Self, Death and the AfterlifeChristianity
Christianity: Good Conduct and Key Moral PrinciplesChristianity
Christianity: Religion, Gender and SexualityChristianity
Christianity: Religion and ScienceChristianity
Christianity: Religion and SecularisationChristianity
Christianity: Religion and Religious PluralismChristianity
Christianity: Dialogue with PhilosophyChristianity
Christianity: Dialogue with EthicsChristianity
Topic overviewKant, Bentham, Virtue Ethics and Christian EthicsAgape, Consequences and Christian CharacterSanctity of Life, Just War and AnimalsEuthanasia, Capital Punishment and Cloning in ChristianityTheft and Truth-TellingMarriage, Homosexuality and Transgender IssuesGenetic Engineering and WealthTolerance and Freedom of Religious ExpressionFree Will, Moral Responsibility and ConscienceCriticisms of Christian EthicsThe Credibility of Christian Moral AuthorityWhat Christianity Has Given Ethical Studies
Christianity: Sources of Wisdom and AuthorityChristianity
Christianity: Expression of Religious IdentityChristianity
Hinduism: Sources of Wisdom and AuthorityHinduism
Hinduism: Good Conduct and Key Moral PrinciplesHinduism
Hinduism: Religion, Gender and SexualityHinduism
Hinduism: Religion and ScienceHinduism
Hinduism: Religion and SecularisationHinduism
Hinduism: Religion and Religious PluralismHinduism
Hinduism: Dialogue with PhilosophyHinduism
Hinduism: Dialogue with EthicsHinduism
Hinduism: God and Ultimate RealityHinduism
Hinduism: Self, Death and the AfterlifeHinduism
Hinduism: Expression of Religious IdentityHinduism
Islam: God and Ultimate RealityIslam
Islam: Good Conduct and Key Moral PrinciplesIslam
Islam: Religion, Gender and SexualityIslam
Islam: Religion and ScienceIslam
Islam: Religion and SecularisationIslam
Islam: Religion and Religious PluralismIslam
Islam: Dialogue with PhilosophyIslam
Islam: Dialogue with EthicsIslam
Islam: Sources of Wisdom and AuthorityIslam
Islam: Self, Death and the AfterlifeIslam
Islam: Expression of Religious IdentityIslam
Judaism: God and Ultimate RealityJudaism
Judaism: Dialogue with PhilosophyJudaism
Judaism: Religion and ScienceJudaism
Judaism: Religion and SecularisationJudaism
Judaism: Religion and Religious PluralismJudaism
Judaism: Dialogue with EthicsJudaism
Topic overviewKant, Bentham and Jewish EthicsConsequences, Character and Jewish EthicsThe Mitzvot and Tikkun OlamSanctity of Life, Animals, Theft and LyingCapital Punishment, Euthanasia and Cloning in JudaismMarriage, Sexuality and Genetic EngineeringWealth, Tolerance and Religious Freedom in JudaismBechirah Chofshit: Free Will and ConscienceOther Ethical Traditions and Jewish EthicsWhat Ethical Criticism Means for Torah and Halakha
Judaism: Religion, Gender and SexualityJudaism
Judaism: Expression of Religious IdentityJudaism
Judaism: Sources of Wisdom and AuthorityJudaism
Judaism: Self, Death and the AfterlifeJudaism
Judaism: Good Conduct and Key Moral PrinciplesJudaism
Arguments for the Existence of God
- 6 subtopics
- 20 things to know
- Component 1
What Arguments for the Existence of God covers
The design, ontological and cosmological arguments, and the criticisms of Hume, Gaunilo and Kant. Sat by everyone as part of Component 1.
Where it is assessed
Component 1
Philosophy of religion and ethics, sat by everyone.
Check the AQA specification ↗The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Paley's Watch and the Design ArgumentRecall questions on the kind of argument Paley makes, the watch found on a heath and what its arrangement of parts is taken to show.Open →
- Hume's Criticisms of DesignRecall questions on how Paley moves from the watch to God and on Hume's objections to the analogy and to what design can prove about the designer.Open →
- Anselm's Ontological ArgumentRecall questions on the a priori character of the argument, Anselm's definition of God, the two modes of existence and the reductio ad absurdum from which he concludes that God must exist in reality.Open →
- Gaunilo, Kant and Assessing the Ontological ArgumentRecall questions on Gaunilo's perfect island and a defender's reply, Kant's claim that existence adds nothing to a concept, and the strengths and weaknesses of the argument beside the design and cosmological arguments.Open →
- Aquinas's Third WayRecall questions on contingent and necessary beings and on why the argument from contingency is a posteriori.Open →
- Hume, Russell and Assessing the Cosmological ArgumentRecall questions on Hume's attack on a necessary being and the fallacy of composition, Russell's rejection of sufficient reason and his mother analogy, and the argument's strengths, weaknesses and value for faith.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
What specific features of the watch does Paley highlight in his analogy?
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What conclusion does Paley draw from the watch's arrangement of parts?
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How does Paley's argument proceed logically from the watch analogy to God?
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Why does Hume argue that design does not prove a perfect designer?
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What alternative explanations does Hume offer for the apparent order in nature?
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What type of argument is Anselm's ontological argument, and what does this mean about its basis?
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What two modes of existence does Anselm distinguish between in his argument?
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What assumption does Anselm make for the sake of argument in his reductio ad absurdum?
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What conclusion does Anselm draw from the contradiction in his reductio ad absurdum?
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How might a defender of Anselm respond to Gaunilo's perfect island objection?
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What was Kant's main criticism of the ontological argument?
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What is another name for Aquinas' Third Way, based on the key concepts it employs?
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What is a necessary being?
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According to Aquinas, what would follow if everything that exists were contingent?
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How does Hume challenge the coherence of the concept of a necessary being?
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Explain how the fallacy of composition undermines the cosmological argument according to Hume.
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What is Russell's main criticism of the cosmological argument?
Process
Set out Hume's objections to the design argument.
Process
How does Anselm's reductio ad absurdum prove that God exists in reality?
Take Arguments for the Existence of God further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
A priori argument vs A posteriori argument
A priori argument: reasoning whose conclusion follows independently of sensory evidence. A posteriori argument: reasoning beginning from observed features of the world.
Deductive argument vs Inductive argument
Deductive argument: reasoning whose conclusion must follow if its premises are true. Inductive argument: reasoning whose premises make its conclusion probable.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What type of argument is Paley's design argument, and what does it reason from and to?
Model answer
It is an analogical argument that reasons from observed features of the natural world to the existence of a designer.
- 2
In Paley's analogy, why does finding a watch on a heath prompt a different inference than finding a stone?
Model answer
Unlike a stone, the watch displays complexity and a purpose-serving arrangement of parts, which demands explanation by an intelligent cause.
- 3
What specific features of the watch does Paley highlight in his analogy?
Model answer
The watch has complex parts arranged together to serve a purpose (telling time).
- 4
What conclusion does Paley draw from the watch's arrangement of parts?
Model answer
Such purposeful arrangement implies an intelligent designer, a watchmaker.
- 5
According to Paley, what do natural organisms exhibit that is relevant to his argument?
Model answer
Natural organisms show intricate complexity in their structure and function.
- 6
How does Paley claim the complexity found in organisms relates to purpose?
Model answer
This complexity serves evident purposes, such as the eye being suited for seeing.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Arguments for the Existence of God revision questions
- What does Arguments for the Existence of God cover in AQA A-Level Religious Studies?
- 6 subtopics: paley's watch and the design argument, hume's criticisms of design, anselm's ontological argument, gaunilo, kant and assessing the ontological argument, aquinas's third way and hume, russell and assessing the cosmological argument. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Arguments for the Existence of God organised?
- By the AQA 7062 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Arguments for the Existence of God, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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