But how, then, is this proof of use to theists? What if there is a God but He doesn't give a damn about human or other intelligent life? What if He is only interested in some pond scum on some planet a million light-years from Earth? What if all He cares about is arranging the stars into pretty patterns? (Which are cool, by the way.)
This isn't a theistic argument, at all. I mean it is, in the sense that "theistic" is the opposite of "atheistic" but it makes no specific argument for any specific theology. The God proven within is eternal, unique, and a Creator. That's it. Clockwork God perfectly acceptable. His ethics theories, which he doesn't go into much in this book, go further, but the proof itself is very much a God that could care only about pond scum. Or might not care about anything at all. Human qualities not required.
I meant, how is this argument a comfort to those theists who wish there to be a proof of God's existence? Are they thinking, "OK, now we're halfway there to what we want, which is proof of a God who is concerned about our fate and intervenes on our behalf."?
Also, does his proof rule out the possibility of polytheism? Or of a non-perfect God?
Polytheism, yes. Perfection is a human term, so it depends on how you define it. The God is defined as a "universal cause", the only "self-caused" entity in reality, and it must be unique for various well-formed logical reasons that seriously need more background than I can go into.
And nobody ever said it was a comfort for theists. It's a philosophical exercise, no more. I suppose it can be "comforting" in the sense that, if considered valid, it works as an argument against avowed atheists, but there's lots of nonbelievers out there that aren't atheists, but I don't think that's in any way the intention of the book - it reads as pure philosophy. And as someone who's read a lot, it works a good bit better than most arguments for God's existence that I've seen in other philosophical works.
Timelies...I'm heading off to work. New babysitter, as the regular one couldn't make it. This one keeps calling me "madam."
"His milk is in the fridge."
"Yes madam."
"He'll probably be ready for a long nap around 10:00."
"Yes madam."
I'm feeling very colonial.
Thankkssss TTTRRRUUUUUDDDYYYYY!!!!!!
Good luck, Raq! I hope it's a good day!
All my ~ma for C. Hope she's ok.
I want to head for the gym but Ellie is still asleep. I will wake her up in a moment but she is so peaceful and innocent looking when she's sleeping. It's hard to disturb that.
Awwww...sweet, sleeping Ellie.
Where's my morning crew? I need my Bitches fix before I head off to school.
Speaking of school...I'm a little nervous about going back. Usually, it is my pattern that if I miss this much school, I just quit going. But, that's not going to happen this time. I'm gonna jump back in. It's still nervous-making, though.
