New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy [Paperback]

 

 

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I hate the word "proofs" when it means "evidence" for the existence of God. I would admit that the 20th century has become more God friendly scientifically, with the Big Bang model which was really only accepted because of the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1965 and with the Anthropic Principle, a word first coined by Brandon Carter in 1974 i.e. the fine-tuning of the physical constants. The Big Bang implies that the universe had a beginning and therefore needed a cause. When it comes to the big questions on cosmology atheism is left floundering. Spitzer covers these and more in great detail, including three philosophical 'proofs' for the existence of God. This is an important and long overdue book. The book is in three parts:

1. Indications of Creation and Supernatural Design in Contemporary Big Bang Cosmology.
2. Three Philosophical Proofs for the Existence of God.
3. The Transcendentals: The Divine and Human Mysteries.

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"[There is a] vast majority...of...evidence for theism provided by physics and philosophy during the last few decades. This evidence is capable of [providing] reasonable and responsible belief in a super-intelligent, transcendent, creative power that stands at the origins of our universe...The main purpose of this book is to give a brief synopsis of this evidence to readers...

I here offer my rendition of the "state-of-the-art" formulation of the proofs [for the existence of God). I hope to provide a staging area to assemble the work of great astrophysicists, cosmologists, and philosophers who have contributed so much to this field, and to bring their thoughts together in a single, comprehensive volume."

The above extract comes from the introduction of this book by Robert J. Spitzer. According to the back cover of this book, Spitzer is "an expert in diverse areas, including theology, physics, metaphysics, and ethics." From reading the endorsements provided on the back cover of this book, he is also a priest and author.

This book is divided into three parts:

In the first part (2 chapters), there is the cosmological argument for God's existence and a teleological argument based on the universal constants.

(Physical cosmology is the branch of physics and astrophysics that deals with the study of the physical origins and evolution of the universe. A teleological argument or argument from design states that the existence of order and direction in nature is due to some kind of purpose. Universal constants in science are physical quantities that are believed to be both universal in nature and constant in time. An example of such a constant is the speed of light in a vacuum.)

The next part (4 chapters) has a metaphysical (see definition below) proof of Saint Thomas Aquinas` (1225 to 1274) "uncaused Cause argument, a metaphysical proof this time based on Father Bernard Lonergan's (1904 to 1984) book "Insight: A Study of Human Understanding" (1957), and a ontological (see definition below) proof that "has a different starting point than the previous two philosophical [or metaphysical] proofs."

Part three (2 chapters) occurs because parts one and two together provided five proofs for the existence of God. It is mainly involved with the relation of humans to God.

At this point, I think it's best to explain the term "New Proofs" found in this book's title. Simply, there are no new proofs.

The two arguments of part one are old proofs that have been successfully refuted in the past and found to be invalid. What these arguments use is "new" scientific information that has been discovered in modern times. Unfortunately, putting modern scientific information into old, invalid arguments still means that the arguments are invalid.

For the three philosophical arguments of part two, Spitzer reformats them into a "new" format and gives us his rendition or interpretation of old arguments that have been successfully refuted in the past and found to be invalid. Unfortunately, reformatting and reinterpreting successfully refuted invalid arguments means that they still are invalid.

The astute reader of this review will deduce that one chapter is devoted to each argument. But part two has three arguments and four chapters. The very interesting extra chapter of this part discusses, among other things, the methodology between metaphysics and science. My guess is that this is the real purpose of this book and, in my opinion, this book should have ended here.

In this extra chapter of part two, Spitzer says that "Metaphysics should not be summarily rejected because it does not correspond to experimental or empirical grounding of science." I disagree. It should be summarily rejected.

Spitzer does not really define metaphysics although in the cosmological argument cited above he states that it means "beyond physics."

Actually, "metaphysics" is a term not easily defined since it's so fuzzy. It is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world. It is closely associated with the study of the nature of knowledge (called epistemology). A central branch of metaphysics is ontology that investigates the basic categories of being and how they relate to each other.

Generally, metaphysics can be thought of as "speculative philosophy" or esoteric, often mystical or theosophical, lore.

A number of prominent philosophers such as David Hume and John Locke have suggested that metaphysics as a whole should be rejected. In fact, John Locke stated that parts of it are "ridiculous" and "nonsensical" because of its very subtle or difficult reasoning.

Who is this book written for? I don't know but it seems not to be for the average reader. Here's a typical paragraph from part two:

"Now, extrinsic instantiation does not have to be through a spatiotemporal continuum. It could be through another medium that keeps the two instances of reality distinct (such as distinct thoughts in the mind of God). But again, one encounters the same problem, namely that the medium through which instances of unrestricted intelligibility are extrinsically instantiated (in this case, the mind of God) would have to be able to answer questions that each of the two distinct instances of unrestricted intelligibility (contents of divine mind) would not be able to answer. Once again, this implies that all hypothetical instances of unrestricted intelligibility would have to be restricted--another intrinsic contradiction."

Finally, the science in the first part of this book is well-presented. I personally found this part of the book very interesting (even though others readers may find it tough going).

In conclusion, this book provides no new proofs for God's existence. As well, I think most people will find it difficult to read.

(first published 2010; acknowledgements; introduction; 3 parts or 8 chapters; conclusion; main narrative 290 pages; references; index)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

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