Travis Joseph Rodgers
After gaining a basic understanding of arguments, beliefs, and concepts, it’s a good idea to start applying them to a philosophical topic, like deities. Deities are gods. I’ll use the singular form unless the plural is necessary for clarity. Although many fields of study explore this topic, philosophers do it in three distinct realms. First, they explore metaphysical questions. These are questions of what god might be like. Second, they explore epistemic questions. These include questions of whether and how we might know about god. Third, they explore ethical issues. These include questions of our obligations toward or from god. Because there are many religious traditions, there’s no way to canvass all that nuance in a brief article. We might, however, lay out some of the landscape in a systematic way.
Metaphysics
What is a god? Metaphysical questions regard the nature of things. What does it mean for something to be a god? In other words, what are necessary and sufficient conditions of godhood? How many gods exist or could exist? Is there something in divine nature that makes it either impossible (so there are no gods), unique (so there is exactly one god), or not especially uncommon (so there might be multitudes)?
Among monotheists, there is a historical trend toward seeing the one god as omnipotent (having all powers), omniscient (having all knowledge), omnibenevolent (having an all-good will), and omnilocated (having no limits on location). Among polytheists, there is a tendency to see the gods as more limited, as having spheres of influence rather than having their powers extend to all aspects. Among polytheistic views, conflict among the gods and the resulting agreements they make tends to shape the worldview. For an interesting example of this, see Enuma Elish or Hesiod’s Theogony. Among monotheists, there tends to be a single plan that god unravels (e.g., in Genesis).
Epistemology
How could we come to know about god? If god exists, and is so unlike the other things that exist, in part because of god’s immense power, why isn’t god more evident in the world? Why, that is, can god seem so “hidden”? Some suggest god is actually quite evident. On one hand, we might consider certain sacred texts, like the Vedas, Homeric Hymns, The Bible, or Quran. We might receive the testimony of those who speak of their encounters with gods, like those from Hildegard of Bingen. We might make empirical investigations and find that the existence of god makes certain findings more or less easily explained (e.g., in the cosmological argument). Some think that we can approach an understanding of god through reason. Anselm’s Proslogion, among other texts, explores this question. Others suggest that the nature of god (a metaphysical point) is so different from our nature that we are unable to know much about god at all. Notably, Blaise Pascal pushes this point in his Pensées. While many of these approaches offer lines of evidence, they seem often contradictory to one another and perhaps fail to be even internally coherent. How should we approach these texts and experiences? What are fair principles of interpretation? These are epistemic questions related to god.
Ethics
Does divinity importantly inform ethics? Perhaps for there to be right answers to the question, “What should I do?” there must be some authority to establish an answer. God, especially on the monotheistic picture, is a candidate for that authority. Others have argued that the sum of our moral obligations come from divine commands. So, not only does god’s existence make correct answers possible; perhaps god makes the answers, issues commands, and forbids us to do certain things. Others have argued for a more relaxed picture, on which we have some obligations to the gods themselves. Plato’s Euthyphro explores the complexities of a relationship between a divine being and mortals.
A subset of ethics is concerned with questions of justice. God again may be relevant here. Regardless of god’s relation to morality generally, god may take an interest in punishment and reward. God might simply be an incredibly powerful judge who delivers good to those who live lives pleasing to god and pains to those who do otherwise.
Synthesis
One of the key issues at the confluence of these three areas is the problem of evil. This problem was laid out, in clear detail, by St. Augustine. In his On Free Choice of the Will, Augustine explores how it is possible for there to be evil in a world created by a god that is, roughly speaking, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent. Such a god, it seems, should prevent all evil. Yet there is evil.
Suppose you see that I have placed an action figure in the corner of my office. You ask why. I tell you that the action figure was rude, so they’re being punished. You ask for an explanation. I say that the figure was rude to another action figure. If this story sounds ridiculous, consider a real world where A does something rude to B. If god created the world, then god could avoid evils, would want to, and would do so, by properly navigating the path to where A is not rude. But A has been rude. So, either A has the power to defy god (so god is not omnipotent), god didn’t foresee the rudeness (so god is not omniscient), or god is indifferent to rudeness (so god isn’t omnibenevolent).