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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that If theism is true, there is a strong case that universal or near-universal human desires are desires for which satisfaction is possible.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Evolutionary processes, even divinely guided ones, select for reproductively advantageous desires, not desires tracking metaphysical truths about attainable goods.
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    • 2.A desire for immortality or eternal life could be a byproduct of adaptive fitness-enhancing death-aversion, not evidence of a satisfiable teleological aim.
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    • 3.Aquinas's own framework distinguishes natural inclinations from supernatural ends, making the inferential bridge from universal desire to attainable good require additional theological premises not contained in bare theism.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.The argument from universal desire commits a quantitative fallacy: widespread cross-cultural desires for vengeance, domination, or ethnic superiority are not thereby evidence of attainable goods a loving God designed humans to pursue.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If the theist restricts the premise to only 'deepest' or 'properly ordered' desires, the argument becomes circular, presupposing the very theological anthropology it was meant to establish.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.If theism is true, human life is the product of an evolutionary process designed by a God who loves and cares for humans.
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    • 2.A loving God who designed humans would plausibly design them with desires aimed at genuine and attainable goods.
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    • 3.The presumption must therefore be that widespread or universal desires are aimed at some genuine and attainable good, however inadequate individual conceptions of that good may be.
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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.