Inspired by Augustine, let’s begin with the reality that 2+2=4. Some realities exist in matter. A house is made of wood, nails, and cement. A dog has fur, muscles, and bones. Other realities exist in a mind. My memories of seeing the Grateful Dead in concert and of running track against Harvard exist in my mind. Your beliefs about dogs and about chocolate exist in your mind.
Does the reality of 2+2=4 exist in matter or in mind? Well, material realities have a particular weight, length, and density. But the reality that 2+2=4 does not have a weight, a length, or a density. So, the reality that 2+2=4 does not exist as a material object.
Moreover, material realities depend on matter for their continued existence. When the snow melts, the snowman is gone. But 2+2=4 is not a reality that would cease to exist if someone burned all the math books. Mathematical truths can be represented in written symbols or spoken words. But the reality of mathematical truth does not depend on the representation of this truth. The reality of 2+2=4 was true before anyone wrote it down or said it. So, the reality that 2+2=4 does not exist as a material object. Yet, the reality that 2+2=4 would not be destroyed, even if every human mind were destroyed. It was true before any human being knew about it. It would remain true even if all human beings ceased to exist. Mathematical realities like 2+2=4 are timeless, unchanging, intelligible, and true. So, since the reality of 2+2=4 is a timeless and unchanging reality, it does not depend upon a mind that is contingent, in time, and changeable. Rather, the reality of 2+2=4 must exist in a mind that does not come into existence and cannot fall out of existence, since 2+2=4 does not begin to be true, nor could 2+2=4 ever stop being true.
Moreover, 2+2=4 is not the only mathematical reality. Indeed, there are infinite mathematical realities simply in terms of addition (3+3, 4+4, 5+5, etc.). There are countless more mathematical realities of subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, calculus, etc. Indeed, there are innumerable truths that are timeless, unchanging, and intelligible. But only an infinite mind can know infinite realities.
So it follows that there must exist a mind that is outside of time, not coming into existence, not having the possibility of going out of existence, which knows infinite realities. The word commonly used in English for a necessarily existing, eternally understanding, and infinitely knowing mind is “God.”
Негізгі бет If 2+2=4, then God exists.
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