Evaluating Franz Magnis-Suseno’s Argument for God's Existence: A Systemic Philosophical Approach

<div>The discourse on the argument for God's existence is one of the philosophical themes in Indonesia, with&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">one of the prominent figures Franz Magnis Suseno. This research is based on a gap in the absence of an in-depthstudy with a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gigih Saputra, M. Rodinal Khair
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UGM Digital Press 2025-08-01
Series:Digital Press Social Sciences and Humanities
Online Access:https://digitalpress.ugm.ac.id/article/482
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Summary:<div>The discourse on the argument for God's existence is one of the philosophical themes in Indonesia, with&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">one of the prominent figures Franz Magnis Suseno. This research is based on a gap in the absence of an in-depthstudy with a new perspective on Magnis's thought. This research aims to provide new insights&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">through a critique and recommendations on Magnis's views concerning cosmological and teleological&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">arguments. The author introduces a new perspective, namely the Cosmo-Teleological System Theory and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">the Systematic Critique of Atheism Theory. The findings of research about the ambiguity of the deepest&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">nature of causality, the lack of integration between cosmological and teleological arguments, and the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">insufficient depth in arguments to ascertain the limits beyond the natural world, particularly regarding the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">possibility of immaterial causal chains in the origins of the universe. Another gap identified is the notion&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">that the Absolute does not necessarily imply God, which can lead to the implication that the Absolute could&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">be something other than God. Magnis's views on teleological argument, specifically the inconsistency in the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">use of principles of directionality and randomness. Magnis still permits randomness, given the possibility&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">of Multiverses, and posits that our universe might be the result of a random combination of these&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Multiverses. Orderliness presupposes a final purpose, whereas randomness does not. Absence of purpose&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">results in the lack of unified direction among the components of a system, which in turn leads to the absence&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">of a cyclical pattern, a hallmark of an orderly system, leaving only chaos.&nbsp;</span></div>
ISSN:2654-9433