tillingborn wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 8:05 pm
Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 7:44 pmIf we start by believing that this world is merely a random product of time plus chance, and that it has no inherent purpose, no objective moral facts in it, and no ultimate telos or goal, then the answer is going to be "legitimation looks like a fiction," and plausibly, like Nietzsche said, merely a sort of attempt by the supporters of one regime to (illegitimately) seize power over others." And that's all it's ever going to be, if that's the supposition we start with, so nothing is every going to be "legitimate." It's all going to be a fix.
Isn't that exactly what we do see?
Well some people claim to see nothing. I don't really believe them, but I'm not in a position to say they can't see what's obvious to me, so I guess they've got me there...I can't say they're not blind if they say they are. But it looks to me undeniable, on any rational or empirical basis, to think this world is not the product of an intelligent Designer.
Now, I can also appeal to a number of other things...mathematics, reason, moral realism, revelation, miracles, experience, the person of Jesus Christ, and so on. But the doubter will say, "Well, I don't see any of that...or believe in any of that...so none of that counts to me." And what's my comeback to that? If nothing counts, then nothing counts...nobody can make another person recognize evidence AS evidence, if they are determined not to.
So we've got a stalemate there, in terms of any appeal to appearances. I see the evidence of God, and others say they see no evidence. What can be said about that, except that somebody's wrong?
But if God does exist, as I believe He certainly does, then legitimation is possible. If he does not, then it's not. So in response to your question,
What difference does God make to the world we experience?
I would say, "All the difference in the world." And in regard to legitimation, He alone makes legitimation a rational idea.