Human Cognition and Does God Exist

QUESTION: How does Human Cognition answer "Does God Exist"?

ANSWER:

Another argument for the Existence of God is the Reliability of Human Cognition. When reviewing the question, “Does God Exist,” look to the reliability of our Cognitive Faculties.

The Premises:


1. Human Cognitive Faculties can only be reliable if they were designed.
2. Human Cognitive Faculties are reliable.

The Conclusion: Human Cognitive Faculties were designed.

The Argument from the Reliability of Human Cognition
Premise 1 of the Argument from the Reliability of Human Cognition is true because if our cognitive faculties were merely the result of matter-in-motion, then we would have no reason to believe our cognitive faculties are reliable in the first place. How could one person trust the reliability of another person’s cognition? How could any person trust the ultimate reliability of his or her own cognition?

Can we verify the reliability of our cognitive faculties by cross checking them with other minds? No, we all presuppose the reliability of our cognitive faculties before cross checking anything. When we start with the premise that our cognitive faculties were designed, we have a reasonable basis to accept their reliability. Could natural selection account for the process of developing non-random human cognition? No, not if everything on earth (including natural selection) is ultimately the product of a random supernova explosion that caused the origin of our solar system. No, not if the driving force behind naturalistic evolution is random mutation.

Premise 2 of the Argument from the Reliability of Human Cognition is necessary in order for any kind of reasonable discussion. If our cognitive faculties are not reliable, then there is no reason to accept anything at all. Ultimately, the notion of rational debate would be self-defeating for the atheist.