Arguments for the existence of God. One lesson at a time: listen to the episode, play the three games until the streak holds, then write to a real past-paper question in the time the exam gives you.
Specimen to 2026, by tariff. A dash means that year's question at that tariff was on another unit of the same section.
| Year | 3 marks | 5 marks | 5 marks | 12 marks | 25 marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specimen | — | — | Q03Outline Aquinas' Third Way. | Q04Compare and contrast Paley's and Swinburne's versions of the design argument. | — |
| 2019 | — | — | — | Q04Outline Descartes' ontological argument and explain Kant's objection to it. | Q05How successful is the design argument for the existence of God? |
| 2020 | — | Q02Outline Leibniz's cosmological argument from the principle of sufficient reason. | Q03Explain how inductive and deductive arguments for the existence of God differ. | Q04Outline St Anselm's ontological argument and explain Gaunilo's 'perfect island' objection. | — |
| 2021 | — | Q02Outline Aquinas' 1st Way (the argument from motion). | — | — | Q05Can God's existence be proved using an ontological argument? |
| 2022 | Q01State the definitions of 'God' used by (a) Anselm and (b) Descartes in their ontological arguments. | Q02Explain the design argument from analogy as presented by Hume. | Q03Explain how Russell objects to the cosmological argument by arguing that it commits the fallacy of composition. | — | — |
| 2023 | Q01What does Swinburne mean by 'temporal order/regularity' in his design argument? | Q02Outline Norman Malcolm's ontological argument. | — | — | Q05Does the cosmological argument prove that God exists? |
| 2024 | — | Q02Explain Descartes' version of the cosmological argument based on his continuing existence. | Q03Explain how an empiricist might object to the ontological argument as an a priori proof for God's existence. | Q04Explain the design argument as presented by Hume and his objection that it fails as an argument from a unique case. | — |
| 2025 | — | Q02Explain Aquinas' Second Way (his argument from atemporal causation). | — | — | Q05Is the teleological/design argument for the existence of God persuasive? |
| 2026 | Q01What is meant by 'spatial order' in Paley's design argument? | — | — | Q04Explain the Kalām argument and explain the issue of the possibility of an infinite series. | Q05Can the ontological argument be successfully defended? |
Read your answer as the examiner will. Which of these would they write beside it?