Abstract
AN EXAMINATION ON THE GAP BETWEEN THE FIRST CAUSE IN SCIENCE AND THEISTIC CONCEPTION OF GOD
The foundations of thinking about existence and inferring that there must be an ultimate first cause go back to the beginning of the history of philosophy. These ideas were generally put forward within a metaphysical framework, from the search for the archaea in the Ancient Ages to the Enlightenment period. With the increasing importance given to reason with the Enlightenment, the scientific dimension of these thoughts on existence came to the fore. However, the coming to the fore of experiments and observations on existence has not put the thoughts about ultimate existence on the shelf, on the contrary, it has made them more hotly debated. Especially in the last century, many views have been put forward that try to identify the first cause of science with the ultimate existence, by supporting the data obtained by science by asking why questions on facts and situations.
The main claim in these views, which can generally be described as 'theistic approach' or 'theological explanation', is that the results obtained with scientific data can be evidence of the existence of God. However, at this point, the claim that “there is a gap between the first cause and the God of Theism” comes to the fore as a strong criticism. In fact, this claim is a classic objection targeting all theistic arguments put forward to justify the existence of God. This objection can be examined by classifying the arguments or by evaluating the solution proposals in general. In this study, rather than classifying the arguments from which aspects of the gap in question come to the fore as a problem, the explanations put forward on the identity of God with the first cause of science are examined with a holistic approach. In this way, some evaluations are made as to whether the gap actually exists. Then, accepting the existence of such a gap, various explanations for the solution of the problem are included. As a result, both the methods of theistic approaches were criticized and alternative solutions to the gap problem were evaluated.
Keywords
Science, First Cause, Religion, Existence of God, Gap Problem
