← See the axis · Existence of God
ObjectionAttacks the reasoningOrigin does not settle truth
Explaining why we believe says nothing about what we believe: a belief born of desire can still be true.
Objects to
- The projection argument moves from the origin of the belief, our fears and desires, to the falsity of its object: God would not exist since we have human reasons to believe.
- But the origin of a belief and its truth are two distinct questions: desiring that something exist proves neither that it exists nor that it does not. To infer falsity from genesis is the genetic fallacy.
- The thirsty man who dreams of a spring is not wrong to believe water exists: that a belief meets a need makes it suspect, not false. One would still have to show, on other grounds, that nothing answers to it.
Therefore So the argument shows at best that the belief is humanly explicable, not that God does not exist: projection casts suspicion, it does not settle the matter.
Possible resolutions of the objection
Challenges
Problem