Argument from desire

The Argument from Desire is an argument for the existence of God. It is most known in recent times through the writings of C. S. Lewis, for whom it played pivotal role in his own conversion to theism and thence to Christianity.

As a syllogism it can be expressed as follows.

Major premise All innate human desires have objects which exist. By "innate" we mean those desires which are universal. The desire for food, the desire for companionship, the desire to enjoy beauty are innate desires in this sense. The desires to have a grand house or a PhD are not. The premise cannot be proved but is plausible. We feel hunger; there is such a thing as eating. We feel sexual desire; there is such a thing as sex. It would be very strange to travel to a planet whose inhabitants reported feeling hungry yet never had food, mouth nor stomachs. For every such innate desire in human experience (save one) we can identify the object.

Minor premise There is a desire for "we know not what" whose object cannot be identified. We are never truly satisfied. For even while we satisfy our hunger, our need for companionship, love, beauty, achievement, etc., there always remains this unfulfilled desire.

Conclusion If the object of this desire does not exist in this world, it must exist in an another.

The argument is not meant to be a proof. The conclusion may not necessarily be the only possibility satisfying the premises. Yet the argument from desire can be persuasive because the premises and conclusion can be not merely understood but "seen" in a much more direct way than, say, the Ontological Argument. It plays more directly to the human experience.

External Links

• Essay and audio lecture by Peter Kreeft on the Argument from Desire