Ontological argument
- Created by: vezting
- Created on: 08-01-16 11:45
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- Ontological argument
- Anselm
- he developed the Ontological argument in 1078
- argument has 3 stages: 1)God is 'nothing greater can be conceived' 2) the non-existence of God is logically impossible 3) 'the fool' believes this cannot be true
- he argued
- 1- God is greater than any being, he is 'supremely perfect'
- 2- if such a being possesses all perfections it must exist because existence is perfection
- 3- therefore does not simply exist in mind but in reality
- 4-what exists in reality is greater than what exists in mind
- 5- God is a necessary being
- 6- therefore his existence is by definition
- strengths- deductive, some terms accepted by athiests also EG nothing greater can be conceived, atheist must understand God to reject him
- weaknesses- not coherent-n how can God be omniscient? cannot be assumed this is only logical way to prove God,
- Kant
- opposed the view of Anselm
- Existence is not associated with the definition of something as it did not add to our understanding
- we must establish the existence before we can describe what it is like
- existence is not a predicate
- " God is an object of pure thought"
- he developed the Ontological argument in 1078
- key concepts
- attempts to prove existence of God by reason alone
- is a-priori as does not rely on empirical evidence
- produces a conclusion which is self-evidently true or logically necessary
- its deductive- the argument contains conclusion that it reaches
- its analytic- its true by definition alone
- Descartes
- FOR ontological argument
- 1)I exist 2)I can imagine perfect being 3)as im imperferct, I cant think of perfect beings 4) therefore the thought must have come from the perfect being itself 5) therefore a perfect being exists
- 1) God is supremely perfect 2) has all perfections 3)existence is perfection 4)if God is supreme then he must exist 4) its illogical for him not to exist
- Aquinas
- Anselm has made 'transitional error' from definition to existence
- he has made assumption about definition that is not shared by all belivers
- God's existence needs to be proved by a posteriori - truth from experience and knowlendge
- Gaunilo
- if ontological argument applied to things other than God there is invalid conclusions
- 1) I can conceive and island greater than no island can be thought 2) such an island is perfect 3) existence is a perfection 4) therefore island must exist
- however Anselm argued back that Ontological is meant for necessary beings not contingent ones
- Gasking
- the fallacy
- creation is most supreme achievement, the greatest limitation of the creator would be to not exist, therefore a world created by non-existent creator would be greater
- therefore an existing God isnot the greatest conceivable being, as a greater one would not exist, God does therefore not exist
- the fallacy
- Platinga
- furthered the Ontological argument
- 1-we are able to imagine any number of alternative worlds in which things are different
- 2-if Gods existence is necessary he must exist in all of them and have same characteristcs
- 3-this is because God is maximally great and excellent
- 4- such a being would be omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent in all worlds
- furthered the Ontological argument
- Anselm
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