1.3 Arguments from Reason Flashcards
COMPLETED
why is it called the ontological argument?
it deals with the nature of being
it is a deductive argument because it aims to prove without question the existence of God
in what book does Anselm’s ontological argument appear?
‘Proslogion’
what is the first formulation of Anselm’s ontological argument?
- the fool of the Psalms
- Psalm 14:1 –> ‘the fool says in his heart, there is no God’
- the definition of God is That Than Which No Greater Being Can Be Conceived
- it is greater to exist in reality than just in the mind
- therefore God must exist in both the mind and in reality which means God exists
what is the second formulation of Anselm’s argument?
- Anselm talks about contingent and necessary beings
- If God were a contingent being then he wouldn’t be the greatest possible being which means that God must be a necessary being
- If God is a necessary being that means He cannot not exist which means God exists
in what book does Guanilo criticise Anselm?
‘On Behalf of the Fool’
how did Guanilo use the island to criticise Anselm?
- imagine the greatest conceivable, but lost, island in the middle of the ocean
- if you were told about the island you would be able to imagine it and it would exist in your mind
- you are then told that there could be no doubt it really exists as it is more excellent to exist in reality than just in the mind
- you wouldn’t think this argument had proven anything because no one had shown you that its existence was there in the first place
aside from the island, what are Guanilo’s other criticisms?
- we do not necessarily all have a common understanding of God, the greatest being for some people might be different for others
how did Anselm reply to Guanilo?
- reaffirmed his initial definition of God as the only being that cannot not exist, he is a special case
- Anselm wasn’t talking about any object when he made his points about God, God is a necessary being whereas the island is contingent
in what book did Kant criticise Anselm?
‘critique of pure reason’
what is a subject and predicate
the subject is the subject of the statement
the predicate is what describes the subject
what was Kant’s first objection to Anselm’s argument?
- kant uses the example of a triangle
- a triangle only has three angles if the triangle exists in the first place
- ontological arguments are bad logic because they make us suppose that if we justify God’s perfection as influding existence we are assuming that God exists: it is circular logic
- we can make up an object and define it however we like, this does not make the object exist in reality even though the definition continues to be true
overall you can accept the predicate of a sentence all you want but if the subject doesn’t exist in the first place then there is no possible contradiction
what was Kant’s second objection to Anselm’s argument?
- the nature of existence as a predicate, it cannot be a proper predicate
- uses the example of a hundred thalers: a hundred real thalers is exactly the same amount as a hundred imaginary thalers, the existence of them is not something that can be defined by logic, it is defined by the experience of having them therefore a priori arguments cannot be said to work
how did Norman Malcolm attempt to defend existence as a predicate?
- contingent existence does not add information in the way that saying I have dark hair and someone else has fair hair does but necessary existence does add information
Hume
- did not directly address the ontological argument
- but he had a very strong general scepticism towards religious claims and a priori arguments
GE Moore
- said existence cannot be a predicate of a concept
- meaningful statements about existence must be empirical and based on experience rather than derived from definitions or conceptual analysis
