1.3 Ontological Argument Flashcards
What type of reasoning does the ontological argument use?
A priori - based on logic and reasoning alone
What kind of argument is the ontological argument?
A deductive argument
Who was Anselm of Canterbury?
An 11th century monk and philosopher
How did Anselm come up with the ontological argument?
He had a religious experience that ‘revealed’ the ‘simple argument’ to him
Where is Anselm’s ontological argument found?
In his work PROSLOGIUM
How did Anselm define god?
A being than which nothing greater can be conceived
What is anselms ontological argument?
P1) our understanding of god is a being than which no greater can be conceived
P2) the idea of god exists IN INTELLECTU
P3) a being that exists both in intellectu and IN RE is greater than a being that exists only in the mind
P4) if god only exists in intellectu, then we can conceive of a greater being than which exists in re
C - therefore, god exists
What is anselms aim?
To refute the ‘fool who can understand the claim that god exists BUT doesn’t believe that god exists’
What does Gaunilo think about Anselm’s argument?
In ‘on behalf of the fool’, guanilo points out that Anselm’s argument seems absurd as you could define anything into existence.
What type of argument does Gaunilo use to encounter Anselm?
He uses a REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM argument
P1) we can imagine an island which is the greatest conceivable island.
P2) it is greater to exist in re than merely in intellectu
C - therefore, the greatest conceivable island must exist in re
Overall, Gaunilo is arguing that there needs to be some kind of empirical proof that the island and god exist
What is Anselm’s response to Gaunilo?
His argument should only be applied to NECESSARY BEINGS
Where is Descartes’ ontological argument found?
In his book MEDITATIONS,
- the aim of the book was methodological scepticism = to doubt everything that he could to see what it was that he couldn’t doubt
What was the only thing that Descartes couldn’t doubt?
That he exists = Cogito, ergo sum
What does Descartes argue?
There are certain things that exist in intellectu which it is possible to know the properties of, even if they cannot be ‘encountered through the senses’, it doesn’t mean that he invented them,
SO we can know that existence is a property of God without having encountered them.
Descartes’ argument in premises:
P1) I exist
P2) In my mind, I have the concept of a perfect being
P3) As an imperfect being, i could not have conjured up the concept of a perfect being
P4) The concept of a perfect being must therefore have originated from the perfect being itself
P5) A perfect being must exist in order to be perfect
C - therefore, a perfect being exists
What does Descartes say about the existence of god?
Just as certain properties of a triangle can be known without seeing a triangle, so we can know that existence is a property of god without having encountered him.
What is meant by essence?
Descartes uses ‘essence’ to mean something fundamental to what something is, e.g. three angels are part of the essence of a triangle
What is Norman Malcolms ontological argument?
Norman Malcolm makes a distinction in Anselms argument between the one made in Chapter 2 of his Proslogium, that ‘existence is a perfection’, and the one in Chapter 3 ‘where the logical impossibility of non-existence is a perfection’
Malcolm rejects that god has contingent existence outright because he holds god cannot come into being or be caused in any way. This would make god a ‘limited being, which by our conception of Him He is not’
Malcolm rejects that god does not exist because he holds that gods existence is not logically impossible
Therefore, Malcolm holds that it must be that god has necessary existence
What is Alvin Plantingas ontological argument?
Plantinga sets out the premise that there exists a being with ‘maximal excellence’ if, and only if, it is omnipotent, omniscient and morally perfect.
