Arguments based on reason: ontological argument *

Question 1

basis of anselms argument

Answer 1

• a- priori (based on logic not experience)
• His argument is deductive - (if the premises are true then the conclusion must also be true)
• God’s existence is a necessary truth (not contingent)
• Anselm describes God as the greatest conceivable being.

Question 2

Anselms first Form

Answer 2

P1 - God is the greatest imaginable being

P2 - It is greater to exist in reality than to exist only in the mind.

C - Therefore, as the greatest conceivable being, God must exist in reality

Question 3

Anselms Second Form: (in response to Gaunilos argument)

Answer 3

• God’s existence is necessary. (It is greater to be a necessary being than to be a contingent being.)
• This means that God cannot not exist (chain of infinate regress)

Question 4

St Anselm - Painter Analogy

Answer 4

a painter can conceive of the greatest painting in his mind, but for it to be the greatest painting, it must exist in reality

Question 5

reduction ad absurdum = ‘argument to absurdity’. (Guanilo)

Answer 5

reducing your opponents argument to the absurd by pushing their premises/conclusion to their logical limits.

E.G. god does not exists

Question 6

Descartes

Agrees with Anselm

Answer 6

Adds to Anselms - Congito ergo sum
“ I think therefore I am”

He wanted to prove God’s existence with REASON alone.

Question 7

Descartes claims

Agrees with Anselm

Answer 7

• God is a supremely perfect being.
  (E.G. Goodness, omnipotent - supports Anselm definition of God)
• Existence is a perfection (Existence is a perfect predicate of a being) = he uses the illustration of a triangle who essence is 3 angles =180*. God without existence is like a triangle without 3 sides.

Question 8

Gaunilo

Parody of the Perfect Island

Answer 8

• He uses a form of analysis called ‘reductio ad absurdum’ and applies Anselms argument to the example of a ‘perefct lost island’
• just because we can concieve of such a place doesn’t mean it exists.
• Therefore means we need empirical evidence.

Question 9

however Gaunilo’s argument is not effective, why?

Answer 9

• comparing God to an island = is comparing contingent items (dependent on things) with necessary items
• an island not immutable (it can always be improved like adding a palm tree) , however God can’t be improved = he’s is infinitely great.

Question 10

Kants criticsm
‘critique of pure reason’

his version of the ontological argument

Answer 10

OBJECTION 1:
- Existence is not a predicate, it adds nothing to a description that God actually exists - He uses the EXAMPLE of 100 coins

objection 2:
- The only way we can know if something exists is by experiencing them.