Ontological argument

Question 1

who is the philosopher?

Answer 1

Anselm

Question 2

what is an ontological argument?

Answer 2

God being the greatest being must exist because there is not greater

Question 3

Anselm’s argument

Answer 3

• God is the greatest thing
• God has to exist both in our imagination and in our reality
• God is the greatest thing we can think of. Things can only exist in our imagination or in our reality. Things that exist in reality are better than the ones that exist in our imagination.
• If God only existed in our imagination it would not be the greatest thing we could think of because God in reality is better
  SO
  God must exist in reality

Question 4

what type of argument is this

Answer 4

A priori - proposition which can be true through logic

Deductive - uses logical reasoning for the conclusion

Question 5

who argued against Anselm?

Answer 5

Guanilo

Question 6

Guanilo’s argument against Anselm

Answer 6

you can use Anselm’s argument to prove that anything is real.
“perfect island”

Question 7

Anselm’s response to Guanilo

Answer 7

“great” is only necessary to God

Guanilo is missing the question of the argument

Question 8

What did Kant say?

Answer 8

• If God exists then he must be the greatest being that we could think of but this doesn’t prove that he does exist
• Existence is not a predicate
• A predicate adds to the essence of the subject but it can’t be used to prove their existence.

Question 9

What did John Wisdom say?

Answer 9

“invisible gardener” - God doesn’t exist.