ontological argument

Question 1

Ontological argument definition

Answer 1

• Tries to prove that God exists based on who God is.
• Basically it says that if you understand the definition of God then you understand that God exists.
• It is a priori meaning that it is based on reason independent from experience.

Question 2

Anselm’s first formulation

Answer 2

• Because atheists and theists can both imagine God in the same sense then he must exist.
• For example, a painter can imagine a painting and only they can know what it looks like until they’ve painted it but because everyone can understand God in the same sense he must exist.

Question 3

Anselm’s second formulation

Answer 3

If there are contingent and necessary beings, God must a necessary being as if he was contingent he wouldn’t be the greatest possible being.

Question 4

Descartes

Answer 4

• Developed Anselm’s argument claiming that existence is a predicate to God.
• God by definition is perfect so the must exist as if he didn’t exist he wouldn’t be perfect.

Question 5

Kant predicate

Answer 5

Argues that existence can’t be a predicate because a predicate is supposed to add information to the subject and existence doesn’t.

Question 6

Malcolm to Kant criticism

Answer 6

Malcolm argues that Kan’t argument only works for contingent and non necessary existence. A necessary being contains the reason for existence within itself whereas a contingent being doesn’t.

Question 7

John Hick

Answer 7

The most that can be said that if God exists, he must exist necessarily. There is no way of getting rid of the if.

Question 8

Plantinga

Answer 8

Believes that all Malcolm argues is that it is possible that a God is logically necessary being, but it is not necessary that God is a logically necessary being.

Question 9

Findlay

Answer 9

Uses the ontological argument to disprove God’s existence. God must necessarily exist as being anything less is not worthy of worship. Necessary statements about existence cannot be true, as argued by Kant, as necessity only applies to the way words are used. Therefore, God cannot exist.

Question 10

Aquinas

Answer 10

Believed that the existence of God can only be demonstrated through a posteriori arguments as it is possible for us to have a mental image of the non-existence of God. Atheists can manage this.