Ontological Argument

Question 1

What is the ontological argument?

Answer 1

An argument for the proof of the existence of God based on the idea that the fact we have a concept of God must mean he exists

Question 2

What is meant by The God of classical theism?

Answer 2

The idea God is an absolute eternal, all knowing (omniscient), all powerful (omnipotent), all loving (omnibenevolent) and perfect being. God is related to the world as its cause, but is immutable and not affected by it. God is transcendent , meaning he exists outside space and time.

Question 3

Who is St Anselm of Canterbury?

Answer 3

A traditional philosophy scholar who traditionally put forward the first strain of the OA.

Question 4

Who is René Descartes?

Answer 4

A French philosopher and mathematician who developed Anselm’s OA into his own, but is however still an a priori argument

Question 5

What is meant by perfections?

Answer 5

Something that is flawless or lacks faults (for the context of Descartes OA)

Question 6

What is meant by a predicate?

Answer 6

A part of a statement that makes an assertion about a subject by telling you what someone has. Also another word used to describe a “property/attribute” of something

Question 7

What is the philosophical definition of necessary?

Answer 7

Something that cannot be thought to not exist I.e. God exists so truly that he cannot be thought of as not existing

Question 8

What is the philosophical definition of contingent?

Answer 8

Something that depends on something else for its existence

Question 9

What is the relationship between faith and reason reflected in the ontological argument?

Answer 9

That faith aids reasoning, for Anselm faith was his starting point in his OA and from that he was able to use deductive reasoning based on the definition of God that he exists

Question 10

What did Anselm define God as?

Answer 10

Than that in which nothing greater can be conceived

Question 11

What was the Proslogian?

Answer 11

A book wrote by Anselm in which he explores his own faith towards God. His intention was to offer arguments that established God’s existence and the Christian attributes of God (classical theism)

Question 12

What is the first part of Anselm’s OA?

Answer 12

He defines God and from that definition develops that God is the greatest being that can be thought of and that it is greater to exist in the mind and reality than in the mind alone, as another greater being could exist in reality

Question 13

How does Anselm refer to the Book of Psalms?

Answer 13

It states that ‘The fool has said in his heart “there is no God” ‘. The fool, who is also an atheist, is contradicting himself because he understands God through a prior knowledge meaning God must exist in his mind and so must also exist in reality as God is the GCB. Anselm argues that whatever is understood must exist in the understanding

Question 14

How does Anselm use Reductio Ad Adsurdum to respond to the fools claim in the Book of Psalms?

Answer 14

The fool understands the claim that God exists but at the same time does not believe God exists. The last statement contradicts the first statements and results in an absurd conclusion . Therefore through logical reasoning to say there is no God contradicts his definition, so the opposite conclusion must be true; God exists.

Question 15

What is the second part of Anselm’s OA?

Answer 15

He attempts to prove that God has necessary existence, and so can be seen as a response to Gaunilo’s criticism. First Anselm considers the idea of God , a being that cannot be surpassed in greatness and is a perfect being. This GCB cannot simply exist contingently; it would be greater if it had necessary existence meaning it cannot be thought of to not exist. A logically necessary being is one whose non-existence is impossible to comprehend, therefore God exists necessarily

Question 16

What is Gaunilo’s criticism to Anselm’s OA?

Answer 16

He attacks the first part of Anselm’s OA and said that it implies you define anything into existence. He wrote on behalf of the fool and uses the perfect island analogy to show the fault of Anselm’s first part. The atheist understands God as the GCB however this does not mean God exists in reality

Question 17

What is the perfect island analogy?

Answer 17

Replaced the island with God.

Consider a perfect island. Those who understand the words know that it means the best possible island. An island “than that in which nothing greater can be conceived”. The BPI could not be the BPI if it only existed in the mind, as a better island could exist in reality. So in order to be the BPI, it must exists in both mind and reality. This argument show you can define anything into existence, therefore there must be something wrong with it

Question 18

What kind of argument is Descartes’ OA?

Answer 18

An a priori , deductive and analytic

It attempts to show that because we have an idea of God, he must exists

Question 19

What is the first part of Descartes’ OA?

Answer 19

He define God as a “supremely perfect being” and claimed he himself could not have made up this definition as he was an imperfect being. Therefore the idea must of came from the perfect being himself. A perfect being must exist in order to be perfect so God’s existence is necessary.

Question 20

What does “cogito ergo sum” mean?

Answer 20

” I think therefore I am “

Descartes own thoughts made him certain that he existed , but he could not prove the existence of others. So he went on to consider what eles he could prove exists. He concluded that there were a priori things e.g. A triangle with 3 sides and 3 angles. He said that “ Existence can no more be seperated from the essence of God that the fact that it’s three angles equal two right angles can be separated from the essence of a triangle”

Question 21

What is Descartes’ second part of his OA?

Answer 21

It is similar to Anselm’s second part in that it attempts to show God has necessary existence. Descartes said that existence is a perfection and the idea of God is the idea of a SPB. A SPB must exists all possible perfections , including existence. Thus the SPB must possess the perfection of existence so God exists necessarily

Question 22

How did Descartes use further testing and examples to explain his second part of his OA?

Answer 22

Imagining God without existence would be as illogical as imagining a triangle without angles that did not add to 180 degrees. However Descartes states that although he cannot imagine God without existence or a triangle without its angles, does not mean that God and the triangle actually exist. He can imagine a unicorn, but that does not exist. Then he used reduction ad absurdum to show it would be contradictory for God not to exist. It would be a stud to state that a SPB did not possess the perfect attributes of existence, this would be contradictory so God must exist

Question 23

What is meant by the term possible worlds and which scholar is associated with this idea?

Answer 23

A complete way that things could be. It is not another world

Alvin Plantinga

Question 24

What is meant by the term infinite?

Answer 24

Boundless or endless