Ontological argument.

Question 1

What are the key concepts of the Ontological argument?

Answer 1

• A priori argument - it is based on logic alone and does not rely on evidence or experience.
• It provides conclusions that are self-evidently and logically neccessary.
• It is deductive - there is only one possible outcome.
• It is analytic - it is true by definition alone.

Question 2

What did St Anselm say about the Ontological argument?

Answer 2

He developed the ontological argument:

• The definition of God is ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived’.
• The non-existence of God is logically impossible.
• ‘The fool belieces that it cannot be true..
• Anselm argues that if such a being posseses all perfections, it must exist because existence is perfection.
• It must exist in reality.
• It does not simply exist in intellectu.
• This is because reality is greater than what exists in the mind.
• God is a neccessary being.
• Therefore, God’s existence is de dicto{ by definition}.

Question 3

What did Rene Descartes say about the ontological argument?

Answer 3

Supported the ontological argument - if we can conceive of our existence, then we can conceive of a perfect being. His argument is:

• I exist.
• In my mind, i have the concept of a perfect being.
• As an imperfect being, i could not have conjured up the concept of a perfect being.
• The concept of a perfect being must therefore have originated from the perfect being itself.
• The perfect being must exist in order to be perfect.

Question 4

What did St Thomas Aquinas say about the Ontological argument?

Answer 4

Rejected the view that human intellect alone could prove the existence of God.

• Anselm was guilty of making a transitional error- that is moving from the definition of God to the existence of God.
• Anselm was guilty of making an assumption about the definition of God to the existence of God.
• God’s existence in reality must be demonstrated by a posteriori.

Question 5

What did Gaunilo of Marmoutiers say about the Ontological argument?

Answer 5

• Gaunilo stated if these things were applied to things other than God it would lead to invalid conclusions - he replaced the word ‘God’ with the greatest ‘island’ leads to a false conclusion.
• Gaunilo states:
• If i can think of the perfect island and existence is perfection then the island exists - Anselm said this was flawed, as his argument only applied to neccessary beings.

Question 6

What did Norman Malcom say about the Ontological argument?

Answer 6

• States that if God did not exist neccessarily, then he did not exist at all.
• It is contradictory to say a neccessary being does not exist - because we require God.

Question 7

What did Alvin Platinga say about the Ontological argument/

Answer 7

• God is maximally great and perfect.
• We are able to imagine many worlds which contain different things.
• There must be any number of possible worlds, including our own.
• If God’s existence is neccesary, then he must exist in all of them.
• God is therefore maximally great and maximally excellent.

Question 8

What did Bertrand Russell say about the Ontological argument?

Answer 8

Russell agrees with Kant that existence is not a predicate. Russell argues that Anselm uses the word ‘exists’ incorrectly. Russell suggests that ‘existence’ is a false predicate.