Ontological Argument Weakness Flashcards
Weakness of the ontological argument
Anslem assumes that ‘God functions ‘ are an analytic term and that his detention of God is beyond questions . Anslem assumes that it is meaningful to make an exception for God and declare him necessarily existent by definition
Weakness of the ontological argument
Why is is existence a great making property ? Why is something great simply by virtue of it existing ? Aren’t there some existing things which could be greater if they didn’t exist
Weakness of the ontological argument
Existence is not a predicate . It gives no additional information about the subject matter which is otherwise unknown . Existence doesn’t describe anything , it merely indicates the actuality of an object . Russell argues “ cows are brown “ and “ cows are brown and exist “ is to say the same thing . Their existence is assumed is the first statement. Hence existence adds nothing to our understanding of them
Weakness of the ontological argument
Gaunlio demonstrated that Anslem’s argument attempted to define things into existence and this would lead to absurd conclusions if applied to anything other than God .
Weakness of the Ontological Argument
Hume considered the argument a failure because it made a false assumption about existence that necessary existence was a coherent concept . He argued that existence could only ever be contingent and that all statement about existence could be denied without contradiction. All things which could be said to exist coils also be said not to exist
Weakness of the ontological argument
Aquinas although he acknowledged that Gods existence necessarily involves his nature as a perfect being , he rejected the assumption of the proof that fallible human intellect alone could prove the existence of God . Weak human reasoning can conceive of God and Aquinans suggested only god understand the ontological proof . Anslem is making a transitional error moving from defining god to say something exist
