Ontology Flashcards
What was St. Anselm’s first OA?
If God is ttwngcbc, and he can exist in intellctu, he must also exist in re because existence in re is better than just in intelllectu
Existence is a quality which can be possessed, if God is ttwngcbc, God must poses it
What was St. Anselm’s definition of God
“that than which nothing greater can be conceived”, or “the greatest conceivable being”
What does analytic mean?
The truth is independent of experience, logically true. For example, a triangle has 3 sides.
What does synthetic mean?
Verified through experience, requires external evidence. For example: “the car is green” this could be true of false.
Which two thinkers thought synthetically and what did they believe?
Aquinas: arrogant to assume we know the nature of God, can only prove it with evidence
Kant: plausible to reject the existence of God and its predicates, just because we can conceive of something doesn’t mean it is real. Need verification to prove it is correct.
Who criticised Kant?
Malcolm: God can be proven analytically, a necessary existence is a predicate of God, if God is ttwngcbc, God cannot be contingent
Hartshorne: there is a difference between the idea of God and God existing in reality, concept is inferior to what is being described
What was St. Anselm’s second OA?
"God doesn't exist" is a contradiction Having a contingent cause is not as good as a necessary one God is ttwngcbc God must have a necessary existence It is in Gods nature to exist
What was Descartes famous quote and what does it mean
“I think therefore I am” - anything we saw could be false (influenced from the enlightenment, questioning about what was real and how we could prove it) however Decartes said the fact we THINK about the skepticism proves we exist as doubting is thinking and thinking is existing
What was Descartes book called?
Meditations on philosophy - 5th part for ontology
Who wrote Proslogion?
St. Anselm of Canterbury
What 3 things did Descartes claim earlier in his book?
1) we are all intrinsically aware of God
2) some things are beyond doubt
3) the only way to prove theism is to prove that atheism in incoherent analytically
What kind of nature does God have for Descartes and how did he explain this?
An immutable nature. (Never changing)
Triangles have three sides, just like a triangle is immutable, so is God. It is in God’s essence to exist.
It doesn’t matter if nobody knew what a triangle was, it would still have three sides, be a triangle and would still be immutable.
Impossible to think of a mountain without a valley
How did Descartes define God?
God is ‘supremely perfect’
Something that is perfect lacks nothing
Therefore God exists as he cannot lack existence
You cannot be evily perfect, only lack perfection. Like Platos form of the good.
How did Gaunilo criticise Anselm?
- gossip, talking about it doesn’t make it true
- definition, you cannot define something into existence (in dicto to in re)
- island, just because you can think of the greatest conceivable island doesn’t mean it exists
How did Gassendi criticise Anselm and Descartes?
Something either exists or it doesn’t.
If something doesn’t exist then it is meaningless to discuss whether it is perfect.
If something like a unicorn doesn’t exist, then it is neither perfect or imperfect, it just ceases to exist.
