The Ontological Argument

Question 0

How does the OA try to prove God’s existence?

Answer 0

By definition

Question 1

Who first proposed the Ontological Argument?

Answer 1

St Anselm of Canterbury (11th century)

Question 2

What is ontology?

Answer 2

The study of being

Question 3

What does ‘a Priori’ mean?

Answer 3

Without experience, derived from logic

Question 4

What is Anselm’s most famous book?

Answer 4

Proslogion

Question 5

Describe Anselm’s 1st form of the OA

Answer 5

• He defines God as TTWNGCBC
• We can all conceive of an ultimately perfect being in our minds
• We could also conceive of an even greater being who exists in both the mind and reality
• This being would be greater than God
• If God is TTWNGCBC then he must exist in both the mind and reality

Question 6

What inspired Anselm to develop the OA?

Answer 6

Psalm 14: ‘The fool who says in his heart that there is no God’

Question 7

How did Gaunilo criticise the OA?

Answer 7

Used the analogy of the perfect island - If you imagine the most perfect island then since it is perfect and existence is part of perfection then it must necessarily exist

Question 8

How did Anselm respond to Gaunilo?

Answer 8

He said he was not arguing about contingent things that depend on other things for existence but of TTWNGCBC. “Islands have no intrinsic maximum.” God is not contingent therefore his existence is necessary.

Question 9

Describe Anselm’s second form of the OA

Answer 9

• It is impossible to conceive of God as not existing
• God is a necessary being, he must exist
• If God were contingent he would not be TTWNGCBC because he would depend on something else for existence
• It is greater to be necessary than be contingent

Question 10

How did René Descartes develop the OA in ‘Meditations V?’

Answer 10

• God is a supremely perfect being who possesses all perfections
• Existence is a perfection therefore God exists
• Uses the example of a triangle to show that if any of the angles are removed then it is no longer a triangle. This is because the 180 degrees in a triangle are a predicate of that triangle. Similarly existence is a predicate of God

Question 11

How did Kant criticise the OA?

Answer 11

• Says that Descartes tries to turn an analytic statement into a synthetic one
• Existence is not a predicate but a quality
• “If you take away all the angles then there is no need for the triangle at all”
• Called the OA a ‘tired tautology’

Question 12

What did Descartes mean when he said, “Cogito ergo sum?”

Answer 12

I think, therefore I am

Question 13

Why is the OA ‘Reductio Ad Absurdum?’

Answer 13

It shows the proposition of God not existing as logically absurd