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Metaphysics of God
Arguments for the existence of God
Ontological
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What are
ontological
arguments
?
ontology
concerns being or existence
A priori
arguments regarding the concept of god
Most ontological arguments begin with the premise that ‘god is the
greatest
of all beings’
St Anselms
ontological
argument
God is the greatest possible
being
It is greater to
exist
in understanding and reality
Therefore because of
1
. God exists in reality and understanding
Response to
Anselms
ontological argument
the perfect island is, by definition, an island
greater
than which cannot be
conceived
we can coherently
conceive
of such a perfect island
It is more perfect to exist in both
reality
and understanding
therefore the most perfect island must exist in both
understanding
and reality
Can define
anything
into existence this way
Conclusion to argument is obviously
false
Ansel
m possible response to
gaunill
o
anselm could argue that a
‘perfect’
island is not automatically perfect in the same way god is and can always be improved upon
An island is not analogous to God,
contingent
vs necessary
immaterial
being
Descartes
ontological
argument
I have an idea of god, that is to say an idea of a perfect being
A perfect being must contain all perfections
Existence is perfection
Therefore god must exist
Descartes definition of
God
is a being which possesses all
perfections
, including
existence
.
God must exist as it is more perfect to exist than to not exist.
God is a
necessary
being and impossible to not exist
Humes Fork
: objection to Descartes
relation of ideas =
tautologies
will always give you the truth and no
new
information
Hume doesn’t think
Descartes
is justified in implying new information from something purely a
priori
(God)
Hume is a
empiricist,
need evidence for things
Humes Contradiction test
Denying the truth of a
proposition
to see if it is a
relation of ideas
If you cannot deny it without a contradiction it is a relation of ideas ie
5+5=10
‘god exists’
can be denied without a contradiction
Empiricist objections to ontological arguments for Gods existence
A
priori
arguments dont give any
new
information about the world
Only tells us about the
definition
and relation of
ideas
entailed within the
premises
In this case the ontological argument can’t prove
god
exists
Humes
fork
Kants
criticism on the
ontological
argument
It is possible to accept a
proposition
and yet deny that it exists in the real world
Ie ‘unicorns have one horn‘ is true by definition but doesn’t mean that they exist in
reality
Subject
: thing the statement is about ie
‘God’
Predicate
: properties that the subject has ie ‘red’ ‘cold’
100
Thaler
coins
Imagine old Thaler coins
adding
‘existence’
to the concept of the coins doesn’t change anything about them at all
In the same way adding ’existence’ to the concept of
god
doesn’t make him exist
Kants
existence is not a
predicate
- criticism of
ontological
arguments
A predicate is a descriptive property added to a
concept
Existence isn’t descriptive
Idea of something is not the same as whether it exists or not
Ontological arguments fail because it is essential to
Descartes
and Anselm that ‘existence’ is a part of the concept of God
Normal
Malcolms
ontological
argument (SIMPLIFIED)
Gods
existence is either
necessary
or impossible
Gods existence is not impossible
Therefore
gods existence is necessary
Normal Malcom’s
ontological
argument
MODAL ARGUMENT
: involves probability
Draws his argument from anselm who shows that we can’t conceive of god
not
existing
Malcolm argues that it is not
existence
that is perfection but the logical
impossibility
of non-existence
Gods existence is necessary
Malcom’s
ontological
argument
syllogism
Either
god
exists or he doesnt
God cannot come into or go out of existence
If god exists he cannot cease to exist
Therefore if god exists his existence is
necessary
And if he does not exist his existence is
impossible
Gods existence is either necessary or impossible
Gods existence is only impossible if the concept of god is
self contradictory
The concept of god isn’t self contradictory
Therefore gods existence is not impossible
Therefore gods existence is necessary
Malcolm continued
A being greater than which cannot be
conceived
Doesn’t
exist -
impossible
to ever exist, could conceive of a greater being (ie one that has
always
existed)
Does
exist - if it didn’t exist, could conceive of a greater being (one that not only exists but exists
necessarily)
Objections to Malcolm’s
argument
God
is an impossible being (incoherent)- concept of god is flawed ,
paradox of the stone
God is
ontologically necessary
-
logical necessity and ontological necessity are not the same (
Hick
)
Logical necessity -
tautologies
, cannot be denied without contradiction
Ontological necessity - non-contingent, exists independently and eternally
(
fallacy of equivocation
) If god existed he would be a necessary being but he wouldn’t exist necessarily
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