Arguments based on reason (ontological)

• Anselm

  • ‘I believe so that I may understand that than which nothing greater can be conceived’
  • everybody has a definition of God, so he exists in the mind
  • God must exist in reality because things that exist in reality and greater than those in the mind
  • God is necessary, cannot not be
  • ‘The Fool’ (Psalm 14) - even the fool can accept
• Descartes

  • ‘God is a supreme personal being‘
  • Existence is perfection
  • God must exist
  • Cannot lack existence
• Gaunilo

  • responds on behalf of ‘the fool’, the perfect island must exist
  • can’t compare anything else with God - matter, contingent, no intrinsic maximum
• Kant

  • existence is not a thing, it’s not a characteristic
  • ‘exists’ does not add to the concept, therefore the argument fails because an existent God is the same as non-existent
• Intrinsic Maximum

  Faith, if God is proven, there will be no room for faith