Ontological Argument

• Ontological argument


  Claims to demonstrate that the statement 'God exists' is analytically true - meaning that it would be make no sense to doubt God's existence
• Analytic statement


  A statement which it is ridiculous and impossible to think is false
• Analytic statements


  • A triangle having three internal angles adding up to 180 degrees
  • 'red is a colour'
• Synthetic statement


  A statement in which the statement's truth or falsity depends on evidence which has to be collected
• Synthetic statements


  • 'Beth has green hair'
  • 'It is raining in Dan's garden'
  • 'Jess has a small elf called Henry in a box in her room'
• For medieval theologians, the existence of God was a 'given' - they did not need to debate it
• Anselm (1033 – 1109, Archbishop of Canterbury) wanted to reconcile the new philosophy and the 'orthodox' traditionalists
• Ontological argument


  Concerned with the being or nature of God
• Anselm based his argument on a quotation from Psalm 14:1 which says, 'Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God"'
• Anselm's argument


  It is possible for anyone to conceive of "that than which nothing greater can be thought"
• Anselm argued that if something exists only in the mind, it is inferior to anything that exists both in the mind and in reality
• The most perfect conceivable being must exist in reality as well as in the mind
• Existence


  A predicate or intrinsic property or quality of something
• Anselm claimed that existence is a predicate of God (i.e. a property or quality of God's nature)
• For Anselm, God's existence is analytic
• Anselm argued that for God existence is necessary - it is impossible to conceive of him as not existing
• If we can hold the concept of God in our minds, God must exist in reality, since that which exists in reality is always greater than that which exists only in the mind
• It is impossible for God not to exist, so if a person claims that God does not exist this, according to Anselm, is a contradiction as it is part of God's nature to exist
• Gaunilo argued that Anselm's conclusion, that God cannot fail to exist, is 'unintelligible' – it cannot show that God necessarily exists
• Gaunilo suggested that the same argument could be used to prove the existence of an imaginary island
• Gaunilo argued that you cannot prove the existence of something by just having an idea about it; you cannot define the idea into existence
• Ages would say you cannot prove that just because something is said (de dicto) that it exists in reality (de re)
• Gaunilo's island


  An island with inestimable wealth and delicacies, more excellent than all other countries
• If someone says this island exists, I should easily understand the words, but I should not believe that the island truly exists just because it is conceived in the understanding
• Gaunilo's most famous argument against Anselm's ontological argument was that of a perfect island
• Gaunilo suggested that anyone can imagine a most perfect island and argued that while the most perfect island can be conceived of, this does not mean that it exists
• Gaunilo's island analogy implies that it makes no sense to say that just because you have an idea of something it must exist
• Gaunilo claimed that Anselm was unable to prove that the idea of God as the greatest possible being means that God exists in reality
• Anselm's reply to Gaunilo


  An island is a finite, limited thing, but the 'that than which nothing greater can be thought' is unique. God's existence is necessary, unlike the contingent existence of the greatest possible island
• Plantinga added that the idea of a greatest possible island is incoherent, as there could always be a better one, but God is maximally great according to Anselm
• Why Thomas Aquinas rejected Anselm's argument

  Aquinas did not consider that the existence of God is self-evident to humans, as humans are unable to understand God's nature. Aquinas' cosmological or design arguments look for evidence to prove God's existence
• Anselm's argument is not meant as proof of God's existence, but to show what Anselm believes to be true
• Boethius suggested that God is the most perfectly good being that exists, which shares some similarities with Anselm's ontological argument
• Descartes' version of the ontological argument is not required for the examination, but Kant's criticisms of Descartes' argument can also be applied to Anselm's version
• Descartes' ontological argument


  God is a supremely perfect being, and existence is a property of perfection, therefore God exists
• Kant argued that the denial of God's existence is not self-contradictory, and that existence is not a 'predicate' that adds anything to the concept of God
• Kant said that an idea of a pile of 100 coins that exist in my mind and the pile of 100 coins that exist in reality will have the same worth, so existence does not change the concept
• According to Kant, existence is not a predicate, and if it's not a predicate, it can't be a perfection, so God can be defined as perfect whether he exists or not
• It can be argued that asserting that an object exists can change the way we conceive of it, and that saying God exists does add something to the concept of God
• Norman Malcolm suggested that necessary existence could be a predicate of God, but you cannot prove God exists by stating what is not the case