ontological argument

Question 1

st anselm

Answer 1

PRIORI
god is greatest
greater to exist in reality than mind
god exists in mind
therefore go must exist in reality
if existed in mind alone he wouldn’t be greatest as we can conceive something greater

Question 2

painter

Answer 2

they have idea of what they will paint in their mind before painting it
shows ideas can exist in mind

Question 3

psalm 14:1

Answer 3

’ the fool says in his heart, “ there is no god”’
do not believe in god but has an idea of god in mind

Question 4

gaunilo

Answer 4

objects to p3
premise of greatest thing exists in the mind/ understanding
god is beyond understanding (christian premise) therefore cannot be in understanding
doubts we can even understand greatest conceivable being

Question 5

weaknesses

Answer 5

relies on ability to understand/ reason about things beyond our understanding/ reason
gaunilo- denies OA is valid deductive argument
- attacks inference from premise to concl of god existing in reality
priori can use invalid logic

Question 6

aquinas

Answer 6

gods nature- eternal law- is beyond our understanding
people have different understandings of god

Question 7

against gaunilo

Answer 7

criticism failed
dont need to fully understand greatest conceivable being for onto arg to work
cannot compare god and island
god has intrinsic maxima island doesnt
overload
cannot give physical thing unlimited attribute

Question 8

island analogy

Answer 8

reductio ad absurdum
‘overload’ objection- reality would be overloaded with greatest/ perfect things

Question 9

descartes

Answer 9

idea of supremely perfect being
existence is perfection
god exists
- existence can be known intuitively, no reasoning needed

Question 10

Kant objection

Answer 10

existence being a predicate of god does not establish existence in reality

Question 11

reply to kant

Answer 11

his objection is self contradictory
seems to accept OA shows gods necessary existence
incoherent to grant NE and maintain poss that god is non existent
necessary existence is indeed a predicate of god

Question 12

proslogion 3

Answer 12

justifies premise of necessary existence
can think of something that cant be thought of as not existing
would be greater than something that could be thought of as not existing
god exists undoubtedly that he cannot be thought of as not existing