Arguments based on reason Flashcards
(23 cards)
What type of argument is the ontological argument?
A priori, only using reason (no sense(
Psalm 14:1
‘Fools say in their hearts “There is no God”’
What is Anselm’s book?
Proslogian
What are Anselm’s premises?
God is a being ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived’
God may exist in either in intellectu or in re
Something which exists in reality and in the mind is greater than something that exists as an idea in the mind alone
SO, God must exist in re and in intellectu
What does ‘reductio ad absurdum’ mean?
An atheist (‘the fool’) reduces the idea of God down to an absurd conclusion
How does Anselm show that atheists ‘reductio ad absurdum’?
To say God only exists in the mind would create a contradiction in logic, because the ‘fool’ has to have an idea of what God is like in the first place- in order to be able to dismiss it
To then conclude God does not exist in re is an absurd conclusion and a contradiction in logic (following his premises)
So, God must exist in re and in intellectu
How did Anselm view God’s existence?
As a predicate of God (something that tells us about a subject)
God has to have this predicate to be God
When does Anselm’s argument fail?
When people have no concept of God at all
However, how likely is it that people haven’t got an idea of God?
What what Guanilo’s book titled and what did he beleive?
‘On Behalf of the Fool’
He was a monk (so religious), but disagreed with Anselm’s idea that existence is a predicate of God
What is Gaunilo’s argument from Gossip?
The ‘fool’ in Psalms may argue that all sorts of things in intellectu do not exist in re
E.G.: Someone may hear untrue things about someone from gossip
What is Gaunilo’s argument about defining things into existence?
You cannot define things into existence
What is Gaunilo’s island?
A lost island does not mean it exists in reality
We KNOW it does not exist- you would be a ‘fool’ to think so
What does Gaunilo do?
Attempts to apply ‘reductio ad absurdum’ against Anselm?
What did Anselm reply to
He missed the point- God is a ‘special case’
God isn’t A perfect thing (like an island), God is THE perfect thing
What did Alvin Plantinga say in support of Anselm?
Islands have no ‘intrinsic maxiimum’ (an island can always get better)
What was Anselm’s second version of his ontological argument?
God is a being ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived’
God is not contingent, He is necessary (it is greater to be a necessary being than a contingent one)
SO, it is impossible to imagine that God does not exist
What is Kant’s objection directed towards?
Anselm’s premise 3: Something which exists in reality and in the mind is greater than something that exists as an idea in the mind alone
Kant quote?
Being is evidently not a real predicate
What does Kant argue about existence not as a predicate?
To ‘say, God is, or There is a God, I add no new predicate to the conception of God’
Omnipotence would be a predicate of God
I.E.: Adele is in existence says nothing about her- this is obvious, Adele has blonde hair does tell us something about her
How does Descartes support existence as a predicate?
God is a ‘supremely perfect being’
to be truly perfect, something must exist
existence is part of the perfection of God which he cannot lack
God must exist
Existence is a predicate of perfection
What is Descartes’ triangle?
Triangle has 3 sides and 3 angles that add to 180 degrees - cannot be doubted
Trying to divorce ‘necessary existence’ from the concept of a supremely perfect being is like trying to imagine a triangle without 3 sides
What does Bertrand Russel argue??
Existence is not a predicate: if it was, then:
- Men exist
- Santa Claus is a man // God is a man
- Santa Claus exists // God exists
Positives of Anselm?
Most would agree with his definition of God (if he exists)
