The Ontological argument

Question 1

Anselm

Answer 1

God is the greatest concievable thing
we can concieve that God would be greater if he existed in reality rather than just in our minds and so therefore he must exist in reality
psalm 14 - a fool says there is no god in his heart
still concieves god so proves his existence

Question 2

Descartes

Answer 2

God is perfect and existence is a neccessary attribute of perfection
a triangle has 3 sides - 3 sides is essential to the concept of a triangle
the existence of God is neccessary to the concept of God

Question 3

Critic

Gaunilo

Answer 3

‘perfect island’
just because something can be concieved does not make it exist
anselms logic means there would be loads of greatest concievable things
God cannot exist in the mind as God is beyond our understanding

Question 4

critic

Kant

Answer 4

existence is not a predictate
it is not a quality that can be attributed to something
existence is sythetic not analytical - cannot be added to something for defining purposes it is the thing being described
TEO proves that if god exists then he is neccessary but it doe snot prove god exists

Question 5

critic of kants critics

Malcom

Answer 5

God is defined by its impossibility of non-existence
a neccessary being contains its reasons for existing in itself
so etherfore existence is a defining quality is the way contingent existence is not

Question 6

critic

Hick

Answer 6

The impossibility of God’s non-existence just proves absolute non-contingency
a non-dependant being could logically not exist
‘ontological necessity’ - if God exists it is in a metaphysical way