Kant's Critic of the Onthological Argument
Kant’s criticism of the Ontological Argument Bryan COUNTER
Philosophy of religion Dr. Harvey White December 12th, 2012. Bryan Counter Dr. Harvey White Pholosophy of religion December 12th. 2012
In my life I have come to question many things that people take on as blind faith. We all know that someday we will 'physically ' die, Yet, we deny the forces working inside ourselves which want to search out the true outcome of what may or may not come after death. It 's far easier for humanity to accept that they will go on to a safe haven and be forgiven for all, rather than to question the existence of a super omnipotent being. Fortunately, there are some of us who tend to question the why 's and how 's that come before us. Immanuel Kant is a German philosopher who had the courage to question the proof of the existence of that being, which we call God. This essay will give a careful explanation of Kant’s criticism of the Ontological Argument looking at Kant’s analytic and synthetic distinction regarding judgment, but first we need to really understand the main idea of the Ontological Argument in order to understand Kant’s criticism. First of all, God generally refers to one supreme, holy, personal being, and considering this St. Anselm developed what is called the Ontological Argument, which is suppose to prove the existence of God. He began his argument by saying that even a fool can grasp or understand the concept of "a being than of which nothing greater can
Philosophy of religion Dr. Harvey White December 12th, 2012. Bryan Counter Dr. Harvey White Pholosophy of religion December 12th. 2012
In my life I have come to question many things that people take on as blind faith. We all know that someday we will 'physically ' die, Yet, we deny the forces working inside ourselves which want to search out the true outcome of what may or may not come after death. It 's far easier for humanity to accept that they will go on to a safe haven and be forgiven for all, rather than to question the existence of a super omnipotent being. Fortunately, there are some of us who tend to question the why 's and how 's that come before us. Immanuel Kant is a German philosopher who had the courage to question the proof of the existence of that being, which we call God. This essay will give a careful explanation of Kant’s criticism of the Ontological Argument looking at Kant’s analytic and synthetic distinction regarding judgment, but first we need to really understand the main idea of the Ontological Argument in order to understand Kant’s criticism. First of all, God generally refers to one supreme, holy, personal being, and considering this St. Anselm developed what is called the Ontological Argument, which is suppose to prove the existence of God. He began his argument by saying that even a fool can grasp or understand the concept of "a being than of which nothing greater can
Bibliography: http://ocw.nd.edu/philosophy/introduction-to-philosophy-1/readings/anselm-proslogion-selections Kant, Immanuel, Critique of Pure Reason. St. Martin’s Press. New York. 1929. Borchert M., Donald, Encyclopedia of Philosophy vol.7. Macmillan reference USA. Detroit. 2006. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. http://ocw.nd.edu/philosophy/introduction-to-philosophy-1/readings/anselm-proslogion-selections [ 2 ]. Kant, Immanuel, Critique of Pure Reason. (St. Martin’s Press. New York. 1929) p.500-504. [ 3 ]. Kant, Immanuel, Critique of Pure Reason. (St. Martin’s Press. New York. 1929) p.504-507. [ 4 ]. Borchert M., Donald, Encyclopedia of Philosophy vol.7. (Macmillan reference USA. Detroit. 2006) p.18-19