Ontological Argument
The Ontological Argument:
An explanation and critical assessment
Phil 361 Lec 01
Professor: Reid Buchanan
Ryley Braun, 10013764
April 16, 2010
The ontological argument is an attempt to refute skepticism of God and prove His existence through reason alone. The philosopher, Saint Anselm, presented his work on the ontological argument, or argument from reason, in his text the Proslogium. The argument, on the surface, is very logically convincing and attempts to allure even the skeptic of God. Anselm tries to show the proposition of God exists based on analytic necessary truth – which will be discussed later in further detail. This paper will explain and assess the deductive and a priori nature of the argument, address the objections …show more content…
The perfect island is up to subjective interpretation. Even if someone is unsure of this specific claim, we can replace the island with anything, revealing a huge flaw in Anselm’s argument. Either all of these arguments are sound, or none of them are. As rational beings, we must conclude on the latter of the two – there can be no perfect cell phone, no perfect Calgary Flames, no matter how much we wish there could be. In defense of Anselm, Alvin Plantinga claims that the argument can only be applied to God, the greatest possible thing. Meaning the island has no possible limit to how great it can be. Then – how much knowledge (where knowledge could be replaced with any quality of God’s) does God have? The believer would reply He has the perfect amount, of course. Well, in direct comparison to the island or the Calgary Flames, one may ask, how many players do the perfect Calgary Flames need to trade to make the playoffs? Gaunilo would answer the perfect amount. Thus, Gaunilo’s argument is as coherent and sound as …show more content…
Kant claims that the argument treats existence as a property of perfection; the object ‘has’ existence or not, and it is a defect (imperfection) not to have it. Kant claims this is illogical. Something that ‘exists’ (I use this term loosely, as the skeptical argument may create further repercussions of the definition of this word, but for our purposes I refer to the common meaning) does not have some property that is existence. Existence is not a property, where a property is an attribute, quality, or characteristic of something. The laptop, in which I am writing this paper, for example, could have a non-existent property. To explain this point, I could tell you the properties of this laptop. It is small; it has a keyboard, a charger, and webcam. One could be skeptical of these claims, but ultimately, it has these properties. Now, if I were to claim that it also does not exist, one would respond that I do not really have a laptop at all. This is the point that Kant is trying to make. Existence is not a property. An object must exist to have any further properties, but without it, you have
An explanation and critical assessment
Phil 361 Lec 01
Professor: Reid Buchanan
Ryley Braun, 10013764
April 16, 2010
The ontological argument is an attempt to refute skepticism of God and prove His existence through reason alone. The philosopher, Saint Anselm, presented his work on the ontological argument, or argument from reason, in his text the Proslogium. The argument, on the surface, is very logically convincing and attempts to allure even the skeptic of God. Anselm tries to show the proposition of God exists based on analytic necessary truth – which will be discussed later in further detail. This paper will explain and assess the deductive and a priori nature of the argument, address the objections …show more content…
The perfect island is up to subjective interpretation. Even if someone is unsure of this specific claim, we can replace the island with anything, revealing a huge flaw in Anselm’s argument. Either all of these arguments are sound, or none of them are. As rational beings, we must conclude on the latter of the two – there can be no perfect cell phone, no perfect Calgary Flames, no matter how much we wish there could be. In defense of Anselm, Alvin Plantinga claims that the argument can only be applied to God, the greatest possible thing. Meaning the island has no possible limit to how great it can be. Then – how much knowledge (where knowledge could be replaced with any quality of God’s) does God have? The believer would reply He has the perfect amount, of course. Well, in direct comparison to the island or the Calgary Flames, one may ask, how many players do the perfect Calgary Flames need to trade to make the playoffs? Gaunilo would answer the perfect amount. Thus, Gaunilo’s argument is as coherent and sound as …show more content…
Kant claims that the argument treats existence as a property of perfection; the object ‘has’ existence or not, and it is a defect (imperfection) not to have it. Kant claims this is illogical. Something that ‘exists’ (I use this term loosely, as the skeptical argument may create further repercussions of the definition of this word, but for our purposes I refer to the common meaning) does not have some property that is existence. Existence is not a property, where a property is an attribute, quality, or characteristic of something. The laptop, in which I am writing this paper, for example, could have a non-existent property. To explain this point, I could tell you the properties of this laptop. It is small; it has a keyboard, a charger, and webcam. One could be skeptical of these claims, but ultimately, it has these properties. Now, if I were to claim that it also does not exist, one would respond that I do not really have a laptop at all. This is the point that Kant is trying to make. Existence is not a property. An object must exist to have any further properties, but without it, you have