1 / 7

Anselm and the Ontological Argument

Anselm and the Ontological Argument. Can God be ignorant?. If God is ignorant of geometry, then there is a possible being greater than God (the one with all God’s qualities + knowledge of geometry) But God is defined as the greatest possible being. So God cannot be ignorant of geometry.

lucius
Download Presentation

Anselm and the Ontological Argument

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Anselm and the Ontological Argument

  2. Can God be ignorant? If God is ignorant of geometry, then there is a possible being greater than God (the one with all God’s qualities + knowledge of geometry) But God is defined as the greatest possible being. So God cannot be ignorant of geometry.

  3. Could God not exist? I can conceive of a God (the greatest possible being) If God exists only in the understanding, then there is a possible being greater than God (the one with all God’s qualities + existence) Therefore, God must exist in reality (and not just the understanding)

  4. Gaunilo’s objection • I can conceive of an island of which none greater can be conceived • An island which exists is greater than an island that does not exist • Therefore, GPI (greatest possible island) exists This is crazy. Therefore, there must be something wrong with the original argument

  5. Kant’s objection The argument assumes that existence is part of the concept of a thing. But is this true? Does the assertion “Dogs exist” add anything to concept of a dog? How about “unicorns do not exist” If “existence” is not ever part of a concept, then it cannot be part of the concept of God and the argument fails.

  6. More examples: Suppose you thought Sherlock Holmes was a real detective. Someone informs you are wrong—would this change your concept of Holmes? Suppose you think “King Arthur is a mythical king” but then learn his tomb was discovered—would this change your concept of King Arthur?

More Related