Transcript The Ontological Argument - St Ivo School

The Ontological Argument
An argument for the existence of
God
Write down your response to:
• What is your concept of ‘God’?
What do you think of when someone says
the word ‘God’?
Is this a duck or a rabbit?
Epistemology is concerned with justifying
what we perceive (or believe to know) this
figure to be…
Ontology is concerned with the reality
behind our perceptions.
The Classical form
• St Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)
• God is defined as:
‘that than which nothing greater can
be conceived’.
What does that mean?
• Anselm said this meant God must exist
because:
• That which exists in reality is greater than
that which exists purely in the mind.
Imagine being given £1000. It’s a nice
thought, but wouldn’t it be better if the
money really existed?
So…
• Since God is ‘that than which nothing
greater can be conceived’ obviously it
is greater to exist, than not to exist.
• So by definition, God must exist.
Thinking point:
What is the difference between:
That than which nothing greater can be
conceived
And
Something greater than can be conceived?
Is the difference important?
The ontological
argument is an a
priori argument.
‘God exists’
becomes an
existential analytic
statement.
God’s existence is necessary
• Ok, so Anselm has offered a proof for
God’s existence, but for God to be God
there must be more to Him than simply
existing –after all we exist!
• Anselm has a 2nd argument, in which he
argues God’s existence is necessary.
What does he mean by ‘necessary’?
Necessary means…
• Anselm is referring to the eternal and
transcendent nature of God.
• There is no possibility of God not existing
Anselm says we know:
• It can be conceived that something exists
that cannot be thought not to exist
• God must be such a thing if He is ‘that
than which nothing greater can be
conceived’.
• This is because something that can be
though not to exist would be inferior to
that which cannot.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
• Developed Anselm’s argument
• God is ‘a supremely perfect being’.
• We can conclude God exists, because
existence is a predicate of a perfect being.
• Therefore God must exist, to avoid being
self-contradictory.
•Try imaging a triangle without 3 sides.
Can you?
Modern versions
• Norman Malcolm (1911-1990)
• A necessary God cannot be brought about
nor threatened by anything.
• God’s existence is either necessary or
impossible
• A necessary God cannot be impossible
• Therefore God necessarily exists
Questions:
Why would God be a limited being if He had
been caused to come into existence, or
had ‘happened’ to come into existence?
Is it acceptable and coherent to conclude
that God exists because He has the
property of necessary existence? Why, or
why is this not, the case?
The film follows the life of
Helen. The film's plot splits into
two parallel universes which run
in tandem. In one universe,
Helen manages to catch a train
home on time, & in the other
she misses it. In the former, she
gets home in time to catch her
boyfriend in bed with his exgirlfriend; she promptly dumps
him, and meets a new man. In
the latter, she carries on
oblivious in a miserable
relationship after arriving home
after her boyfriend's lover has
left.
Modern versions
• Alvin Plantinga 1974: notion of Possible Worlds
• Also known as the modal form
• There is a possible world in which there is a
•
•
•
being who is maximally great and maximally
excellent
In any possible world this being must exist if it
had these attributes
This is a possible world
Therefore this being exists in our world (God).
The Ontological Argument
‘Proof’ of the existence of God by definition.