The Ontological Argument 

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  • Created by: joduffy
  • Created on: 14-05-16 15:58
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  • The Ontological Argument
    • St. Anselm
      • Believed Gods existence was self evident
        • When he formulated his argument, he already accepted that God exists
      • Written in response to the opening of psalm 14 which begins 'The fool says to himself 'there is no God!'
      • Four parts to his argument
        • 1) God is the Greatest Conceivable Being
          • True even if you don't believe in God
          • We can all see that God is the greatest, higher power that anyone can think of
            • If you think of something greater, then that automaticallybecomes God
        • 2) God could exist in reality or just in the mind
          • In reality = In Re
          • In the mind = In intellectu
          • We have no proof that God exists in reality so it is possible he doesn't exist
        • 3) Anything thing that exists in reality is greater than something which exists in the mind
          • Because it is authentic to our lives and the world we live in
        • 4) Therefore, God must exist in our thoughts and in reality because he is the greatest conceivable being
          • If God did not exist in reality, then simple objects such as a pen would be greater than God - Absurd.
          • A predicate of God is God's existence
    • A priori
      • Not based on experience
    • Deductive
      • Reasons from statements to reach a logical conclusion
    • Analytical
      • Trying to show that it is a logical conclusion that God exists
    • Descartes
      • Triangle
        • Existence belongs analytically to God in the same way that three angles are analytically predicated to a triangle
      • Perfect Being
        • 1) I exist and my mind I have the concept of a perfect being
        • 2) As an imperfect being i could not have invented the concept of a perfect being
        • 3) This concept must have come from a perfect being
        • 4) A perfect being must exist in order to be perfect
      • Mountains and Valleys
        • A valley is a necessary predicate of a mountain
    • Norman Malcom
      • Argues in support of necessary existence
        • If God could exist, he does exist since he cannot not exist
      • Gods existence is either necessary or impossible
        • Cannot posses contingent existence
          • God must have necessary existence
            • Therefore God exists.

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