God is the Greatest Conceiveable Being - nothing greater can exist
If God existed only in the mind, something greater than God could be conceived to exist both in reality and the mind
This being would therefore be greater than God
Thus God cannot only exist in the mind, He must exist in reality aswell
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Anselm's second form:
Written after Gaunilo's criticism but not in response to it
A priori
Deductive
It is greater to be a necessary being than a contingent being
If God exists only as a contingetn being, and thus imagined not to exist, something can be imagined to exist that cannot not exist
God is therefore a necessary being
Inherent in the concept of God is necessary existence - existence is part of the concept of God
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Descartes:
Expands on Anselm's forms
God, by definition, is a supremely perfect being
A supremely perfect being has all perfections
Existence is one of those perfections
Therefore God has existence
All of the above things are true proved we understand what is meant by the concept of God
Descartes admits that we might be stunned by his conclusion as itonlyworks for God.
God is the only being whose existence is part of His essential essence.
Descartes uses a triangle analogy for God. ‘A triangle has 3 sides, 180° angles, etc. These are necessary to the definition of a triangle.’ – Descartes applies this theory to God.
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Gaunilo:
Criticises Anselm’s first form
Reductio ad absurdum
Imagine a the Best Possible Island (BPI)
The BPI could not be the BPI if it only existed in the imagination as a better island could exist in reality
So in order to be the BPI, it must exist in the mind and in reality
Therefore your island must exist in reality
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Kant:
Criticises Descartes
Analytical statement:say nothing new about the world
Synthetic statement:learn something new about the world
Existence is not a predicate
It is not a property of something
Existence is to do with the subject, not the predicate
If you take away existence, you take away everything
The ontological argument is odd because it describes something as existing
Kant says the ontological argument, or saying that God is the GCB, is an analytical statement because Anselm and Descartes are talking about what the words means, not arguing for the existence of God.
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