ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS (AQA)

What is the ontological arguments?

Arguments for God’s existence which use a priori reasoning, and are deductive arguments.

• Those opposing the argument aim to deduce God’s existence from the definition of God. However the proponents of ontological arguments claim that God’s existence is an analytic truth.

Anselm’s argument

1. By definition, God is a being than which nothing greater can be conceived.

2. It is greater to exist in reality than only in the mind.

3. Therefore God must exist.

break down understanding of Anselm’s argument

• A being is said to be maximally great in every way, but dow not exist.

• The other is maximally great in every way and does exist.

Which being is greater? Presumably the second one- as its greater to exist in reality than in mind.

Descartes’ ontological argument

1. I have the idea of God

2. The idea of God is the idea of a supremely perfect being

3. A supremely perfect being does not lack any perfection

4. Existence is a perfection

5. Therefore, God exists

Breakdown of Descartes’ argument

• Similar to anselm’s argument, except it uses the concept of a perfect being rather than greatest conceiveable being.

Descartes argues this shows that ‘God does not exist’ is a self contradiction. Hume uses this claim as his basis for his rejection of the onto arg.

PROBLEM: Gaunilo’s perfect island

He argues that if Anselm’s argument is valid, then anything can be defined into existence; for example, a perfect island

1. The perfect island is by definition an island greater than which cannot be conceived

2. We can coherently conceive of such an island

3. It is greater to exist in reality than to exist only in the mind

4. Therefore, this island must exist.

This conclusion is obviously false.

CRITICISM: Hume

The onto arg. reasons from the definition of God that God must exist. This would make ‘God exists’ an analytic truth/relation of ideas.

• The denial of an analytic truth/RofI leads to a contradiction. For example, ‘A triangle has 4 sides’. However these contradictions cannot coherently be conceived- if you were to imagine a triangle with 4 sides, you would end up thinking of either a square or a triangle.

• SO is ‘God does not exist’ a contradiction? Hume argues against this. Anything we can conceive of as existent, we can also equally conceive of them as non-existent. This shows that therefore ‘God exists’ cannot be an analytic truth, and the onto arg must fail somewhere.

breakdown of Hume’s argument

1. If onto args succeed, then ‘God does not exist’ is a contradiction

2. A contradiction cannot be coherently conceived

3. But ‘God does not exist’ can be coherently conceived

4. Therefore ‘God does not exist’ is not a contradiction

5. Therefore, ontological arguments do not succeed.

CRITICISM: Kant

Kant argues that existence is not a predicate. This means that he argues existence is not a property of things in the same way shape is a property of an object (as an object cannot be shapeless).

• He states that to say something exists, this doesn’t add anything to the concept of it

• Example: imagine a unicorn. Imagine a unicorn that exists. There is no difference between the two unicorns. Adding existence to the idea of a unicorn doesn’t make unicorns suddenly exist

When someone says ‘God exists’, they don’t mean that ‘there is a God with the property of existence’. Equally, when someone says ‘God does not exist’, they don’t say ‘There is a God with the property of non-existence’.

• When people state that God exists, they mean that God exists in the world. This cannot be argued from the definition of God, and can only be proven empirically, making the ontological arguments a failure at proving God’s existence.

CRITICISM: Malcolm

He accepts that Descartes and Anselm are wrong. Instead he argues that its not existence that is perfection, but the logical impossibility of non-existence (God’s necessary existence)

• This necessary existence is a predicate, so avoids Kant’s argument.

Malcolm’s argument

1. Either God exists or God does not exist

2. God cannot come into existence or go out of existence

3. If God exists, God cannot cease to exist

4. Therefore if God exists, God’s existence is necessary

5. Therefore, if God does not exist, God’s existence is impossible

6. Therefore God’s existence is either necessary or impossible

7. God’s existence is impossible only if the concept of God is self-contradictory

8. The concept of God is not self-contradictory

9. Therefore, God’s existence is not impossible

10. Therefore God exists necessarily

Why isn’t the concept of God contradictory?

‘A being greater than which cannot be conceived’

• If this being DOES NOT EXIST then it would be impossible to ever exist. If it didnt exist now, but started to exist, then this being woud be contingent, and would rely on a greater being to bring it into existence. Therefore it wouldn’t be the greatest being.

• If this being DOES EXIST, then it has always existed and exists necessarily (as its existence is not dependent on anything else and sustains its own existence) and therefore we cannot conceive of a greater being- as its the only necessary being

To conclude Malcolm’s argument

God’s existence is either necessary or impossible

God’s existence is not impossible

Therefore God’s existence is necessary.