Malcom's ontological arg.

what kind of arg is it

deductive

what is the aim of Malcom’s ontological arg.

to prove that God exists necessarily

what is meant by necessary existence

describes a being whose non existence is impossible

what is meant by modal

relating to necessity, possibility and impossibility

give Malcom’s ontological argument in standard form

• God isnt a limited or contingent being

• God cannot begin to exist or cease to exist

• so if he doesnt exist, his existence will be impossible as he cant begin to exist

• if god does exist then his existence is necessary

• so either gods existence is necessary or its impossible

• the concept of god is logically coherent

• so gods existence isnt impossible

• so its necessary

• god must exist

why is Malcoms ontological argument referred to as modal

it relies on ideas of necessity, possibility and impossibility

what are the responses to his argument

• If the concept of God is incoherent, then Gods existence is impossible

• so if God doesn’t existence then his non existence is due the fact that he is everlasting

• so we need another independent reason to assume God exists

could also just reject that the concept of God is logically coherent due to injections against the concept of God.