Developments of the ontological argument - Descartes, Malcolm

Who is Descartes?

• Rationalist philosopher - wanted to prove Gods existence with reason alone.

What is a key quote from Descartes and what does it show?

• ‘I think therefore I am’

• He could rationally think of his own existence and this was good evidence of his existence.

• He could also think of the existence of the supremely perfect being.

What is Descartes definition of God?

• ‘the supremely perfect being’

• A being that possesses all perfections

What does Descartes think about the understanding of God?

• He thinks we are born with an understanding of what God is.

• We understand God to be a ‘supremely perfect being’ - possessing all perfections.

What are Descartes ideas?

• God is a ‘supremely perfect being’

• The notion of a perfect being is innate as we can think of a perfect being without being perfect ourselves. - the idea must come from somewhere.

• Part of the predicate of perfection is ‘existence’ just the same as omnipotence, omniscience are also predicates of Gods perfection.

• God cannot lack existence or God would not be perfect.

• A predicate adds qualities to the subject

• Therefore existence adds qualities to the perfection of God.

What is the concept of God as the supremely perfect being?

• For Descartes, God as the supremely perfect being possesses all perfections - the idea of existence included as an attribute.

• If he did not possess the perfection of each and every positive attribute possible to possess, then God would not be the supremely perfect being.

How does Descartes use a triangle and mountain to demonstrate the existence of God?

• A triangle needs 3 sides, a mountain has a valley, God requires that he exists

• If a triangle doesn’t have 3 sides it is not a triangle, if a mountain doesn’t have a valley is is not a mountain. Therefore if God doesn’t exist it is not God.

• Trying to imagine God without the predicate of existence is illogical, like trying to imagine a triangle without 3 sides.

• These facts do not require empirical proofs for them to be truths - this is why it is a priori.

• This makes them analytic statements - meaning is within the statement.

What is Descartes triangle analogy and mountain?

• All triangles have 3 angles which add to 180 degrees.

• This is part of the essence of a triangle.

• If you got told that a triangle was drawn which had 5 angles, adding up to 285 degrees you would disagree immediately.

• By definition this shape is not a triangle.

• Another analogy was a mountain, stating a valley is a part of the essence of a mountain - you cannot separate the two.

• According to Descartes God possesses all perfections, one of these must be existence.

• Something cannot be labelled ‘perfect’ if it does not exist.

• Therefore God must possess existence as he has all perfections.

• Descartes goes further in his understanding of God by saying that as God is perfect he must be unchanging.

• If he is unchanging, then he must have always existed and will always continue to exist for eternity.

What is a key quote from Descartes in relation to the triangle analogy?

• ‘existence can no more be separated from the essence of God than can 3 angles be separated from the essence of a triangle.’

What is a summary of Descartes argument?

1. We understand that God is a supremely perfect being.

2. A supremely perfect being must contain all perfections.

3. Existence is a perfection.

4. Therefore God must possess existence.

5. Therefore God exists necessarily.

What did Kant argue to challenge Descartes?

• Predicates of something describe what the thing is like that would help us identify it in some way e.g. blue, round, fuzzy.

• Existence according to Kant is not a predicate, it doesn’t describe anything about the nature of an object.

• When we say something ‘exists’, we are saying that there is an example of something with these characteristics in real life.

• E.g. if we describe God as omnibenevolent, we are describing a predicate God has as it tells us something about God’s nature.

• But to say God ‘exists’ doesn’t tell us anything about his nature.

What is Kant’s example of 100 thalers in relation to Descarrtes?

• When imagining 100 thalers (old German coins), and you add the phrase ‘it exists’ alongside its other predicates (round, gold).

• He states nothing changes in our minds by adding this phrase - showing existence isn’t a real predicate.

• The word ‘exists’ adds nothing to our idea of God.

• Descartes ontological argument fail a priori to prove the existence of God.

What is Kant’s example of 100 thalers in relation to Anselm?

• 100 real thalers does not contain one more coin than 100 thalers in the mind.

• ‘exists in reality’ is not serving the function that Anselm claims it is.

• Reality and the mind give the same result.

• Anselm’s ontological argument fail a priori to prove the existence of God.

What is another criticism by Kant in relation Descartes triangle analogy?

• IF you have a triangle, you must have 3 angles.

• But there is no contradiction in rejecting the triangle with its 3 angles - it might not exist.

• If you don’t have a triangle then you don’t have 3 angles.

• Likewise, if there is no God, then there is no being with necessary existence.

• If God exists he will have necessary existence, but it isn’t a contradiction to say that such a concept does not have an actuality.

What is Malcolm’s definition of God?

• ‘God as an unlimited being’

What did Malcolm believe about the other two ontological arguments?

• He believed that existence is not a predicate - so Descartes argument is logically flawed.

• However, he believed that Anselm’s second argument could still be used to provide a successful ontological argument.

What did Malcolm argue?

• Malcolm argued that in order to be God, God must have necessary existence.

• Malcolm said it is illogical to say sometimes God exists and sometimes he doesn’t.

• If God exists at all then he exists in an eternal, necessary way.

What did Malcolm say about Kant’s criticism failing and what does he argue?

• Kant’s criticism failed in one important respect.

• You either have a triangle or not.

• But by Anselm’s definition God is ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived.’

• And that God is not just anything like a triangle or island but THE perfect necessary being.

• Or as Malcolm defines as an ‘unlimited being’

• You simply cannot have no God.

• Therefore the situations are not exactly parallel.

Why does Malcolm prefer proslogion 3?

• Proslogion 2 is subject to criticism based on treating existence as a predicate and fails.

• He believed you cannot add the concept of existence to a list of qualities that something has and then claim it therefore exists.

• He believes proslogion 3 doesn’t treat existence as a predicate.

• Anselm is saying that God must exist because the concept of God is the concept of a being whose existence is necessary.

How can Malcolm’s argument be presented?

1. God is an ‘unlimited being’

2. The existence of an unlimited being is either logically necessary or logically impossible.

3. The existence of an unlimited being is not logically impossible.

4. Conclusion - Therefore the existence of God is logically necessary.

Who did Malcolm’s argument convince and why is this a problem?

• Malcolm did acknowledge that his argument would not convince atheists but believed it was worthwhile because the believer would understand the necessity of God’s existence.

• However this seems to reduce the ontological argument to the point where it is saying that God is true for those who believe in God - not really a good proof for the existence of God.

Why was Malcolm’s argument never widely accepted?

• His argument was never widely accepted because it can be said that there can be things that don’t exist, without their existence being impossible. e.g. extinct animals.

• It might be illogical to say that sometimes there is a God and sometimes there isn’t, but it is not illogical to say ‘maybe there is a God, maybe there isn’t.