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ARGUMENTS BASED ON REASON (Descartes' Ontological Argument (17th…
ARGUMENTS BASED ON REASON
A priori and a posteriori arguments
Some people argue that a prior arguments are more
persuasive
because they rely on
deductive logic.
If the premises are true, then they lead to certainty.
A posteriori arguments can only lead to
strong probability
because they rely on
empirical experiences
, and new evidence or a better explanation could be found. However, they might be more persuasive than a priori argument because people can see the evidence for themselves.
Analytic and synthetic propositions
An analytic proposition is
true by definition
and needs
no experience or evidence
to support it. 'Bachelors are unmarried men' is an analytic proposition.
A synthetic proposition
needs evidence and experience
to support it, 'There is a red car outside my house' is a synthetic proposition.
Anselm's ontological argument
Anselm was an 11th century Benedictine monk who became Archbishop of Canterbury.
His argument was written for 'faith seeking understanding', not as an attempt to convert disbelievers.
He made reference to the
'fool'
who does not understand that
God must exist
:
'The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."' (Psalm 53:1)
.
His ontological argument is presented in his works
Proslogion
.
Anselm's argument takes
two
forms:
First form
'God is that which no greater can be conceived.'
A
real, existent being
is greater than an imaginary being.
Therefore, God must exist because the concept of God is not as great as the real, existent God.
Second Form
'God is that which no greater can be conceived.'
Contingent beings, which are
beings that depends that depend on other things for their existence
, are inferior to necessary beings, which depend on nothing and exist eternally.
God is inferior to nothing else, and so must have
necessary existence
.
Therefore, Gods exists necessarily.
Descartes' Ontological Argument
17th century mathematician and philosopher.
His ontological argument was presented in his works
Meditations
.
He argued that people are born with some ideas
imprinted in their minds
, including the idea of God.
We know God to have all the perfections as his attributes. God is the
supremely perfect being
.
Existence is a perfection, therefore God must exist as he
cannot lack any of the perfections
.
Existence cannot be separated from God
, just as three angles adding up to 180º cannot be separated from a triangle, or a mountain cannot be separated from its valley.
Predicate
a term which describes a distinctive characteristic of something.
CRITICISMS: GAUNILO
Gaunilo said that the flaws in Anselm's argument are obvious if we replace 'God' in the argument with 'lost island'
We can imagine the most excellent island – such an island would not be the most excellent until it existed in reality – therefore our imagined island must exist.