ARGUMENTS FROM REASON

Anselm

Argument = existent things are greater than non existent things e.g. existent spiderman


God is that than which greater can be conceived - God is the greatest imaginable thing


If you assume God doesnt exist, the only thing greater than a nonexistent god is an existent god


God is the greatest thing we caan imagine and an existent god is greater than a non existent god so God must be existent

WEAKNESS : GAUNILO + island Uses a counter example, existent>non existent, imagine the greatest island, if its existent it'll be greater than a non existent island
The greatest isalnd that ive imagined must be existent

  • Shows this is a foolish argument because the island cannot exist

OVERCOMING : PLANTINGA - intrinsic max e.e. numbers or fastest jaguar This argument is invalid because islands dont have an intrinsic maximum which means there's no specific limit to its greatness since you can always make an island greater, by adding more palm trees for example. You cant even think of a perfect island
Irrational to compare this to God who is the greatest being, no limit to how great the island can be

DESCARTES

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  1. God is the supremely perfect being (true by definition).
  1. The supremely perfect being has all perfections (all perfect versions of a quality) e.g. omnipotence
  1. Existence is a perfection - God existing makes him more perfect
  1. so we can assume that God exists, if we use the analogy of the triangle we can deduce that, because it has three sides and three angles that these angles add up to 180 degrees

WEAKNESS : KANT - predicate Existence is not a predicate, not part of a sentence which describes a quality
Descartes assumes that it is when assuming that existence is a perfection and therefore the perfect version of a quality


the word exists doesn't add any more info to our understanding
existence is the precondition of an object, first the object must exist, then other predicates can be attached to it


Ordinary language test - wouldn't describe a pen as existent, not used as an adjective or a quality - you would say a pen is plastic, has black ink, is smooth writing but you wouldn't call it existent
existence isnt a predicate, descartes makes error in language

OVERCOMING : KRIPKE - Santa It is unreasonable to disagree w Anselm because it is obvious the pen is existent so stating the obvious would appear as foolish, if you were describing who a fictional character is then you would eventually mention the fact that it is non existent or fictional. or if u ddescribe santa to someone then when older u tell them they dont exist.
this removal of existence changes our understanding
Mentioning whether or not Santa for example is existent or not is discussing existence as a predicate and so Anselm/Descartes didn't make errors in language

Criticisms

BERTRAND RUSSEL - predicative vs existential Ontolological arguments make an error in their linguistics, cases of bad grammar
RTD
by assuming that 'god exists' is a predicative statements refering to the qualities that God has but it is in fact an existential statement because it provides us with knowledge of the world
If existence can make you greater, its assumed to be a quality and therefore a predicative statement

KANT - analytic vs definitional statements analytic definitional statements are ones that do not tell us any new info abt the world, they're simply describing concepts or language like how we know female foxes exist and we learn tat they're called vixens. This doesn't provide us with any new info abt the world but rather gives an alternative way of expressing an idea, like synonyms.

  1. Onto assumes that god exists is part of the definition of god and that it tells us abt the world
  2. But then its just abt how we use our words
  3. Then it cant tell us abt the world, info abt the world/reality includes info abt existence,
  4. It cant tell us that God exists

Norman Malcolm - necessary existence even if existence itself isn't a predicate, something being necessary is a predicate the same way contingency is a predicate. When describing God's qualities you would describe hism as omnipotent benevolent and eventually mention the fact that he doesn't rely on anyone else for his existence displaying how his necessary existence is a predicate and since Anselm also agrees with this point of view. his argument cannot be completely invalidated

REAL DEFINITIONS inspired by aristotle However, statements can be both definitional and analytic since it can define something while also providing somoen with info. e.g. water exists in the world, we learn this water is made up of covalent bonds between H and 0

Fools say in their heart that there is no god

If I told you a piece of gossip about a man

Suppose then that the story I told you was a

develop an understanding of this man.

that I know, in your mind you would

lie and the man was not real, your

understanding of him in your mind would

not change that.

Gossip gaunilo

Faith seeking understanding - Anselm

If existence were a predicate it would change ur perception of the man but it didnt so it isnt a predicate e.g. using another predicate like describing hair colour would change ur view having a concept of the man doesnt bring about the existence of the man and so it doenst make a diff and so cant rlly be a predicate,in thias gaunilo is illustrating how you cant go from de dicto to de re

FREGE statements of number are responses to the question how many Xss are there, the number doesn't communicate anything about the property of X, statements of existence are statements of number, saying something exists is an expression of quantity and not a quality, you can quantify existence but not qualify existence