Judeo-Christians understand God as a being that is perfect in knowledge (Ps. 147:5), power (Job 42:2), presence (Ps. 139), acts (Ps. 18:30) and has none greater (Heb. 6:13) nor equal (Ps. 40:6). Following Anselm’s "credimus te esse aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit"¹, God is understood to be a Being that exhibits maximal perfection. God is, borrowing Alvin Plantinga's … [Read more...]
Plantinga's Modal Ontological Argument Explained by Sean Choi
In this post I'll explain both the motivation behind Alvin Plantinga's Modal Ontological Argument, as well as its various steps. For my purposes, I'll work with a simplified version of that argument which Plantinga presents in his book, The Nature of Necessity (Clarendon Press, 1974), pp. 216-17. … [Read more...]
3 Considerations for the Ontological Argument
For those of us familiar with the ontological argument, we may also be familiar with Immanuel Kant’s “textbook critique” of the Anselmsian proof. To be clear, Kant’s criticism is two-fold: (1) A concept cannot be formed to guarantee its own instantiation (i.e., have an instance) in extra-mental reality. For instance, whether or not the idea of a supreme being corresponds to any … [Read more...]
Armchair Proof For Existence Of God
Does a being that is God1 exist? Before we can disagree on whether or not a being that is God exists, we need to agree on what a being that is God is. There cannot be any disagreement unless there is an agreement on what is that is disputed. What is a being that is God? A being that is God is a being that there could not be other than that which nothing greater nor equal could … [Read more...]
Is The Ontological Argument Valid? – Conclusion
[I continue (Part 1 and Part 2) my assessment of the ontological argument by looking at modal versions of it and finally a conclusion.] These modes of being (necessity and contingency) have led to a resurgence of the ontological argument by modern philosophers. Norman Malcolm (1911- ) has attempted to make the persuasive force for the ontological argument more transparent by … [Read more...]
Five Ontological Arguments
I find it difficult to critique something if you have not read the argument (assuming, for example, it is in a textual or narrative form) in its designated context. We moderns may struggle with a plethora of classical problems that contained phenomena, terms and language that don't quite mean the same as they used to. For instance, those who have read the Republic will find it … [Read more...]
Objection(s) to the Ontological Argument
It may be strange to some that there are philosophical objections raised by Christians against arguments for belief in God. For example, St. Anselm's "Ontological Proof" (as it would come to be called) was taken under a critical lens when Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) took consideration of the argument in his epic Summa Theologiae (ST hereafter). Over the last year or so, I have … [Read more...]
Is the Ontological Argument Valid? – Part 2
(I continue from Part 1 last month into Aquinas' response to the argument.) Almost two hundred years later, St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) rejected the ontological argument; he believed that God’s existence was self-evident in itself, but not to us. Aquinas asserted that we cannot know God’s essence directly, but only through his effects, thus all valid arguments for his … [Read more...]
Is the Ontological Argument Valid?
The ontological argument has fascinated philosophers for centuries in attempting to prove God’s existence from the concept of God. The argument does not appeal to any facts of experience, but solely on the implications of conceiving of God a priori. This differs from other a posteriori arguments for God’s existence such as the cosmological (creation), teleology (design), or … [Read more...]
5 Arguments for the Existence of God
Why should one make an argument for the existence of God? Why, moreover, provide five of them? Is it that the evidence for God is so weak, that believers need multiple arguments, working together in their persuasive power, to change the minds of unbelievers? Questions of whether or not these arguments are useful, or if they can actually coerce religious belief has been an area … [Read more...]