An analysis of ontological argument

Ontological argument

Since existence isn't a logical predicate, it doesn't belong to the concept of God; it rather affirms that the existence of something that satisfies the predicates defining the concept of God.

These ideas foreshadowed our understanding of traditional physics until the nature of atoms was discovered in the 20th century.

Existence is not a property in, say, the way that being red is a property of an apple. Hintikka's locution for existence[ edit ] Jaakko Hintikka puts the view that a useful explication of the notion of existence is in the words "one can find", implicitly in some world or universe of discourse.

Still, we can let this point pass. These are arguments in which ontologically committing vocabulary is introduced solely via a definition. Subjectivity and objectivity refer to different aspects of an occasion of experience, and in no way do they exclude each other.


Thus, if God exists in the mind as an idea, then God necessarily exists in reality. Again, no one thinks that that argument shows any such thing. But, then, mark the consequences. I need to go out into the world and conduct some sort of empirical investigation using my senses.

Open Court Publishing, Necessary existence is positive Axiom 6: Therefore, according to his nature, God must exist. Nine Logico-Philosophical Essays Harvard, analytic philosophy Twentieth-century methods of philosophizing, generally characterized by the careful effort to uncover logical and philosophical suppositions concealed beneath the superficial structure of statements in ordinary uses of language, pursuit of clarity in the treatment of genuine philosophical issues, and a deep respect for the achievements of natural science.

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Focus on the case of ontological arguments for the conclusion that God exists. And certainly that than which a greater cannot be conceived cannot be in the understanding alone.


For each of the families of arguments introduced in the earlier taxonomy, we can give general reasons why arguments of that family fall under the general criticism. Yet other philosophers distance themselves from talk of conceptual analysis, but even so feel that philosophical reflection is a source of synthetic a priori intuition SosaLet us suppose for the sake of example that the right thing to say is that the former things exist and the latter do not.

In The philosophical writings of Descartes, Vol. For example, perfect knowledge requires knowing all and only true propositions; it is conceptually impossible to know more than this. Therefore, if the universe is the product of an existent creator, we could conceive of a greater being—one which does not exist.

At first sight, this might seem to commit them to the view that philosophy trades in analytic claims. Nevertheless, the success of the argument doesn't depend on our having a complete understanding of the concept of a being than which none greater can be conceived.

To see that this criticism is unfounded, it suffices to make two observations. Lack of moisture can prevent trees from existing in a certain region of the earth.

From 78. That their behavior seems to evince thought is why there is a problem about AI in the first place; and if Searle's argument merely discountenances theoretic or metaphysical identification of thought with computation, the behavioral evidence - and consequently Turing's point - remains unscathed.

I have inputs and outputs that are indistinguishable from those of the native Chinese speaker, and I can have any formal program you like, but I still understand nothing. An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God that uses arguments fall under the category of the ontological, and they tend to involve arguments about the state of being or existing.

More specifically, ontological arguments tend to start with an a priori theory about the organization of the universe. If that organizational structure is true, the.

Chinese Room Argument

1. Ontological Naturalism Making a Causal Difference. A central thought in ontological naturalism is that all spatiotemporal entities must be identical to or metaphysically constituted by physical [] entities.


Ontological Arguments

A Unified Analysis of Attitudes: Bridging the De Re / De Dicto / De Qualitate Divide. Speaker: Christopher Tancredi From: Keio University URL: Roxx Alvarado Professor Aaron Wilson PHI 8 September Analysis to Anselm’s Ontological Argument and the Argument from Evil The debate of the existence of God had been active since before the first philosopher has pondered the question.

Anselm: Ontological Argument for God's Existence

What Philosophy Can Do [Gary Gutting, Kevin Pariseau] on *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A leading American philosopher brings the tools of his trade to contentious contemporary debates. How can we have meaningful debates with political opponents? How can we distinguish reliable science from overhyped media reports?

How can we talk sensibly about God? Anselm's ontological argument purports to be an a priori proof of God's existence. Anselm starts with premises that do not depend on experience for their justification and then proceeds by purely logical means to the conclusion that God exists.

An analysis of ontological argument
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Chinese Room Argument | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy