Author: Gemma

Philosophy Theme 1—Arguments for God’s existence: Deductive arguments Knowledge Organiser

Key questions
The extent to which a priori arguments for God’s existence are persuasive	2. The effectiveness of the ontological argument for God’s existence.	3. The effectiveness of the challenges to the ontological argument for God’s existence.
4. The extent to which objections to the ontological argument are persuasive.	5. Whether the ontological argument is more persuasive than the cosmological/teleological argument	6. The extent to which different religious views on the nature of God impact on arguments for the existence of God

Key Words
7. A priori: ‘prior to evidence.’ Reasoning using logic rather than evidence or experience	8. Deductive proof: an argument where the conclusion must be true if the premises are true
9. Ontological argument: argument for the existence of God based on the concept of the nature of being	10. Premise: a proposition or statement used to construct an argument
11. Proslogion: a work written by St Anselm and contains the ontological argument	12.Faith: a strong belief or trust in something or someone
13. Reason: the use of logic in thought processes or putting forward an argument	14. Attribute: a descriptive characteristic that someone or something possesses
15. Perfection: the complete absence of flaws also the ultimate state of a positive trait	16. Intrinsic maximum: a term used to refer to the necessary properties of God- in that they must all possess this in order for the definition of God as greatest possible being to be accurate
17. Reductio ad absurdum: an argument that shows a statement to be false or absurd if its logical conclusions were to be accepted	18. Predicate: a defining characteristic or attribute
19. St Anselm: St Anselm of Canterbury (c.1033-1109) formulated the ontological argument which showed how the existence of God on could be understood on the basis of reason alone.	20. Argument: A set of statements which is such that one of them (the conclusion) is supported or implied by the others (the premises).
21. Beings: Not just human beings but anything that has a property.	22. Classical theism: The belief in a personal deity, creator of everything that exists, who is distinct from that creation and is sustainer and preserver of the universe.
23. Contingent beings: Beings that depend upon something else for their existence. They have the property that they need not be, or could have been different.	24. Cumulative arguments: A collection of arguments which, when formed together, present a stronger case than when the arguments stand alone.
25. René Descartes: René Descartes (1596-1650); promoted reason as most reliable basis for knowledge and analysis and used the method of doubt as a means to arrive at metaphysical truth.	26. Norman Malcolm: Norman Malcolm (1911-1990) argued for a form of the ontological argument based on defining God as an unlimited being and concluded that God exists necessarily.
27. Existential: Relating to existence.	28. Gaunilo: Contemporary to St Anselm, criticised the ontological argument by the counter argument of the ‘most perfect island’.
29. Necessary being: A being which, if it exists, cannot not exist; a being which is not dependent on any other for its existence.	30. Kant: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804); German philosopher and critic of the ontological argument who used the moral argument to contend for God’s existence and life after death.
31. Essence: The essential nature of something.	32. Immanent: Existing or remaining; in theology it refers to God’s involvement in creation.

Scholars
33. St Anselm	34. Rene Descartes	35. Norman Malcolm
36. Gaunilo of Marmoutiers	37. Immanuel Kant

38. Anselm’s Ontological Argument part 1 (Proslogion 2) - Simple version
39. Premise 1: God is the greatest
40. Premise 2: It is greater for God to exist in reality (in re) and in the mind (in intellectu) than in just the mind.
41. Conclusion/Truth: Because ‘God is the Greatest’ He must exist in reality or he wouldn’t be the greatest otherwise. Therefore, God exists.

42. Anselm’s Ontological Argument part 2 (Proslogion 3) - Simple version
43. Premise 1: God is the greatest.
44. Premise 2: A necessary being is greater than a contingent being.
45. Conclusion/Truth: Because ‘God is the Greatest’ He must be a necessary being or he wouldn’t be the greatest otherwise. Therefore, God is a necessary being.

46. Rene Descartes’ Ontological Argument- simple version
47. Premise 1: God is a supremely perfect being.
48. Premise 2: Every object has predicates (essences) that make it what it is.
49. Conclusion/Truth: One of the predicates of a supremely perfect being is existence. Because God is a ‘supremely perfect being’ He must, therefore, exist.

50. Norman Malcolm’s Ontological Argument—simple version
51. Premise 1: God is an absolutely unlimited being.
52. Premise 2: If God exists, God must be necessary because He would be limited otherwise.
53. Premise 3: If God doesn’t exist, God’s existence is impossible because creation would limit God.
54. Premise 4: Therefore, God is either necessary or impossible. However, the concept of God is not self-contradictory therefore He can’t be impossible
55. Conclusion/Truth: A necessary God must exist.

66. Kant’s challenge of Descartes
67. Criticism 1: Existence is not a Predicate/Essence
If you have a triangle then it must have three sides (a predicate) but if you do not have the triangle, you do not have its three sides. Therefore Descartes has not proved that God exists.
68. Criticism 2: Analytical Criticism
Both Anselm & Descartes arguments depend upon us firstly accepting their definitions of God as analytical statements i.e. that this definition does not need proving with empirical evidence. Kant said they need to prove these definitions of God before the rest of their argument can be accepted.

AO1 and AO2

Strengths of the ontological argument	Weaknesses of the ontological argument
56. Anselm’s reply to Gaunilo’s criticism i.e. only God can be described as the greatest, not islands or anything else.	61. Gaunilo’s perfect island criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument.
57. There is no need for empirical evidence to prove God’s existence.	62. Kant’s predicate criticism of Descartes ontological argument.
58. Because it is deductive, if you accept the premises (‘God is supremely perfect’ for example) of the ontological argument, then the conclusion (God exists) must be true.	63. Kant’s analytical argument criticism of the ontological argument.
59. A priori knowledge (as used by the ontological argument) is stronger than a posteriori knowledge because: / A posteriori can be subjective whereas a priori is objective. / 2) A posteriori is open to error because our senses can deceive us.	64. A priori knowledge (as used by the ontological argument) is weaker than a posteriori knowledge because a priori knowledge can be wrong. Bertrand Russell gave the example: ‘Father Christmas is a man’ (premise), ‘Men exist’ (premise), ‘Therefore Father Christmas exists’ (truth).
60. It supports the existence of the God of classical theism as understood by Christians, Jews and Muslims, i.e. that God is supremely perfect.	65. The ontological argument does not support Eastern religions’ concept of God (Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism).

69. Gaunilo’s challenge of Anselm
70. Used Anselm’s logic against him with the perfect island: 1) The island I’ve described from my mind is the greatest, 2) Which is greater, the island just in my mind (in intellectu) or the island in the mind and reality (in re)? 3) Clearly it is the island in mind and reality, 4) My island must exist in reality as well as the mind or it wouldn’t be the greatest otherwise, 5) therefore. the perfect island I described must exist.
71. Anselm’s reply back to Gaunilo: An island has no intrinsic maximum (agreed standard of perfection) and you can always add extra things to make it greater e.g. an extra tree. You can’t do this with God. Therefore Anselm’s argument only applies to God, not other things.