1. Lecture 18: God and Reason

2. Today’s Lecture In today’s lecture we will:
Recap our investigation into Natural Theology
Outline and evaluate three versions of the ontological argument for God’s existence
St. Anselm
Descartes
Malcolm
Discuss some of the traditional criticisms against the ontological argument
Examine the moral argument for God’s existence
Conclude our rational investigation into God’s existence
Today’s Lecture

3. Topic Recap

4. Recap Natural Theology Does God exist?
So far we have investigated the claim in accordance with Natural Theology
Revealed Theology
Natural Theology
Knowledge of God through special revelation
Knowledge of God through the natural intellect
The Bible
Mystical Experience
The Church
Moses
The Holy Spirit
Rationalism
“The view that affirms reason, with its interest in evidence, examination, and evaluation, as authoritative in all matters of belief and conduct” (Miller, Ed L. Questions that Matter, p.10)
Recap

5. Recap Arguments considered so far
The cosmological and teleological arguments both rely on the concept of causality
Cosmological argument
If every event has a cause there must be a first cause
Teleological argument
If there is complexity/purpose there must be an intelligent cause
Both arguments begin with an a posteriori observation
Logic, deduction, and a process of elimination are used to find the only possible explanation for this observation
In both arguments God is used as a transcendent (outside of time and space) first cause
Recap

6. The Ontological Argument

7. Ontological Argument Anselm’s’ version of the ontological argument
Textbook pp
How does Anselm define God?
What does the example of the painter show?
Why must God exist?
What is the relationship between the understanding and existence?
What is wrong with the idea that God does not exist?
Can we think of anything greater than God?
Ontological Argument

8. Ontological Argument Anselm’s’ version of the ontological argument
It is possible to conceive of a being “than which nothing greater can be conceived.”
If that being than which nothing greater can be conceived exists only in the mind, then it is not the greatest being that can be conceived.
Therefore the possibility of conceiving a being than which nothing greater can be conceived entails the logical necessity of the real existence of such a being.
This being than which nothing greater can be conceived it the being we call God.
Ontological Argument

9. Ontological Argument Descartes’ version of the ontological argument
God, by definition, is that being which is absolutely perfect
It is more perfect to exist than not to exist
Therefore, to conceive of God it is necessarily to conceive of him as existing
Therefore, to say “God does not exist” is to contradict oneself
Therefore, the sentence “God exists” is necessarily true
Ontological Argument

10. Ontological Argument Malcom’s version of the ontological argument
God, is an unlimited being
The existence of an unlimited being is either impossible or necessary.
The concept of an unlimited being is not self-contradictory, so such a being is not impossible.
Therefore, such a being is necessary.
Ontological Argument

11. Ontological Argument The method of the ontological argument
All argue that God must exist because he is perfect
Ontological argument = Argument of existence
All versions attempt to argue for God’s existence by using reason alone
They make no use of observation
Each begins by defining God
All versions proceed by ‘unpacking’ this definition of God
All versions argue that a necessary part of this definition is that God exists
They argue that God must exist a priori
Ontological Argument

12. Ontological Argument a priori arguments John is a bachelor Bachelor
All bachelors are unmarried men
Therefore John is an unmarried man
Mammal
Ella is a mammal
All mammals are warm blooded
Therefore John is an unmarried man
God
God is an X
All X’s must exist
Therefore God must exist
Ontological Argument

13. Criticisms of the ontological argument

14. Criticisms Criticisms of the ontological argument:
Is it always more perfect to exist than not to exist?
Is it better for the following to exist or not exist right here and now?
A swarm of angry bees
A million dollars
A ton of horse muck
A big buffet for everyone includingour favourite foods
Criticisms

15. Criticisms Criticisms of the ontological argument:
‘Perfect’ Predicates
Which of the following exists?
Excalibur
Harry Potter
Unicorns
Fire-Breathing Dragons
Dragons
And the following:
An absolutely perfect Sword
An absolutely perfect Unicorns
An absolutely perfect Pizza
An absolutely perfect Desert Island
An absolutely perfect Ice-Cream
Criticisms
Just because we can add the predicate “perfect” doesn’t mean it must exist!

16. Criticisms Criticisms of the ontological argument:
Existence is not a predicate
Subject Predicate
My cake is pink
has a bunny on it
has lemon icing
has a vanilla filling
Exists
These predicates add to or change the subject
Claiming that a subject exists or not does not alter or add anything to it
Criticisms

17. Summary

18. Ontological Argument What is the point of Natural Theology?
Few thinkers claim that we can know everything about what God is
Rational arguments, such as the ontological, cosmological, teleological arguments are attempting to see how far human reason can take us towards knowledge of God
Few thinkers claim that rational arguments can replace religious belief
Advocates of natural theology see such arguments as worthwhile attempts at exploring the limits of human reason
Rational arguments for God exists are then primarily an intellectual experiment
Next Lecture: We will investigate arguments claiming that using human reason alone is an inadequate or insufficient way to gain knowledge of God’s existence
Ontological Argument