Philosophy essay

The ontological argument is concerned with being, it claims to arrive at the existence of God by analysing the idea of God and this does not depend on experience; it’s therefore not existing therefore he must be necessary if he is the greatest being. However Kant argues that saying ‘God has a necessary existence’ is in fact making a synthetic statement.

“that than which nothing greater ac be conceived”, If God existed only in the mind then a greater being could be imagined to exist in the mind and in reality, this being would then be greater than God, therefore God cannot exist only in the mind. God exists both in the mind and in reality. His rm you don’t need to prove Gods existence whereas the 1st has a conclusion in itself.

Descartes gives the argument of perfection, God has all perfections, existence is perfection te of perfection; imagining God does not exist is like imaging a triangle without 3 sides.
Anselm also proposes the argument for perfection (Proslogion 2). God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived and therefore must be perfect. God would not be perfect if he existed only in the mind, it is perfect to exist in reality. As God is perfect, he must exist in reality. He believes even an atheist has a concept of God; the concept leads them to the idea God exits in reality.

Gaunilo challenged Anselm with his lost island argument; an island greater that can be conceived to exist, he holds that the island must exist. He is saying that God is just the greatest actual being just as the island is an actual island. However this is not what Anselm is saying, Anselm claims that God is the greatest possible being and his argument only applies to God.

Anselm goes onto argue that being perfect is a predicate of God but not of an Island. Existence is not a “great

Plantinga explained against Gaunilo that the perfect island is an incoherent idea; islands unlike God, do not have maximal greatness e.g. one can always add another palm tree....