PHIL1003 Lecture 6: Lecture 6B - Challenging the Ontological Argument
Document Summary
P1 god does not exist in reality (assumed for purposes of reductio) Sc1 god exists in the understanding alone (inferred from p1, p2) P3 god is the greatest conceivable being (premise, definition of god) Sc2 if god exists in the understanding alone, then god is not the greatest conceivable being (inferred from p4) Sc3 god is not the greatest conceivable being (from sc1, sc2) sc4 it is not the case that god does not exist in reality (from p1, C god does exist in reality. (inferred from sc4). Gaunilo"s refutation by logical analogy: uses the same argument structure to prove (it would seem) the existence of the greatest conceivable island! Challenge premise 3: perhaps the very concept of god is contradictory such that, like a round square or the largest integer, god can never exist in reality. Challenge premise 4, e. g. , that existence is a quality or predicate (such that it enables us to say that it is great-making).
