PHL 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Ontological Argument, Omnipotence, Middle Ages
6 May 2019
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Anselm conception of god from perfect being theology - that being none greater than which can be thought . Other philosophers - idea of a being that possesses all perfections . Plantinga - idea of maximal greatness is maximal excellence in every possible world; imples at least omnipotence, omniscience, and moral perfection. Fundamental problem is that if the notion of a perfect being is coherent, then no doubt some perfections are unknown to human beings. For all we know, these unknown perfections may be more valuable with omnipotence, omniscience, and moral perfection. Threatens to undermine all perfect being theologian"s a priori inferences about the nature of god. A posteriori arguments for the existence of a benevolent creator fall short of establishing the existence of a perfect being. Perfect being theology depends on the ontological argument to establish the existence of a perfect being. Early middle ages - perfect being theology comes into its own.
