Outline Descartes Ontological Argument
Outline Descartes’ Ontological Argument and explain the key objections that may be used against it.
Descartes took the Ontological Argument as presented by Anselm and developed it in a different form. Descartes saw the argument in terms of necessary existence. For Descartes, the idea of God necessarily entails his existence.
He established that our thoughts are evidence of our own existence (‘I think therefore I am’), and so wanted to see what else he could prove exists. He used the example of a triangle. Even if triangles didn’t exist they would have three sides and three angles. A triangle must have all the prescribed properties as it exists in the mind. Similarly, we cannot have mountains without the necessity of having valleys as well.
God is defined by Descartes as the ‘supremely perfect being’. A predicate of perfection includes existence. A predicate is a necessary quality which something must possess. So if we accept the definition of God, then logically he must exist. Descartes often referred to the Scholastic notion, used by medieval scholars such as Aquinas, of ‘aseity’. This states that the existence of something is contained within its own essence, i.e. one cannot separate existence from God. Descartes also stated that supreme perfection means absolute goodness. In medieval terms, goodness and existence were interchangeable and therefore, a being that is absolutely good much have the perfection of existence.
Descartes also believed that the definition of the word perfection is that it cannot lack anything. Therefore, it is illogical for God to lack anything, including existence. He also must be necessary as if he wasn’t necessary there would be things he could lack.
Therefore, if we accept that God is, by definition, a Supremely Perfect Being, then we cannot deny that he possesses existence as a necessary quality. Existence is as fundamental to the nature of God as 3 sides are fundamental to the nature of a triangle. To argue differently is
Descartes took the Ontological Argument as presented by Anselm and developed it in a different form. Descartes saw the argument in terms of necessary existence. For Descartes, the idea of God necessarily entails his existence.
He established that our thoughts are evidence of our own existence (‘I think therefore I am’), and so wanted to see what else he could prove exists. He used the example of a triangle. Even if triangles didn’t exist they would have three sides and three angles. A triangle must have all the prescribed properties as it exists in the mind. Similarly, we cannot have mountains without the necessity of having valleys as well.
God is defined by Descartes as the ‘supremely perfect being’. A predicate of perfection includes existence. A predicate is a necessary quality which something must possess. So if we accept the definition of God, then logically he must exist. Descartes often referred to the Scholastic notion, used by medieval scholars such as Aquinas, of ‘aseity’. This states that the existence of something is contained within its own essence, i.e. one cannot separate existence from God. Descartes also stated that supreme perfection means absolute goodness. In medieval terms, goodness and existence were interchangeable and therefore, a being that is absolutely good much have the perfection of existence.
Descartes also believed that the definition of the word perfection is that it cannot lack anything. Therefore, it is illogical for God to lack anything, including existence. He also must be necessary as if he wasn’t necessary there would be things he could lack.
Therefore, if we accept that God is, by definition, a Supremely Perfect Being, then we cannot deny that he possesses existence as a necessary quality. Existence is as fundamental to the nature of God as 3 sides are fundamental to the nature of a triangle. To argue differently is