Preview

William L Rowe Ontological Argument

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
197 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
William L Rowe Ontological Argument
According to William L. Rowe the Ontological argument can be thought of as “a family of arguments, each member of which begins with a concept of God, and by appealing only to a priori principles, endeavors to establish that God actually exists”(pg11, Feinberg, Shafer-Landau). The weakest version of the ontological argument is St Anselm version.

I.God is that than which nothing greater can be thought.

II.The greatest thing must exist, or it is not the greatest thing.

III.Conclusion: Hence god exists.

This same argument can be used with other entities

I.The perfect trash bag is the trash bag that has no greater trash.

II.The perfect trash bag must exist, or it is not the perfect trash bag.

III.Hence a greatest trash bag exists.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and a monk was the creator of the Ontological Argument. The main aspect behind the argument was that the existence of God was true, in simple words, God exists. The argument is deductive as it depends only on knowledge and logic, not on experience as experiencing God is impossible physically. It is also a priori for similar reasons; the argument relies on logic alone.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On the website womensportreport.com, there is sufficient evidence to prove some of the arguments presented by Muriah Burton Nelson’s argument. First, most pictures on the website show the female athletes smiling. Under the training section of the webpage there was a picture that caught my attention. It was a group of people, where the majority were females. They were exercising, laughing and having fun following their male instructor. This is what Newton was referring to when she said that female athletes cannot show any signs of competition. I believe that the website womenssportreport.com perpetuates traditional gender role. In addition, and of topic to the question, I thought most female fighters in the UFC were breaking that outdated traditional…

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    argument with ideas that do not depend on experience and progress to a throughly logical…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anselm is not trying to say that whatever one can think of exist because, everyone can think of something that does not exist. Neither is he trying to saying believing in something without any doubt makes it exist. Finally Anselm might believe in God, he is not trying to convince us that God exist but rather he is trying to show us that once one understands or grasp the concept of who or what God, then based on logic it follows that God has to exist. Anselm ontological argument follows that if one makes an assumption and can show things that follow from that assumption lead to contradiction, then the initial assumption is rejected and conclude the opposite…

    • 118 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anselm’s argument did lead to objections as most do. The first was that of a Monk Named Gaunilo, who argued against Anselm’s ontological Argument with the use of the concept of a perfect island. Gaunilo argued that concept of a perfect island does not prove that the existence of an island. In this case that perfection does not imply ‘existence’. Gaunilo claims that if the word God was replaced with the words perfect island, then Anselm’s ontological argument would not conclude that the perfect island exists. The fact Gaunilo was trying to bring across that a valid argument can never have true premises and a false conclusion, as the conclusion has to follow logically from the premises. Constructing a similar argument in which the conclusion is false shows that Anselm’s argument is flawed. Gaulino’s argument follows the basic form as such:…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Ontological Argument (Question 1 part a and b) According to the Ontological Argument, the existence of God can be proven by merely appealing to the…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The ontological argument proposed by Anselm, in Anselm’s Proslogion is a priori argument, meaning it does not start from a feature of the world but rather a definition of God. It seeks to move from a definition of god to the reality of god by reasoning.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the most fascinating arguments for the existence of an all-perfect God is the ontological argument. While there are several different versions of the argument, all purport to show that it is self-contradictory to deny that there exists a greatest possible being. Thus, on this general line of argument, it is a necessary truth that such a being exists; and this being is the God of traditional Western theism. This article explains and evaluates classic and contemporary versions of the ontological argument.…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The existence of God is one of the greatly talked about philosophical topics throughout history. There have been many arguments proposed in order to answer the question. One argument is the ontological argument. The first person to propose the ontological argument is St. Anselm in the eleventh century. St. Anselm tries to prove the existence God from the idea of a being that which no greater being can be imagined. St. Anselm contemplated that, if such a being did not exist, then a more superior being can be thought of to…

    • 92 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Teleological Argument

    • 2343 Words
    • 10 Pages

    These three main arguments include the ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments. The teleological argument has evolved from antiquity and has been termed the physico-theological argument, argument from design, intelligent argument design, and the fine-tuned universe argument. The basic concept of the argument states that the world shows evidence of a designer because of its perfection, harmony, and consistency. The World Library defines teleological as:…

    • 2343 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anselm covered two bases on how God’s existence became self-evident in Proslogian, but left many counterarguments open. It seems as if an ontological argument can be used to prove the existence of everything. While his use of syllogism creates a valid conclusion, his premises leave openings for other conclusions. For example, we could take his first premise, which states if the greatest being exists in the mind, it must exist in reality and apply it to something else. What if we don’t believe in his definition of God? Then we could say that in our mind existed a perfect anything. Since it was present in our mind, it must be in reality. Also, we can challenge this argument through an evidence standpoint alone. How can there be a God if he has never shown his face? How can we believe in something we can’t see? St. Anselm did not support his argument with evidential support; instead he used a priori justification. With this theory, St. Anselm unintentionally meant that anything can exist necessarily and we both know that is not true. He also inadvertently comes up with the idea that existing adds something to the being. “Existence cannot function as a predicate” (Himma). Why must something have to exist in reality for it to actually be there? Existing adds nothing to a being including perfection which means that a perfect being can be created without having to exist in reality.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are 3 main arguments that each seek to prove the existence of God; the Ontological, Cosmological, and Teleological Arguments. Each is different in its approach, but all arrive at the same conclusion. Ontological Argument argues God’s existence from the assumption of the existence a “Greatest Thing that can ever be conceived.” From there, it argues that in order for something to be “The Greatest Thing ever” it must exist physically (that is outside of the mind). The Cosmological Argument argues that since everything in the universe is contingent (or is dependent on other things for its existence), there must be a first cause that set the universe in motion.…

    • 1954 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments collectively strive to prove one point, the existence of God. Ontological arguments lean on reasoning to prove its point of an a priori being or existence. Cosmological arguments focus on the idea that because there is this vast universe with an infinite amount of galaxies, God or a higher being, must have had a hand in creating the world and universe we live in. Teleological arguments emphasize on the idea that the universe was created solely to carry out the purpose or end result that it was designed for by…

    • 97 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Is there a God? This is a question that crosses the minds of everyone in the world, at least once. While this question is highly controversial, the world must come to the realization that there is not one definite answer. This may seem confusing to most people, and the concept will probably never be fully grasped. But there are five particular philosophers who have formed strong opinions and arguments to address the question at hand and seem to have it all figured out. Philosophy and religion do indeed have an unsettled relationship, but this relationship only challenges minds, inspires people to think, and allows others to obtain a deeper and more detailed perspective.…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Ontological Argument

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Through the ontological argument, Anselm seeks to prove that God exists and he attempts to refute the fool who says in his heart that there is no God. This fool has two important characteristics: he understands the claim that God exists and he does not believe that God exists. Gaunilo plays the role of the “fool” and challenges Anselm’s ontological argument. I will argue that Anselm’s response to Gaunilo’s attack is not adequate because it does not address the issue of certainty, which plays an important role in Gaunilo’s objection. First, I will explain, in greater depth, Anselm’s ontological argument. I will then elaborate on why Gaunilo denies that than which nothing greater can be conceived exists in the understanding. Lastly, I will argue why Anselm’s response to Gaunilo’s attack is insufficient.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays