The Ontological Argument from Descartes to HegelThe ontological argument for the existence of God has been a constant in the philosophy of religion since its first formulation by Anselm of Canterbury in the 11th century. In the 17th century, it was revived by René Descartes, and ever since has been a subject of dispute and much debate among philosophers. Descartes formulated it as follows: "Premise 1: That which we clearly understand to belong to the true and immutable nature, or essence, or form of something, can be truly asserted of that thing. "Premise 2: But once we have made a sufficiently careful investigation into what God is, we clearly and distinctly understand that existence belongs to his true and immutable nature. Conclusion: Hence we can now truly assert of God that he does exits" In this interesting history of the argument, philosopher Kevin J. Harrelson shows that the defense of the ontological argument is more consistent and persuasive than has frequently been supposed. In addition to correcting many common misunderstandings about the argument, the author highlights what appears to be an irremovable tension between the conclusion and the explanation of the proof. Both the common objections to the argument and its historical development in early modern philosophy are explained in light of this tension. |
Contents
List of Abbreviations | 15 |
Descartes Triangle and the Problems of Analogy and Explanation | 26 |
The Demise of the Cartesian Arguments | 33 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
analogy Anselm's appears asserts atheism attributes Baumgarten Cartesian argument Caterus chapter claim concept conclusion context contingent contradiction cosmological argument criticism Critique Crusius CSM II Cudworth Curley defense definition demonstration Descartes difference discussion divine doctrine eighteenth century empirical objection epistemological equivocation essence and existence exis existence belongs existence of God fact Fifth Meditation Gassendi geometrical God's existence God's nature Hegel Henrich Hobbes human mind ical idea inference infinite intellect intuition Kant Kant's knowledge latter Leibniz logical Malebranche ment Mersenne Metaphysica metaphysical minor premise modal More's natural theology necessary existence necessity notion objectors Oeuvres ontological argu ontological argument ontological proof passage perceive perfection argument perfectissimum philosophers Pierre Gassendi position possibility predicate priori proof problem proponents proposition Proslogion Ralph Cudworth rationalist reality reason Replies syllogism Scholium Set of Replies Spinoza Suhrkamp 17 supremely perfect tence theological thing Thomistic objection thought tion trans triangle truth Wolff