The Ontological Argument

Part of Philosophy>Philosophy of Religion

Overview
The ontological argument proposes that God's existence can be proved a priori, that is, by intuition and reason alone. It was first put forward by Anselm of Canterbury in the Proslogium.

The argument works by examining the concept of God, and arguing that it implies the actual existence of God; that is, if we can conceive of God, then God exists — it is thus self-contradictory to state that God does not exist. This is obviously a controversial position, and the ontological argument has a long history of detractors and defenders.

The argument's different versions arise mainly from using different concepts of God as the starting point. For example, Anselm starts with the notion of God as a being than which no greater can be conceived, while Descartes starts with the notion of God as being maximally perfect (as having all perfections).

Suggested Reading

 * St Anselm, "The Ontological Argument" From Proslogium.




 * William L. Rowe, "The Ontological Argument."
 * Gaunilo of Marmoutiers, "On Behalf of the Fool."
 * Gaunilo of Marmoutiers, "On Behalf of the Fool."



Enyclopedia Articles

 * The Ontological Argument from [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] article by Kenneth Einar Himma
 * Ontological Arguments from the [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
 * Ontological Argument from Wikipedia]

Lecture Notes

 * Existence of God: Ontological Argument by Sally Haslanger. Part of 24.00 Problems of Philosophy, Fall 2005