Clarifry the Key Concepts of the ontological argument for the existence of God (12) Most of the arguments for God's existence rely on at least one empirical premise

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Danielle Hilton

A.Clarifry the Key Concepts of the ontological argument for the existence of God (12)

Most of the arguments for God's existence rely on at least one empirical premise. For example, the "fine-tuning" version of the design argument depends on empirical evidence of intelligent design; in particular, it turns on the empirical claim, that life could not have developed had certain fundamental properties of the universe differed even slightly from what they are. Likewise, cosmological arguments depend on certain empirical claims about the explanation for the occurrence of empirical events. The Ontological arguments are arguments, for the conclusion that God exists, from premises which are supposed to derive from some source other than observation of the world — e.g., from reason alone. In other words, ontological arguments are arguments from nothing but analytic, a priori and necessary premises to the conclusion that God exists!

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The first, and best-known, ontological argument was proposed by St. Anselm of Canterbury in the 11th. century A.D. In his Proslogion, St. Anselm claims to derive the existence of God from the concept of a being than which no greater can be conceived. St. Anselm reasoned that, if such a being fails to exist, then a greater being — namely, a being than which no greater can be conceived, and which exists - can be conceived. But this would be absurd: nothing can be greater than a being than which no greater can be conceived. So a being than which ...

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