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    God is really possible (i.e., God's existence involves no... — Carmelics
    Home/Natural Theology
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    God is really possible (i.e., God's existence involves no contradiction)

    Modality & PossibilityNatural Theology
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Clear and distinct ideas produced in us by reason are reliable guides to real possibility
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    • 2.We can clearly and distinctly perceive no contradiction in our idea of God's nature
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    • 3.If a clear and distinct idea contains no contradiction, the corresponding thing is really possible
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Conceivability without detected contradiction does not entail real possibility, as Kant showed with the 'I think' accompanying all representations.
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    • 2.Our cognitive apparatus may be systematically incapable of detecting contradictions in concepts that involve the actual infinite or necessary existence.
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    • 3.Hume's Conceivability Principle cuts both ways: we can conceive God's non-existence with equal clarity, undermining the asymmetric inference to possibility.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Gaunilo and later Kant established that 'existence' and 'necessary existence' are not genuine predicates that can coherently populate a concept's content.
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    • 2.If necessary existence cannot be a real predicate, then the concept of God as necessarily existing being is formally incoherent, not merely undetectably contradictory.
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    Topics

    Natural TheologyModality & Possibility

    Connections

    1 topic

    Truth & Knowledge2 linked

    Related

    Clear and distinct ideas produced in us by reason are reliable guides to real po...Conceivability without detected contradiction does not entail real possibility, ...Gaunilo and later Kant established that 'existence' and 'necessary existence' ar...Hume's Conceivability Principle cuts both ways: we can conceive God's non-existe...
    +4 moreShow less
    If a clear and distinct idea contains no contradiction, the corresponding thing ...If necessary existence cannot be a real predicate, then the concept of God as ne...Our cognitive apparatus may be systematically incapable of detecting contradicti...We can clearly and distinctly perceive no contradiction in our idea of God's nat...

    Similar

    If God's existence is possible, it follows necessarily that God exists...91%Therefore, establishing that God's existence is not impossible is suff...89%Therefore, if God is possible at all, God exists necessarily.89%There is no contradiction involved in denying that God exists.87%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: natural-theology
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    To the third problem, concerning the real possibility of God, Descartes replies that our clear and distinct ideas of TINs—produced in us by reason—are reliable. Since we can (supposedly) see clearly and distinctly that there is no contradiction in our idea of God’s nature, the denial that God is really possible is on equal footing with the denial that the angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles (AT 7.150–1).
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit