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    Made withinDC&Austin
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    No known ontological argument for the existence of God is... — Carmelics
    Home/Natural Theology
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    No known ontological argument for the existence of God is persuasive.

    Natural 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.There is fairly widespread consensus, even amongst theists, that no known ontological arguments for the existence of God are persuasive.
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    • 2.Most categories of ontological argument have some actual defenders, but none has a large following.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Plantinga's modal ontological argument is widely acknowledged as logically valid, making 'unpersuasive' a matter of disputed rational acceptability, not logical failure.
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    • 2.The premise that possibly a maximally great being exists strikes many careful philosophers as more credible than its negation, satisfying reasonable standards for a persuasive argument.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Consensus-based dismissal conflates sociological reception with philosophical force, a distinction Frege and Husserl explicitly warned against in rejecting psychologism.
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    • 2.Gödel's ontological argument, formalized in modal logic and scrutinized by logicians like Sobel and Anderson, demonstrates that ontological arguments can achieve rigorous formal persuasiveness even absent broad assent.
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    Topics

    Natural Theology

    Notable Defenders

    AdamscontemporaryAdams 1971
    BarnescontemporaryBarnes 1972
    OppenheimercontemporaryOppenheimer and Zalta 1991
    ZaltacontemporaryOppenheimer and Zalta 1991
    Anselm of CanterburymedievalProslogion, Chapter II

    Related

    Consensus-based dismissal conflates sociological reception with philosophical fo...Gödel's ontological argument, formalized in modal logic and scrutinized by logic...Most categories of ontological argument have some actual defenders, but none has...Plantinga's modal ontological argument is widely acknowledged as logically valid...
    +2 moreShow less
    The premise that possibly a maximally great being exists strikes many careful ph...There is fairly widespread consensus, even amongst theists, that no known ontolo...

    Source

    AI-extracted3/3 agreementValid
    SEP: ontological-arguments
    View source passageHide passage
    Even if the forgoing analyses are correct, it is important to note that no argument has been given for the conclusion that no ontological argument can be successful. Even if all of the kinds of arguments produced to date are pretty clearly unsuccessful—i.e., not such as ought to give non-theists reason to accept the conclusion that God exists—it remains an open question whether there is some other kind of hitherto undiscovered ontological argument which does succeed. (Perhaps it is worth adding here that there is fairly widespread consensus, even amongst theists, that no known ontological argu...
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The passage explicitly states the conclusion as a point of "fairly widespread consensus" and offers the observation about defenders and followings as supporting evidence, making this argument clearly present in the source.

    Similar

    There is fairly widespread consensus, even amongst theists, that no kn...92%It remains an open question whether some hitherto undiscovered ontolog...89%The ontological argument for God's existence is unsound.86%The ontological proof asserts the necessary existence of God, which is...85%

    Confidence: Explicitly stated reasoning in the text.

    Details

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