The Ontological Argument Quiz

The ontological argument is an argument for the existence of God presented by a monk named Anselm of Canterbury in 1078.

Arthur Schopenhauer called the ontological argument a charming joke.

Possible worlds are simply ways the world could have been, and they are related to the ontological argument because to say that something exists in a possible world is just to say that if the world were that way, then the thing would have existed.

A philosophical argument for the existence of God based on the concept of a maximally great being.

To be considered maximally great, the being must be all-powerful, all-knowing, and morally perfect in every possible world.

The atheist must maintain that it is impossible for God to exist.

To define God as a maximally great being.

There aren't intrinsic maximal values that make pizzas great, unlike the concept of a maximally great being.

If it can be shown that the idea of God is logically incoherent.

It would mean that the pizza couldn't be eaten, so it wouldn't really be a pizza because a pizza is something you can eat.

The text does not provide a direct answer to this question.

If God possibly exists, then God actually exists.

God is, by definition, the best possible thing we can imagine. THE. BEST. THING.

Ontological argument

The philosophical study of religion takes nothing as a given, including religious belief, and everything needs an argument. Theology, on the other hand, assumes that God exists and might try to solve philosophical problems that arise from a belief in God. Atheism is not an option in theology because it starts by assuming that God exists.

Philosophers examine even sacred beliefs because no area of belief is considered sacred in the philosophical study of religion. Supporting evidence is required to examine all beliefs, including sacred ones.

The study of being

Something can exist only in our minds and be strictly imaginary, or it can exist in our minds but also in reality.

Philosophers take nothing as a given in the philosophical study of religion, including religious belief. This means that all beliefs, including religious ones, are subject to examination and require evidence to support them.

Because any good thing would be better if it existed in reality as well as in our minds.

That God's existence is provable based on the nature of God's being or definition of God.

To offer justification for religious beliefs and to understand the influence of religion on history.

Faith is definitionally unprovable.

The truth of a religious belief cannot be proven by what is written in a book alone.

Philosophy of religion is concerned with justification for religious beliefs, while religious anthropology or sociology studies the social and cultural aspects of religion.

Religion is hugely important in shaping history.

Everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof, should pay attention to these arguments.

The parable is about two people, A and B, who debate the existence of a gardener who they claim takes care of a garden but cannot be detected in any way.

The new area of philosophy introduced in the text is philosophy of religion.

Anselm's argument for God's existence is that God is the greatest conceivable being and that a being that exists in reality is greater than a being that exists only in the imagination. Therefore, God must exist in reality.

Gaunilo and Kant agreed with Anselm's conclusion about God's existence, but not his argument.

If one thinks an argument fails, but still accepts the conclusion, they should look for a better argument in favor of their conclusion.

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Anselm's argument for the existence of God is based on the idea of a necessary being. He assumes that God exists by defining him as a being that must exist. This assumption is what begs the question.

Kant's objection is that existence is not a predicate. It cannot be used as a defining characteristic or added to the essence of a subject to prove its existence.

The Parable of The Invisible Gardener is a thought exercise that questions the validity of claims that cannot be tested or verified. It asks whether a claim that cannot be distinguished from its opposite is meaningful at all.

The Parable of The Invisible Gardener is similar to the ontological argument in that it questions the validity of claims that cannot be tested or verified. It challenges the assumption that the existence of God can be proven through reason alone.

A fallacy is a flaw in reasoning that weakens or destroys an argument. It is a mistake in the logic used to support a claim.

Kant argues that predicates can add to the essence of a subject, but they cannot be used to prove its existence. Existence is not a predicate that can be added to a subject to prove that it exists.

Anselm's argument is that God is defined as the greatest thing we can think of, and since things that exist in reality are better than things that exist only in our imagination, God must exist in reality.

Gaunilo was a French monk and contemporary of Anselm. His objection was that the same line of reasoning could be used to prove the existence of anything we can imagine, which doesn't necessarily make it real.

Begging the question is a fallacy where the conclusion is assumed in the premise. Anselm's argument assumes that God exists in reality because he is defined as the greatest thing imaginable, which is the conclusion he is trying to prove.

Anselm claims that his argument only works for necessary beings because there can only be one necessary being, and that being is God.

The problem is that just because we can imagine something doesn't mean it exists in reality. The argument assumes that things that exist in reality are better than things that exist only in our imagination, which is not necessarily true.

The counterargument is that greatness is subjective and depends on individual preferences, so what one person considers the greatest thing imaginable may not be the same for another person.