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A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of ReligionArguments for the Existence of God

A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion: Arguments for the Existence of God CHAPTER III Several arguments have been adduced to establish the existence of God. It will be useful, in the interest of clarity, to discuss them under distinct headings. The Ontological Argument The ontological argument is associated with the name of Anselm and is deduced from the formula that God is “a being than which nothing greater can be conceived,” where by greater is meant more ‘perfect.’ The two clarifications of this statement, which John Hick offers at the very outset, become relevant in the context of primal religions. The first is that “by ‘greater’ Anselm means more perfect, rather than spatially bigger.” And the second is that “the idea of the most perfect conceivable being is different from the idea of the most perfect being there is. The ontological argument could not be founded on the latter notion, for although it is true by definition that the most perfect being that there is exists, there is no guarantee that this being is what Anselm means by God.” It was noted earlier how the primal concept of the transcendence of God is spatial rather than temporal. So the spatial interpretation of the Anselm argument would be more relevant in a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of ReligionArguments for the Existence of God

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Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer 2006
ISBN
978-1-4020-5013-8
Pages
57 –69
DOI
10.1007/1-4020-5014-3_3
Publisher site
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Abstract

CHAPTER III Several arguments have been adduced to establish the existence of God. It will be useful, in the interest of clarity, to discuss them under distinct headings. The Ontological Argument The ontological argument is associated with the name of Anselm and is deduced from the formula that God is “a being than which nothing greater can be conceived,” where by greater is meant more ‘perfect.’ The two clarifications of this statement, which John Hick offers at the very outset, become relevant in the context of primal religions. The first is that “by ‘greater’ Anselm means more perfect, rather than spatially bigger.” And the second is that “the idea of the most perfect conceivable being is different from the idea of the most perfect being there is. The ontological argument could not be founded on the latter notion, for although it is true by definition that the most perfect being that there is exists, there is no guarantee that this being is what Anselm means by God.” It was noted earlier how the primal concept of the transcendence of God is spatial rather than temporal. So the spatial interpretation of the Anselm argument would be more relevant in a

Published: Jan 1, 2006

Keywords: Moral Argument; Natural Theology; Ontological Argument; Universal Moral Principle; Cosmological Argument

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