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The Ontological argument was devised by St Anselm (1033-1109), Archbishop of Canterbury, it is an a priori argument, which means that it does not depend on knowledge gained through experience but on instinctive knowledge.
The argument concentrates on the definition, the concept and meaning behind the word GOD. ... Gaunilo’s argument was that he could imagine islands that which no greater islands could be conceived, but such wishful thinking does not mean they exist. ... The problem with his argument is that you can always imagine a more perfect island with more coconuts or sunnier beaches, islands are simply incomparable to the concept of God. ...
Anselm’s argument had intrigued philosophers ever since, in the 13th century Rene Descartes reformed the argument for the modern world in his Meditations 1641 .His argument was based on the same premise as Anselm’s accept he changed greatness to perfection, so he said God is that than which nothing more perfect can be conceived. ...
Immanuel Kant it is said made one of the clearest and most brilliant criticisms of the ontological argument. In Critique of Pure Reason he responded to Descartes version of the argument. ... If Kant and Frege are right, then Descartes argument proves nothing, existence is not a property, existence is about whether there is a God or not. ...
Malcolm’s argument is relatively weak as it is only based on his point of view that God does not seem to be a contradiction, he fails to put any conclusive proof forward. ... In the Nature of Necessity1974 Plantinga put his own argument forward. His argument uses the terms Impossible, possible and necessary in the context of parallel worlds to explain his argument. ... Now the argument proceeds, it is possible to imagine a maximally great being in one possible world. ...
The argument makes sense, and it puts the ideas of Anselm and Descartes together in a much different way. ...
There is a fault in the argument though, the argument is only accurate if the idea that a maximally great being exists in all possible worlds is true.
Approximate Word count = 1632
Approximate Pages = 6.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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