Download or read book The Ontological Argument from St Anselm to Contemporary Philosophers written by Alvin Plantinga and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A selection of readings from Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, Schopenhauer and, from modern philosophers, G.E. Moore, William P. Alston, J.N. Findlay, Charles Hartshorne, Morman Malcolm, Alvin Plantinga, and Paul Henle"--Cover.
Download or read book Rethinking the Ontological Argument written by Daniel A. Dombrowski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-05-29 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, the ontological argument and theistic metaphysics have been criticised by philosophers working in both the analytic and continental traditions. Responses to these criticisms have primarily come from philosophers who make use of the traditional, and problematic, concept of God. In this volume, Daniel A. Dombrowski defends the ontological argument against its contemporary critics, but he does so by using a neoclassical or process concept of God, thereby strengthening the case for a contemporary theistic metaphysics. Relying on the thought of Charles Hartshorne, he builds on Hartshorne's crucial distinction between divine existence and divine actuality, which enables neoclassical defenders of the ontological argument to avoid the familiar criticism that the argument moves illegitimately from an abstract concept to concrete reality. His argument, thus, avoids the problems inherent in the traditional concept of God as static.
Download or read book The Ontological Argument written by Jonathan Barnes and published by Springer. This book was released on 1972-06-18 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Two Dozen or so Arguments for God written by Jerry Walls and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty years ago, Alvin Plantinga gave a lecture called "Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Arguments," which served as an underground inspiration for two generations of scholars and students. In it, he proposed a number of novel and creative arguments for the existence of God which have yet to receive the attention they deserve. In Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God, each of Plantinga's original suggestions, many of which he only briefly sketched, is developed in detail by a wide variety of accomplished scholars. The authors look to metaphysics, epistemology, semantics, ethics, aesthetics, and beyond, finding evidence for God in almost every dimension of reality. Those arguments new to natural theology are more fully developed, and well-known arguments are given new life. Not only does this collection present ground-breaking research, but it lays the foundations for research projects for years to come.
Download or read book Anselm written by Sandra Visser and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2009-02-12 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sandra Visser and Thomas Williams offer a brief, accessible introduction to the life and thought of St. Anselm (c. 1033-1109). Anselm, who was Archbishop of Canterbury for the last 16 years of his life, is unquestionably one of the foremost philosopher-theologians of the Middle Ages. Indeed he may have been the greatest Christian thinker in the 800 years between Augustine and Aquinas. His keen and rigorous thinking earned him the title 'The Father of Scholasticism.' The influence of his contributions to ethics and philosophical theology is clearly discernible in figures as various as Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, the voluntarists of the late-thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the Protestant Reformers. The prevalence of self-identified Anselmians - and anti-Anselmians - in contemporary philosophy of religion attests to the enduring importance of his approach to the divine nature. Visser and Williams's book falls into two main parts. The first will elucidate Anselm's metaphysics, concluding with an examination of Anselm's account of truth, which serves as a capstone for his metaphysical system. The second part focuses on Anselm's theory of knowledge. Topics considered include Anselm's general account of cognition and his odd but compelling theory of language-acquisition and the role it plays in discourse about the divine. The third section of the book is devoted to the moral life. Anselm's account of the foundations of ethics is philosophically of great interest, the authors show, because it effectively combines insights that contemporary philosophers have thought to be antithetical. In the fourth and last section, they turn to Anselm's philosophical explorations of Christian doctrine, including Redemption, the Trinity, and the Incarnation. They show how Anselm puts his metaphysical system to work in establishing the coherence of Christian doctrine and explain how his philosophical theology rests on his theory of knowledge.
Download or read book Anselm s Discovery written by Charles Hartshorne and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did Anselm, in his Ontological Argument (first advanced around 1070), make one of the greatest intellectual discoveries of all time, or did he merely fall into an interesting blunder?
Download or read book Ontological Arguments written by Tyron Goldschmidt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-03 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proving the existence of God is a perennial philosophical ambition. An armchair proof would be the jackpot. Ontological arguments promise as much. This Element studies the most famous ontological arguments from Anselm, Descartes, Plantinga, and others besides. While the verdict is that ontological arguments don't work, they get us entangled in fun philosophical puzzles, from philosophy of religion to philosophy of language, from metaphysics to ethics, and beyond.
Download or read book Anselm s Other Argument written by A. D. Smith and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-10 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109 CE), in his work Proslogion, originated the “ontological argument” for God’s existence, famously arguing that “something than which nothing greater can be conceived,” which he identifies with God, must actually exist, for otherwise something greater could indeed be conceived. Some commentators have claimed that although Anselm may not have been conscious of the fact, the Proslogion as well as his Reply to Gaunilo contains passages that constitute a second independent proof: a “modal ontological argument” that concerns the supposed logical necessity of God’s existence. Other commentators disagree, countering that the alleged second argument does not stand on its own but presupposes the conclusion of the first. Anselm’s Other Argument stakes an original claim in this debate, and takes it further. There is a second a priori argument in Anselm (specifically in the Reply), A. D. Smith contends, but it is not the modal argument past scholars have identified. This second argument surfaces in a number of forms, though always turning on certain deep, interrelated metaphysical issues. It is this form of argument that in fact underlies several of the passages which have been misconstrued as statements of the modal argument. In a book that combines historical research with rigorous philosophical analysis, Smith discusses this argument in detail, finally defending a modification of it that is implicit in Anselm. This “other argument” bears a striking resemblance to one that Duns Scotus would later employ.
Download or read book The Ontological Argument from Descartes to Hegel written by Kevin J. Harrelson and published by Humanities Press International. This book was released on 2009 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ontological argument for the existence of God has been a constant in the philosophy of religion since its first formulation by Anselm of Canterbury in the 11th century. In the 17th century, it was revived by Ren Descartes, and ever since has been a subject of dispute and much debate among philosophers. Descartes formulated it as follows: "Premise 1: That which we clearly understand to belong to the true and immutable nature, or essence, or form of something, can be truly asserted of that thing. "Premise 2: But once we have made a sufficiently careful investigation into what God is, we clearly and distinctly understand that existence belongs to his true and immutable nature. Conclusion: Hence we can now truly assert of God that he does exits" In this interesting history of the argument, philosopher Kevin J. Harrelson shows that the defense of the ontological argument is more consistent and persuasive than has frequently been supposed. In addition to correcting many common misunderstandings about the argument, the author highlights what appears to be an irremovable tension between the conclusion and the explanation of the proof. Both the common objections to the argument and its historical development in early modern philosophy are explained in light of this tension.
Download or read book Understanding Anselm s Ontological Argument written by Guy Jackson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-09-25 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anselm's ontological argument is one of the most fascinating, most controversial, and most misunderstood arguments in the entire history of Western thought. By centring the argument firmly in the Neoplatonic tradition within which Anselm was writing, Understanding Anselm's Ontological Argument sheds fresh light and clarity on this enigmatic piece of philosophy. It argues that, far from resting upon a fallacy or illegitimately attempting to define God into existence, Anselm's argument is a powerful and plausible philosophical proof, and deserves to be taken seriously as such. Written to be understandable for specialists and non-specialists alike, Understanding Anselm's Ontological Argument is ideal for scholars and researchers in philosophy of religion and philosophy in the Middle Ages (especially Neoplatonism) as well as for medievalists in general.
Download or read book The One Creator God in Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology written by Michael J. Dodds, OP and published by Catholic University of America Press. This book was released on 2020-08-21 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a fundamental introduction to Aquinas's theology of the One Creator God. Aimed at making that thought accessible to contemporary audiences, it gives a basic explanation of his theology while showing its compatibility with contemporary science and its relevance to current theological issues. Opening with a brief account of Aquinas’s life, it then describes the purpose and nature of the Summa Theologica and gives a short review of current varieties of Thomism. Without neglecting other works, it then focuses primarily on the discussion of the One God in the first part of the Summa Theologica. God's transcendence and immanence is a recurrent theme in that discussion. Evidence of God's immanent causality in the natural world grounds Aquinas's five arguments for the existence of God (the Five Ways) which then open onto God's transcendence. The subsequent discussion of the divine attributes builds on the modes of God's causality established in the Five Ways. It also shows the need for a language of analogy to preserve God's transcendence and prevent us from reducing God to the level of creatures, even as qualities such as "goodness" and "love," which we first know from creatures, are applied to God. The discussion of God's providence and governance establishes that the transcendent Creator God is most intimately present in creation. God acts in all creatures in a way that does not diminish their proper causality, but is rather its source. As there is no contradiction between God's transcendence and immanence, so there is no competition between the primary causality of God and the secondary causality of creatures. Empirical science, which is limited by its method to the secondary causality of creatures, is shown to be compatible with the broader discipline of theology which also embraces the primary causality of the Creator.
Download or read book Ontological Proofs Today written by Miroslaw Szatkowski and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book Ontological Proofs Today, apart from the introduction, consists of six parts. Part II comprises papers each of which pertains either to historical ontological arguments, or to some other, rather new, ontological arguments, but what makes them stand out from the other papers in this volume, is the fact that they all treat of the omniscience or the omnipotence of God. Part III includes papers which introduce new ontological arguments for the existence of God, without referring to omniscience and omnipotence as the transparent attributes of God. The issue of the type of necessity with which ontological proofs work or may work is raised in the articles of Part IV. In Part V the semantics for some ontological proofs are defined. Part VI consists of papers which, although quite different from each other in terms of content, all explore some ontological issues, and formal ontology may be considered the link between them. Part VII comprises two articles, by R. E. Maydole and G. Oppy, mutually controversial and different in their assessment of some ontological proofs.
Download or read book The Logic of Saint Anselm written by Desmond Paul Henry and published by Ashgate Publishing. This book was released on 1993 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saint Anselm, the 11th-century Archbishop of Canterbury, is well-known for his ontological argument for the existence of God. This book places his argument in the context of modal logic derived from Boethius, and also shows how linguistic analysis was developed extensively through Anselm's work.
Download or read book Central Works of Philosophy written by John Shand and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2005 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 26th edition of 'How Ottawa Spends' assesses the Martin Liberal Government's policy and political dilemmas in managing the minority Parliament bequeathed by Canada's voters.
Download or read book Central Works of Philosophy Volume 1 written by John Shand and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2005-09-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ranging over 2,500 years of philosophical writing, this five-volume collection of essays is an unrivalled companion for studying and reading philosophy. Each essay provides an overview of a work and a clear exposition of its central ideas. Covering the most influential works of our greatest philosophers, the series offers remarkable insights into the ideas out of which our present ways of thinking emerged. VOLUME 1 offers readers a deep understanding of ancient philosophy and the medieval period in Western Europe during which philosophers sought to harmonize the great thinkers of antiquity with Christian belief. The works of Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Sextus Empiricus, Plotinus, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Ockham are considered. Contributors include Hugh H. Benson, Stephen R. L. Clark, Richard Cross, Paula Gottlieb, R.J. Hankinson, Peter King, Christopher Kirwan, Harry Lesser, John Marenbon, and Paul O'Grady.
Download or read book Central Works of Philosophy v1 written by John Shand and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays showcases the most important and influential philosophical works of the ancient and medieval period, roughly from 600 BC to AD 1600. Each chapter takes a particular work of philosophy and discusses its proponent, its content and central arguments. These are: Plato's Republic; Aristotle' Nichomachean Ethics; Lucretius' On the Nature of the Universe; Sextus Emperiicus' Outlines of Pyrrhonism; Plotinus' The Enneads; Augustine's City of God; Anselm's Proslogion; Aquinas' Summa Theologia; Duns Scotus' Ordinatio; William of Ockham's Summa Logicae .
Download or read book Proslogium and Monologium Including in Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon and Reply by Anselm written by Saint Anselm and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-08-09 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compilation of St. Anselm's most important works, St. Anselm uses reason and philosophical argument to defend the Christian faith against non-believers. St. Anselm stresses the importance of our rational nature as humans, encouraging Christians that they should be "always ready to convince anyone who demands of them a reason of that hope which is in us." In his Proslogium, St. Anselm presents the Ontological Argument, an argument for the existence of God in which God is defined as, "a being than which none greater can be conceived." In Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon, St. Anselm discusses a counterargument offered by his contemporary, Gaunilon, a Benedictine monk who questioned St. Anselm's definition of God. Monologium considers the attributes of God. This collection is a fine example of the intertwining of medieval philosophy and Christian apologetics. St. Anselm's argument for the existence of God influenced many philosophers in the early modern era and continues to influence thinkers today.
