Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: November 24, 2024, 9:09 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Why ontological arguments are illogical
#30
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical
(August 7, 2012 at 2:32 am)CliveStaples Wrote: Can you give an example? Simply stating that you can imagine it doesn't mean that it's logically possible; I could state, "I can imagine a square circle." That doesn't prove that square circles are logically possible.

I can imagine a perfect woman with whom every man and lesbian in the world would immediately fall in love with, but I can also see that its "better" if she doesn't exist - given the amount of conflict her existence would create.

(August 7, 2012 at 2:32 am)CliveStaples Wrote: No, I don't think immoral perfection constitutes a "perfection" in the sense that the ontological arguments offer--at least, not Leibnizian ones.

But I might be wrong. Can you show that, under some definition of 'perfection' given by some noteworthy ontological argument (i.e., not one you just made up), God would have to possess "immoral perfection"?

So, the ontological arguments use words in a different "sense" now? "Sense" which is not explained but must somehow be realized?

Regarding your point: "Gottfried Leibniz saw a problem with Descartes' ontological argument: that Descartes had not asserted the coherence of a "supremely perfect" being. He proposed that, unless the coherence of a supremely perfect being could be demonstrated, the ontological argument fails. Leibniz saw perfection as impossible to analyse; therefore, it would be impossible to demonstrate that all perfections are incompatible. He reasoned that all perfections can exist together in a single entity, and that Descartes' argument is still valid."

Clearly, he saw the incompatibility of all perfections and made the excuse.

(August 7, 2012 at 2:32 am)CliveStaples Wrote: In Leibnizian terminology, no perfection is ever mutually exclusive with or contradictory to another perfection. Thus the conjunction of every such "perfection" is trivially logically possible.

And once you offer an argument supporting this notion, I'll counter it. Otherwise, its a cheap cop-out.
Reply



Messages In This Thread
Why ontological arguments are illogical - by liam - August 2, 2012 at 7:47 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Reforged - August 2, 2012 at 7:52 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by liam - August 2, 2012 at 8:03 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Reforged - August 2, 2012 at 10:23 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Rev. Rye - August 2, 2012 at 8:00 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Cato - August 2, 2012 at 8:06 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by liam - August 2, 2012 at 8:57 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Reforged - August 2, 2012 at 10:56 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 3, 2012 at 5:18 am
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 3, 2012 at 4:44 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 7, 2012 at 4:24 am
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 7, 2012 at 5:14 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Tempus - August 2, 2012 at 11:47 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Tempus - August 3, 2012 at 3:50 am
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by padraic - August 3, 2012 at 9:07 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 9, 2012 at 7:26 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 9, 2012 at 8:22 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 9, 2012 at 9:35 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 9, 2012 at 10:33 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Reforged - August 9, 2012 at 9:14 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Reforged - August 9, 2012 at 10:00 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Reforged - August 9, 2012 at 10:45 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by genkaus - August 9, 2012 at 10:46 pm
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by pgrimes15 - August 14, 2012 at 6:14 am
RE: Why ontological arguments are illogical - by Angrboda - August 14, 2012 at 8:06 pm

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  The classic ontological argument Modern Atheism 20 866 October 3, 2024 at 12:45 pm
Last Post: The Grand Nudger
  The modal ontological argument for God Disagreeable 29 1482 August 10, 2024 at 8:57 pm
Last Post: CuriosityBob
  Good Arguments (Certainty vs. Probability) JAG 12 1407 October 8, 2020 at 10:30 pm
Last Post: Sal
  Best arguments for or against God's existence mcc1789 22 3603 May 22, 2019 at 9:16 am
Last Post: The Grand Nudger
  Ontological Disproof of God negatio 1042 119200 September 14, 2018 at 4:05 pm
Last Post: LadyForCamus
  My own moral + ontological argument. Mystic 37 12336 April 17, 2018 at 12:50 pm
Last Post: FatAndFaithless
  Are Atheists using Intellectually Dishonest Arguments? vulcanlogician 223 37235 April 9, 2018 at 5:56 pm
Last Post: KevinM1
  Arguments for God's Existence from Contingency datc 386 53136 December 1, 2017 at 2:07 pm
Last Post: Whateverist
  Valid Arguments for God (soundness disputed) Mystic 17 2623 March 25, 2017 at 2:54 pm
Last Post: brewer
  Ontological Limericks chimp3 12 3707 December 22, 2016 at 3:22 am
Last Post: Edwardo Piet



Users browsing this thread: 3 Guest(s)