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Single Idea 13227
[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof
]
Full Idea
Being is better than not-being.
Gist of Idea
Being is better than not-being
Source
Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 336b29)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.527
A Reaction
[see also Metaphysics 1017a07 ff, says the note] This peculiar assumption is at the heart of the ontological argument. Is the existence of the plague bacterium, or of Satan, or of mass-murderers, superior?
The
37 ideas
with the same theme
[concept of God implies necessary existence]:
234
|
We couldn't discuss the non-existence of the One without knowledge of it
[Plato]
|
13227
|
Being is better than not-being
[Aristotle]
|
2633
|
Epicurus saw that gods must exist, because nature has imprinted them on human minds
[Epicurus, by Cicero]
|
20810
|
Rational is better than non-rational; the cosmos is supreme, so it is rational
[Zeno of Citium]
|
2634
|
It seems clear to me that we have an innate idea of the divine
[Cicero]
|
21242
|
If that than which a greater cannot be thought actually exists, that is greater than the mere idea
[Anselm]
|
21241
|
Even the fool can hold 'a being than which none greater exists' in his understanding
[Anselm]
|
1421
|
A perfection must be independent and unlimited, and the necessary existence of Anselm's second proof gives this
[Malcolm on Anselm]
|
21244
|
Conceiving a greater being than God leads to absurdity
[Anselm]
|
21243
|
An existing thing is even greater if its non-existence is inconceivable
[Anselm]
|
21245
|
The word 'God' can be denied, but understanding shows God must exist
[Anselm]
|
21246
|
Guanilo says a supremely fertile island must exist, just because we can conceive it
[Anselm]
|
21247
|
Nonexistence is impossible for the greatest thinkable thing, which has no beginning or end
[Anselm]
|
3640
|
Possible existence is a perfection in the idea of a triangle
[Descartes]
|
3639
|
Necessary existence is a property which is uniquely part of God's essence
[Descartes]
|
2268
|
One idea leads to another, but there must be an initial idea that contains the reality of all the others
[Descartes]
|
2274
|
The idea of God in my mind is like the mark a craftsman puts on his work
[Descartes]
|
2287
|
Existence and God's essence are inseparable, like a valley and a mountain, or a triangle and its properties
[Descartes]
|
2288
|
I cannot think of a supremely perfect being without the supreme perfection of existence
[Descartes]
|
17169
|
Some things makes me conceive of it as a thing whose essence requires its existence
[Spinoza]
|
21856
|
Spinoza says a substance of infinite attributes cannot fail to exist
[Spinoza, by Lord]
|
17178
|
Denial of God is denial that his essence involves existence, which is absurd
[Spinoza]
|
21858
|
God is being as such, and you cannot conceive of the non-existence of being
[Spinoza, by Lord]
|
4820
|
God must necessarily exist, because no reason can be given for his non-existence
[Spinoza]
|
2116
|
The concept of an existing thing must contain more than the concept of a non-existing thing
[Leibniz]
|
2113
|
God alone (the Necessary Being) has the privilege that He must exist if He is possible
[Leibniz]
|
19325
|
God is the first reason of things; our experiences are contingent, and contain no necessity
[Leibniz]
|
3889
|
God's existence is either necessary or impossible
[Leibniz, by Scruton]
|
15633
|
We establish unification of the Ideal by the ontological proof, deriving being from abstraction of thinking
[Hegel]
|
4188
|
Hegel's entire philosophy is nothing but a monstrous amplification of the ontological proof
[Schopenhauer on Hegel]
|
6913
|
God's existence cannot be separated from essence and concept, which can only be thought as existing
[Feuerbach]
|
3307
|
Frege put forward an ontological argument for the existence of numbers
[Frege, by Benardete,JA]
|
1422
|
God's existence is either necessary or impossible, and no one has shown that the concept of God is contradictory
[Malcolm]
|
20704
|
A possible world contains a being of maximal greatness - which is existence in all worlds
[Plantinga, by Davies,B]
|
3308
|
In the ontological argument a full understanding of the concept of God implies a contradiction in 'There is no God'
[Benardete,JA]
|
4066
|
It seems that 'exists' could sometimes be a predicate
[Crane]
|
19653
|
The ontological proof of a necessary God ensures a reality external to the mind
[Meillassoux]
|