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Single Idea 8644
[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / b. Ontological Proof critique
]
Full Idea
Because existence is a property of concepts the ontological argument for the existence of God breaks down.
Gist of Idea
Because existence is a property of concepts the ontological argument for God fails
Source
Gottlob Frege (Grundlagen der Arithmetik (Foundations) [1884], §53)
Book Ref
Frege,Gottlob: 'The Foundations of Arithmetic (Austin)', ed/tr. Austin,J.L. [Blackwell 1980], p.65
A Reaction
The point being that existence (like number) is not a property of actual things. His proposition sounds rather dubious. The concept of unicorns exists quite entertainingly; it is the failure of actual unicorns to exist that is so heartbreaking.
The
38 ideas
with the same theme
[objections to the conceptual proof of God's existence]:
1688
|
Properties must be proved, but not essence; but existents are not a kind, so existence isn't part of essence
[Aristotle]
|
12278
|
'Being' and 'oneness' are predicated of everything which exists
[Aristotle]
|
2636
|
Many primitive people know nothing of the gods
[Cicero]
|
22736
|
God's sensations imply change, and hence perishing, which is absurd, so there is no such God
[Sext.Empiricus]
|
22740
|
God without virtue is absurd, but God's virtues will be better than God
[Sext.Empiricus]
|
1892
|
The existence of God can't be self-evident or everyone would have agreed on it, so it needs demonstration
[Sext.Empiricus]
|
1420
|
Anselm's first proof fails because existence isn't a real predicate, so it can't be a perfection
[Malcolm on Anselm]
|
21251
|
We can't know God's essence, so his existence can't be self-evident for us
[Aquinas]
|
1864
|
It is heresy to teach that we can know God by his essence in this mortal life
[Anon (Par)]
|
3632
|
We mustn't worship God as an image because we have no idea of him
[Hobbes on Descartes]
|
3633
|
We can never conceive of an infinite being
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
3638
|
Existence is not a perfection; it is what makes perfection possible
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
5036
|
Descartes cannot assume that a most perfect being exists without contradictions
[Leibniz on Descartes]
|
4817
|
If a thing can be conceived as non-existing, its essence does not involve existence
[Spinoza]
|
2244
|
It can never be a logical contradiction to assert the non-existence of something thought to exist
[Hume]
|
21255
|
No being's non-existence can imply a contradiction, so its existence cannot be proved a priori
[Hume]
|
8451
|
Existence is merely derived from the word 'is' (rather than being a predicate)
[Kant, by Orenstein]
|
3321
|
Modern logic says (with Kant) that existence is not a predicate, because it has been reclassified as a quantifier
[Benardete,JA on Kant]
|
13732
|
Kant never denied that 'exist' could be a predicate - only that it didn't enlarge concepts
[Kant, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
|
5608
|
Is "This thing exists" analytic or synthetic?
[Kant]
|
5609
|
If 'this exists' is analytic, either the thing is a thought, or you have presupposed its existence
[Kant]
|
5610
|
If an existential proposition is synthetic, you must be able to cancel its predicate without contradiction
[Kant]
|
5611
|
Being is not a real predicate, that adds something to a concept
[Kant]
|
5612
|
You add nothing to the concept of God or coins if you say they exist
[Kant]
|
7741
|
The predicate 'exists' is actually a natural language expression for a quantifier
[Frege, by Weiner]
|
8491
|
The Ontological Argument fallaciously treats existence as a first-level concept
[Frege]
|
22286
|
Existence is not a first-level concept (of God), but a second-level property of concepts
[Frege, by Potter]
|
8644
|
Because existence is a property of concepts the ontological argument for God fails
[Frege]
|
18312
|
The supreme general but empty concepts must be compatible, and hence we get 'God'
[Nietzsche]
|
5773
|
The ontological argument begins with an unproven claim that 'there exists an x..'
[Russell]
|
6119
|
You can discuss 'God exists', so 'God' is a description, not a name
[Russell]
|
5187
|
When we ascribe an attribute to a thing, we covertly assert that it exists
[Ayer]
|
17573
|
There is no reason to think that mere existence is a valuable thing
[Inwagen]
|
6072
|
If Satan is the most imperfect conceivable being, he must have non-existence
[McGinn]
|
6073
|
I think the fault of the Ontological Argument is taking the original idea to be well-defined
[McGinn]
|
3905
|
'Existence' is not a predicate of 'man', but of the concept of man, saying it has at least one instance
[Scruton]
|
15133
|
A thing can't be the only necessary existent, because its singleton set would be as well
[Williamson]
|
7417
|
God can't have silly perfections, but how do we decide which ones are 'silly'?
[Joslin]
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