more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 234

[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof ]

Full Idea

There must be knowledge of the one, or else not even the meaning of the words 'if the one does not exist' would be known.

Gist of Idea

We couldn't discuss the non-existence of the One without knowledge of it

Source

Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 160d)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Plato IV (Cratylus,Parmenides,Hippias Maj, Min)', ed/tr. Fowler,H.N. [Harvard Loeb 1926], p.313

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]
21241 Even the fool can hold 'a being than which none greater exists' in his understanding [Anselm]
21242 If that than which a greater cannot be thought actually exists, that is greater than the mere idea [Anselm]
1421 A perfection must be independent and unlimited, and the necessary existence of Anselm's second proof gives this [Malcolm on Anselm]
21243 An existing thing is even greater if its non-existence is inconceivable [Anselm]
21244 Conceiving a greater being than God leads to absurdity [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]