Varieties of Ontological Argument

The Ontological Presuppositions of the Ontological Argument*

JLhe most recent stage in the analysis of St. Anselm's Ontologi cal Argument is the modal-logical stage : if one wants to get clear as to what is wrong (or right) with it, one should phrase it in S5.1 I have misgivings about this maneuver, if it is claimed in the name of historical exegesis. While I think that the connnections between the Ontological Argument and modal logic are insightful and ...

The Modal Ontological Argument

We know more today about the second, or so-called 'modal', version of St. Anselm's ontological argument than we did when Charles Hartshorne and Norman Malcolm brought it to the attention of philosophers some years ago. But there is still much to be learned. Criticisms of the modal ontological argument focus on its premises, namely (i) the claim that perfection, or maximal greatness, implies nec...

The Ontological Argument in PVS ∗

The Ontological Argument, an 11th Century proof of the existence of God, is a good candidate for Fun With Formal Methods as nearly everyone finds the topic interesting. We formalize the Argument in PVS and verify its correctness. The formalization raises delicate questions in formal logic and provides an opportunity to show how these are handled, soundly and efficiently, by the predicatively-su...

Reflections on Gödel’s Ontological Argument

on zalta on anselm’s ontological argument

oppenheimer and zalta, in a co-authored paper, argue that the anselm’s ontological argument can be formalized based on free logic and the concept of conceivability. according to their version, there are only two premises in anselm’s argument. we will argue that one can extend their formalization by introducing an argument for one of the two premises based on anselm’s text. we will also show tha...