Just Politics

[blackhawks]

A shorter read:

https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/22912/original/Descartes%2B-%2BOntological%2BArgument.pdf

The Ontological Argument
Simple Version

In Meditation 5, Descartes’ argument for the existence of God looks something like this:

1. My idea of God is the idea of a supremely perfect being.
2. Existence is a perfection.
3. Therefore, God exists.

It seems at the outset that there is something strange about this argument. The is suspicion is confirmed
when we realize that a similar argument can prove the existence of a supremely perfect island:

1. I have an idea of a supremely perfect island.
2. Existence is a perfection.
3. Therefore, a supremely perfect island exists.

Of course we can run a similar argument for a supremely perfect raisin, a supremely perfect
cheeseburger, and so forth. Something must be wrong with Descartes’ argument.