{"id":26949,"date":"2021-02-07T13:03:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T17:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=26949"},"modified":"2021-02-14T21:14:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T01:14:13","slug":"the-ontological-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the ontological argument? Why is this argument flawed in proving God&#8217;s existence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ontological argument says that since God is perfect, there can be no doubting God and his existence. Of course, this argument falls apart quickly if you don&#8217;t believe in God in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the ontological argument and what it means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Ontological Argument<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a class of theological arguments known as <em>a priori <\/em>arguments. These arguments exist independently of observation and are formulated entirely through abstract <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-thought-experiments\/\">thought experiments<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The most famous <\/strong><strong><em>a priori<\/em><\/strong><strong> argument for God is known as the ontological argument, first promulgated by the English monk St. Anselm of Canterbury, who lived primarily in the 11th century.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The basic premise of the argument is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>God is perfect; therefore, nothing can be imagined that is greater than God.<\/li><li>Such a great being that actually <em>exists <\/em>must be greater than a being that does <em>not <\/em>exist, because existence is superior to non-existence.<\/li><li>If God existed only in the mind (as atheists believe), one could imagine an even greater being\u2014namely, a God that existed in reality, not just in the mind.<\/li><li>Thus, there is a logical contradiction, because it should be impossible to imagine something greater than God.<\/li><li>The only way to resolve this contradiction is to accept that God <em>does <\/em>exist in reality, not just in the mind.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The basic weakness of this argument (as was pointed out by 18th-century philosophers like Immanuel Kant and David Hume) is that it proceeds from false premises. The argument falls apart if one does <em>not <\/em>accept the idea of a perfect God in the first place. And, indeed, atheists do <em>not <\/em>accept this starting premise. <strong>Likewise<\/strong>, <strong>the ontological argument suffers from the logical fallacy known as begging the question\u2014in which the premise of an argument already assumes the truth of its conclusion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond these weaknesses, <strong>there is no reason to accept the other pillar of the argument: that an existing God is by definition greater than a non-existent God. <\/strong>By inverting Anselm\u2019s slippery logic, you could argue that a non-existent being is <em>greater <\/em>than an existing one. A God who overcame the handicap of non-existence to create the universe is surely a greater being than one who created the universe while existing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the ontological argument? Why is this argument flawed in proving God&#8217;s existence? The ontological argument says that since God is perfect, there can be no doubting God and his existence. Of course, this argument falls apart quickly if you don&#8217;t believe in God in the first place. Read more about the ontological argument and what it means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,21,6],"tags":[210],"class_list":["post-26949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-philosophy","category-spiritual","tag-the-god-delusion","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the ontological argument? This argument says that God is perfect and, therefore, no arguments against Him make sense. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is the ontological argument? This argument says that God is perfect and, therefore, no arguments against Him make sense. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-07T17:03:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-15T01:14:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1936\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1288\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-07T17:03:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-15T01:14:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/\"},\"wordCount\":393,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The God Delusion\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Philosophy\",\"Spiritual\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/\",\"name\":\"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-07T17:03:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-15T01:14:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is the ontological argument? This argument says that God is perfect and, therefore, no arguments against Him make sense. Read more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg\",\"width\":1936,\"height\":1288},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect - Shortform Books","description":"What is the ontological argument? This argument says that God is perfect and, therefore, no arguments against Him make sense. Read more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect","og_description":"What is the ontological argument? This argument says that God is perfect and, therefore, no arguments against Him make sense. Read more.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-02-07T17:03:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-15T01:14:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1936,"height":1288,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect","datePublished":"2021-02-07T17:03:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-15T01:14:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/"},"wordCount":393,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg","keywords":["The God Delusion"],"articleSection":["History","Philosophy","Spiritual"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/","name":"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg","datePublished":"2021-02-07T17:03:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-15T01:14:13+00:00","description":"What is the ontological argument? This argument says that God is perfect and, therefore, no arguments against Him make sense. Read more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg","width":1936,"height":1288},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-ontological-argument\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Ontological Argument: God Is Perfect"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/jp-moreland-case-for-christ.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26959,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26949\/revisions\/26959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}