Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More Information

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More Information Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information the cambridge companion to ANSELM Each volume of this series of companions to major philoso- phers contains specially commissioned essays by an inter- national team of scholars, together with a substantial bib- liography, and will serve as a reference work for students and non-specialists.One aim of the series is to dispel the intim- idation such readers often feel when faced with the work of a difficult and challenging thinker. Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109), Benedictine monk and the second Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, is regarded as one of the most important philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages.The essays in this volume explore all of his major ideas, both philosophical and theo- logical, including his teachings on faith and reason, God’s existence and nature, logic, freedom, truth, ethics, and key Christian doctrines.There is also discussion of his life, the sources of his thought, and his influence on other thinkers. New readers will find this the most convenient, accessible guide to Anselm currently available.Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Anselm. brian davies is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham Uni- versity, New York.He is the author of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (3rd edn., 2003), Thinking about God (1985), The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (1992), and Aquinas (2002). brian leftow is Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at Oxford University.He is the author of Time and Eternity (1991), and over fifty papers in philo- sophy of religion, metaphysics, and the history of medieval philosophy. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information other volumes in the series of cambridge companions ABELARD Edited by jeffrey e. brower and kevin guilfoy ADORNO Edited by thomas huhn AQUINAS Edited by norman kretzmann and eleonore stump HANNAH ARENDT Edited by dana villa ARISTOTLE Edited by jonathan barnes AUGUSTINE Edited by eleonore stump and norman kretzmann BACON Edited by markku peltonen SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Edited by claudia card BRENTANO Edited by dale jacquette CRITICAL THEORY Edited by fred rush DARWIN Edited by jonathan hodge and gregory radick DESCARTES Edited by john cottingham DUNS SCOTUS Edited by thomas williams EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY Edited by a. a. long FEMINISM IN PHILOSOPHY Edited by miranda fricker and jennifer hornsby FOUCAULT Edited by gary gutting FREUD Edited by jerome neu GADAMER Edited by robert j. dostal GALILEO Edited by peter machamer GERMAN IDEALISM Edited by karl ameriks GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY Edited by david sedley HABERMAS Edited by stephen k. white HEGEL Edited by frederick beiser HEIDEGGER Edited by charles guignon HOBBES Edited by tom sorell HUME Edited by david fate norton HUSSERL Edited by barry smith and david woodruff smith WILLIAM JAMES Edited by ruth anna putnam KANT Edited by paul guyer © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information KIERKEGAARD Edited by alastair hannay and gordon marino LEIBNIZ Edited by nicholas jolley LEVINAS Edited by simon critchley and robert bernasconi LOCKE Edited by vere chappell MALEBRANCHE Edited by steven nadler MARX Edited by terrell carver MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY Edited by daniel h. frank and oliver leaman MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY Edited by a. s. mCgrade MERLEAU-PONTY Edited by taylor carman and mark hansen MILL Edited by john skorupski NEWTON Edited by i. bernard cohen and george e. smith NIETZSCHE Edited by bernd magnus and kathleen higgins OCKHAM Edited by paul vincent spade PASCAL Edited by nicholas hammond PEIRCE Edited by cheryl misak PLATO Edited by richard kraut PLOTINUS Edited by lloyd p. gerson QUINE Edited by roger f. gibson RAWLS Edited by samuel freeman THOMAS REID Edited by terence cuneo and rene van woudenberc ROUSSEAU Edited by patrick riley BERTRAND RUSSELL Edited by nicholas griffin SARTRE Edited by christina howells SCHOPENHAUER Edited by christopher janaway THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT Edited by alexander broadie SPINOZA Edited by don garrett STOICS Edited by brad inwood WITTGENSTEIN Edited by hans sluga and david stern © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information The Cambridge Companion to ANSELM Edited by Brian Davies Fordham University Brian Leftow University of Oxford © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, cb2 2ru,UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011–4211,USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org C Cambridge University Press 2004 This book is in copyright.Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2004 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Trump Medieval 10/13 pt. System LATEX 2ε [tb] A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data The Cambridge companion to Anselm / edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow. p.cm.(Cambridgecompanions to philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0 521 80746 8 (hardback) – isbn 0 521 00205 2 (paperback) 1.Anselm, Saint, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1033–1109. 1.Davies, Brian, 1951– ii.Leftow, Brian, 1956– iii.Series. b765.a84c36 2004 189.4 –dc22 2004047305cip isbn 0 521 80746 8 hardback isbn 0 521 00205 2 paperback © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information contents List of contributors page ix Chronology xii List of abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 brian davies and brian leftow 1 Anselm’s life, works, and immediate influence 5 g. r. evans 2 Anselm on faith and reason 32 marilyn mccord adams 3 Anselm, Augustine, and Platonism 61 gareth matthews 4 Anselm’s philosophy of language 84 peter king 5 Anselm on modality 111 simo knuuttila 6 Anselm’s perfect-being theology 132 brian leftow 7 Anselm and the ontological argument 157 brian davies 8 Anselm’s account of freedom 179 sandra visser and thomas williams vii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information viii Contents 9 Anselm on truth 204 sandra visser and thomas williams 10 Anselm on ethics 222 jeffrey e. brower 11 Anselm on the Trinity 257 william e. mann 12 Anselm on atonement 279 david brown Bibliography 303 Index 313 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information contributors marilyn mccord adams is Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford.She is the author of William Ockham (2 vols., University of Notre Dame Press, 1987), and Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (Cornell University Press, 1999).She is also the author of many articles on medieval philosophy and theology, on philosophy of religion, and philosophical theology. jeffrey e. brower is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University.He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Abelard and author of several publications on medieval philosophy and phi- losophy of religion. david brown is Van Mildert Professor of Divinity in the Univer- sity of Durham.His most recent writings include the two-volumed work Tradition and Imagination (Oxford University Press, 1999) and Discipleship and Imagination (Oxford University Press, 2000).He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002. brian davies is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University. With G.R.Evans he is joint editor of Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works (Oxford University Press, 1998).His books include Thinking about God (Geoffrey Chapman, 1985), The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 1992), An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (3rd edn., Oxford University Press, 2003), and Aquinas (Continuum, 2002). g. r. evans is Professor of Medieval Theology and Intellectual His- tory in the University of Cambridge.With Brian Davies she is joint editor of Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works (Oxford Univer- sity Press, 1998).Her many books include Anselm and Talking about ix © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information x List of contributors God (Oxford
Recommended publications
  • Christian Afterlife
    A contribution to the Palgrave Handbook on the Afterlife, edited by Benjamin Matheson1 and Yujin Nagasawa. Do not cite without permission. Comments welcome. CHRISTIANITY AND THE AFTERLIFE Joshua R. Farris, Houston Baptist University https://www.academia.edu/21851852/CHRISTIANITY_AND_THE_AFTERLIFE “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13) “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-21) “As all Christians believe in the resurrection of the body and future judgment, they all believe in an intermediate state. It is not, therefore, as to the fact of an intermediate state, but as to its nature that diversity of opinion exists among Christians.” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Part IV. Ch. 1 “State of the Soul after Death,” 724) Lisa is a middle-aged female who has worked all of her life as a server in a cafe. One day, while its rainy and cold, she has a car accident with an 18-wheeler truck. The truck slams into the side of her car pressing her against the side rails. She loses a lot of blood and is rushed to the hospital. Her husband meets her there. Realizing that it is too late and that death is near, he comforts her with these words, “your pain will be gone soon.” June is 90 years old.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Argument for Divine Timelessness from the Incompleteness of Temporal Life William Lane Craig
    On the Argument for Divine Timelessness from the Incompleteness of Temporal Life William Lane Craig SUMMARY A promising argument for divine timelessness is that temporal life is possessed only moment by moment, which is incompatible with the existence of a perfect being. Since the argument is based on the experience of time's passage, it cannot be circumvented by appeal to a tenseless theory of time. Neither can the argument be subverted by appeals to a temporal deity's possession of a specious present of infinite duration. Nonetheless, because the argument concerns one's experience of time's passage rather than the objective reality of temporal becoming itself, it is considerably weakened by the fact that an omniscient being possessing perfect memory and foreknowledge need not find such experience to be an imperfection. ON THE ARGUMENT FOR DIVINE TIMELESSNESS FROM THE INCOMPLETENESS OF TEMPORAL LIFE In his study of time and eternity, [1] Brian Leftow argues that the fleeting nature of temporal life provides grounds for affirming that God is timeless. Drawing on Boethius's characterization of eternity as complete possession all at once of interminable life, Leftow points out that a temporal being is unable to enjoy what is past or future for it. The past is gone forever, and the future is yet to come. The passage of time renders it impossible for any temporal being to possess all its life at once. Even God, if He is temporal, cannot reclaim the past. Leftow emphasizes that even perfect memory cannot substitute for actuality: "the past itself is lost, and no memory, however complete, can take its place-- for confirmation, ask a widower if his grief would be abated were his memory of his wife enhanced in vividness and detail." [2] By contrast a timeless God lives all His life at once and so suffers no loss.
    [Show full text]
  • Theism and the Scope of Contingency
    6 Theism and the Scope of Contingency Timothy O’Connor According to classical theism, contingent beings find the ultimate explanation for their existence in a maximally perfect, necessary being who transcends the natural world and wills its acts in accordance with reasons. I contend that if this thesis is true, it is likely that contingent reality is vastly greater than what current scientific theory or even speculation fancies. After considering the implications of this contention for the extent of divine freedom, I go on to discuss its relevance to the problem of evil as an obstacle to rational theistic belief. I. HOW MANY UNIVERSES WOULD PERFECTION REALIZE? In classical philosophical as well as religious theology, God is a personal being perfect in every way: absolutely independent of everything, such that nothing exists apart from God’s willing it to be so; unlimited in power and knowledge; perfectly blissful, lacking in nothing needed or desired; morally perfect. If such a being were to create, on what basis would He choose? Since there is a universe, we know that God did not in fact opt not to create anything at all. But was it really an open possibility that He might have done so? There is a strong case to be made that a per- fect being would create something or other, though it is open to Him to create any of a number of contingent orders. Norman Kretzmann Versions of all or part of this paper were read at the following universities: Oxford, Beijing, Western Washington, Colorado at Boulder, St. Louis, Azusa Pacific, and Trinity College, Dublin.
    [Show full text]
  • Die Phantasie Gottes: an Analysis of the Divine Ideas in Deity Theories & Brian Leftow, with a Proposed Synthesis
    LIBERTY UNIVERSITY DIE PHANTASIE GOTTES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE DIVINE IDEAS IN DEITY THEORIES & BRIAN LEFTOW, WITH A PROPOSED SYNTHESIS MASTER’S THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE MASTER OF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES BY NATHAN AUSTIN DOWELL The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name. - Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 5.1.12-17. 1 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Brian Leftow first of all. The chances of him ever becoming aware of anything here are very small but I have to acknowledge him, nonetheless. From everything I have read and seen in lectures, he appears to be a brilliant, original and thorough thinker. His intellectual rigor, humility and passion for God and His supremacy in all things make him a preeminent Christian philosopher for a philosophy student like myself to strive to imitate in my work. It is unfortunate that tone can be lost in writing so I ask the reader to subliminally preface all my critical remarks of his work with a sincere “with all due respect.” I owe a great debt here to Leibniz, Kant, and Spinoza, three prolific German thinkers in whose honor I made the title for this thesis. They both set me on this path (Leibniz) and caused me to change directions while on it (Kant and Spinoza). Some personal friends and family: my dad for his passion for Christ and doing his best to impart that to me; my brothers Joseph and David for their support and insight in conversations on these issues; Scott Panida, one of the most encouraging and inquisitive men I know; Brendan Hegarty for thoughtful conversations; Jonathan Wells, Joseph Gibson, Matt Nevius, Will Green, Shaun Smith and Canaan Suitt, who not only all spoke with me about and/or read over sections of this paper but who also made my time in the M.A.P.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Omnipotence, Evil and What's In
    OMNIPOTENCE, EVIL AND WHAT’S IN GOD: REPLIES TO OPPY, BOHN AND FORREST BRIAN LEFTOW University of Oxford My thanks to the symposiasts for their attention to my work. I reply to their points mostly in the order they make them, often without rehearsing their arguments: I assume that you have read them. OPPY Oppy had kind words for my book in the Times Literary Supplement, and I thank him for them; here he just steams ahead with all guns blazing. Section one Oppy reads the definition’s RHS correctly.1 Oppy’s argument against my definition rests on the premise that O. if God is omnipotent, for any action A, either God does not will to have the power to do A, or God has the power to do A. To get (O), Oppy reasons, ‘If God does not have the power to do A, then ... as a consequence of his omnipotence, God does not will to have the power to do A.’ Oppy thinks, that is, that if God is omnipotent, then if He wills to have a power, He gets it; if this is so, then if He does not have it, He must not have willed to have it. But omnipotence doesn’t preclude irrational or ignorant willing. An irrational or ignorant omnipotent being might will to have the power to make a contradiction true. As I don’t follow Descartes on omnipotence, I think there is no such power. 1 Note, most basically, that this is a definition , in perfectly ordinary terms. Thus I am simply puzzled that Sam Cowling can say that my ‘in God’ talk is just ‘unanalysed primitive concepts ..
    [Show full text]
  • Aquinas' Response to Richard Dawkins
    Axis Mundi. Vol 9 (2013) The Complexity of a Simple God: Aquinas’ Response to Richard Dawkins MATTHEW MORRIS 2nd Year, PhD Ecology and Evolution University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta Abstract: Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion is a recent popular attack on theism. Rather than rely on empirical evidence, Dawkins attempts to disprove the existence of all supernatural entities through a philosophical argument: anything complex enough to create an organism must itself have been designed. The validity of this argument rests on Dawkins’ use of Thomas Aquinas’ First Way. This paper will explore Aquinas’ First Way and the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity in order to better assess Dawkins’ argument. “A designer God cannot be used to explain organized complexity because any God capable of designing anything would have to be complex enough to demand the same kind of explanation in his own right.”1 This is the main thesis of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and Dawkins uses it to disprove the existence of “God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been or will be invented.”2 This paper will show, through the writings of Thomas Aquinas (ca 1225-1274), that both Dawkins’ argument from infinite regress and his definition of God are based on a misunderstanding of Aquinas’ First Way. This paper has three objectives: first, to examine Dawkins’ characterization of Aquinas’ argument for the existence of God;3 second, to explore how Aquinas’ definition of God relates to his First Way; and finally, to address what this understanding of Aquinas means for Dawkins’ main thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Five Arguments for God by William Lane Craig
    FIVE ARGUMENTS FOR GOD William Lane Craig FIVE ARGUMENTS FOR GOD The New Atheism and the Case for the Existence of God William Lane Craig Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist University Christian Evidence Society christianevidence.org Text copyright © William Lane Craig 2016 Published by the Christian Evidence Society, London, 2016 christianevidence.com All rights reserved Editing and design: Simon Jenkins Cover photograph of the Bramante Staircase in the Vatican Museums by sophs123. Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license Contents Introduction 5 The five arguments The cosmological argument from contingency 8 The kalam cosmological argument based on the beginning of the universe 13 The moral argument based upon moral values and duties 20 The teleological argument from fine-tuning 24 The ontological argument from the possibility to the actuality of God’s existence 38 Conclusion 42 Notes 43 Further reading 49 Introduction Are there good arguments for God’s existence? Have the so-called New Atheists shown that the arguments for God are no good? It’s perhaps something of a surprise that almost none of the so-called New Atheists has anything to say about arguments for God’s existence. Instead, they to tend to focus on the social effects of religion and question whether religious belief is good for society. One might justifiably doubt that the social impact of an idea for good or ill is an adequate measure of its truth, especially when there are reasons being offered to think that the idea in question really is true.
    [Show full text]
  • Worship-Worthiness and Absolute Perfection: Towards an Account of Supreme Worship-Worthiness
    Abilene Christian University Digital Commons @ ACU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-2019 Worship-Worthiness and Absolute Perfection: Towards an Account of Supreme Worship-Worthiness Austin McCoy [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd Part of the Liturgy and Worship Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation McCoy, Austin, "Worship-Worthiness and Absolute Perfection: Towards an Account of Supreme Worship- Worthiness" (2019). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 179. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. ABSTRACT Theists and non-theists alike have generally taken absolute perfection to be a necessary condition for worship-worthiness. Unless the object is absolutely perfect, it is often put, the kinds of attitudes or actions constitutive of worship are unwarranted. In this thesis, I offer an account of worship-worthiness that does not take for granted that to be worship- worthy is to be absolutely perfect. More specifically, I advance the claim that to be absolutely perfect is to be supremely worship-worthy and that supreme worship- worthiness holds a unique position in this respect. For instance, I argue that to be absolutely perfect and thus supremely worship-worthy is to be necessarily worship- worthy and uniquely worthy of an undivided worship. I arrive at this conclusion in a somewhat circuitous fashion in that the argument is premised on thin metaphysical and theological commitments so that the success of the argument is not contingent on commitments unlikely to be shared by my interlocutors.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham Research Online
    Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 23 November 2018 Version of attached le: Published Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Page, Ben T. (2019) 'Wherein lies the debate? concerning whether God is a person.', International journal for philosophy of religion., 85 (3). pp. 297-317. Further information on publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-018-9694-x Publisher's copyright statement: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Additional information: Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk International Journal for Philosophy of Religion https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-018-9694-x ARTICLE Wherein lies the debate? Concerning whether God is a person Ben Page1 Received: 25 June 2018 / Accepted: 13 November 2018 © The Author(s) 2018 Abstract Within contemporary philosophy of religion there are three main ways in which God is conceptualised in relation to personhood: (1) God is a person and so personal (PP).
    [Show full text]
  • Putting Hell First: Cruelty, Historicism, and the Missing Moral Theory of Damnation
    Putting Hell First: Cruelty, Historicism, and the Missing Moral Theory of Damnation ABSTRACT: Recent work on the morality of hell spans the various subdisciplines of theology, with one ironic exception. There is no consideration specifically from the perspective of theological ethics. Including such a perspective reminds us that what God does in hell is intentionally cruel unless it can be shown to be good or just according to some moral theory of punishment. An adequate defence of hell requires a positive account of how God’s acting to eternally torment some humans is beautiful, just, and worthy of worship. This suggests a short-term and long-term task. The short-term task, which this article pursues, tests whether an adequate moral theory is available. It evaluates three possible candidates, tied together by their view that historical location either helps (or misleads) our evaluation of hell’s justice. The third of these three is the most interesting, as it offers a historicist defence of hell: we mistakenly believe hell is cruel only because of aversions to cruel and unusual punishment that emerged in modernity. Nonetheless, these three defences are inadequate, necessitating a longer-term goal: we either need better moral theories or better accounts of hell. We also need much greater analytic clarity regarding theological statements of the form, I want doctrine y to be true but believe doctrine x is true. keywords: hell, universalism, ethics, punishment, voluntarism, cruelty, Anselm, history When the film of The Da Vinci Code was released, one of its surprise critics was New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman.
    [Show full text]
  • A Leibnizian Cosmological Argument
    BRIAN LEFTOW A LEIBNIZIAN COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT (Received 19 May, 1988) Contemporary philosophers frequently claim that the truth-conditions of modal claims involve necessarily existing abstract entities, be they states of affairs, propositions, attributes or possible worlds. 1 Thus Platonism, or belief in a realm of necessary abstract entities, is currently a popular philosophical stance. Many Platonist philosophers hold no brief for theism. There even appears to be a conflict between traditional theism and a Platonist ontology. Traditional theism holds that God is the creator of everything distinct from Himself, so that whatever is distinct from God depends on God for its existence. Necessary beings seem not to depend on God for their existence. If something exists necessarily, we want to say, it exists simply because it is its nature to exist, just as God, according to Descartes' ontological argument, exists because it is His nature to exist. If necessary abstract entities do not depend on God for their existence, then by positing these, contempo- rary Platonism contradicts the traditional theistic claim that whatever is distinct from God does depend on God for its existence. There is a passage in Leibniz' Monadology which appears highly surprising against this backdrop, for in it Leibniz seems to argue that far from being incompatible with theism, Platonism entails theism. In sections 43--44 of that work, Leibniz contends that if there is a reality in essences or possibilities, or indeed in eternal truths, this reality must be founded on something existent and actual, and consequently on the existence of the necessary being in whom essence involves existence, or in whom to be possible is itself to be actual.., without (God) there would be nothing real in the possibilities -- not only nothing existent, but also nothing possible.2 Leibniz calls this argument a proof of the existence of God "by the reality of eternal truths" 3.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conceptualist Argument for God's Existence
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Asbury Theological Seminary Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 11 Issue 1 Article 3 1-1-1994 The Conceptualist Argument for God's Existence Quentin Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation Smith, Quentin (1994) "The Conceptualist Argument for God's Existence," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 11 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol11/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. THE CONCEPTUALIST ARGUMENT FOR GOD'S EXISTENCE Quentin Smith The familiar types of argument for God's existence include the cosmological, teleological and ontological arguments. The aim of this paper is to introduce a new type of argument, the conceptualist argument. The argument is that the conjunction of actualism and conceptualism entails Anselmian theism, that God exists in every possible world. According to actualism, possibilities are propositions, and according to conceptualism, propositions are effects of mental causes. The addition of other premises enables the conclusion to be deduced that in every possible world, every true proposition is a mental effect of the same mind, the divine mind. This article also discusses intimations of the conceptualist argument in Leibniz and in contemporary philosophers such as Plantinga.
    [Show full text]