Modal Ontological Arguments

Abstract

Inspired by the third chapter of Anselm's Proslogion, twentieth century philosophers including Charles Hartshorne and Alvin Plantinga developed “modal” ontological arguments for the existence of God. Such arguments use modal logic to infer God's existence from the premises that (i) God's existence is possible and (ii) if God exists, He exists necessarily. Like other ontological arguments, modal arguments have won few converts to theism; many commentators consider them question-begging or liable to parody. This article details how recent attempts to defend these arguments have tried to overcome these difficulties by drawing on modern accounts of the epistemology and metaphysics of modality.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Stacey, G.R.P.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Stacey, G. R. P. (2023). Modal Ontological Arguments. Philosophy Compass, 18(8), e12938. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12938, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12938. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Dates:	Published: 21 July 2023 Published (online): 21 July 2023 Accepted: 3 July 2023
Institution:	The University of Leeds
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Publications
Date Deposited:	07 Sep 2023 11:03
Last Modified:	07 Sep 2023 11:03
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Wiley
Identification Number:	10.1111/phc3.12938
Related URLs:	Author
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:203142

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Modal Ontological Arguments

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