Names and Indefinite Descriptions in Ontological Arguments

Dialogue 22 (2):195-202 (1983)
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Abstract

So begins a recent ontological argument. But what if there are no most perfect beings? Letting God be one, that is, letting “God” name one at the very beginning seems premature. Clearly it is best to leave “God” out of the argument until one is in a position to introduce him by existential instantiation, or, by further argumentation, to identify him with a most perfect being: clearly it is best to leave “God” out of the argument until it has been established that there is a most perfect being.

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References found in this work

Principia ethica.George Edward Moore - 1903 - Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. Edited by Thomas Baldwin.
Principia Ethica.Evander Bradley McGilvary - 1904 - Philosophical Review 13 (3):351.
God, freedom, and evil.Alvin Plantinga - 1978 - Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Principia Ethica.George Edward Moore - 1903 - International Journal of Ethics 14 (3):377-382.
Anselm and actuality.David K. Lewis - 1970 - Noûs 4 (2):175-188.

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