It Is Points to Deny the Logical Necessity of the Existence of God

First of all, we must ask: is the existence of God an analytic statement, or is it synthetic. An analytic statement is one which is impossible to think of as false. For example, a triangle having three internal angles which total 180 degrees is an analytic statement because it it impossible to think of a triangle in any other way. This therefore means that the proposition is logically necessary and it would be incoherent to be considered to be false.

However, a synthetic statement is one in which the statements truth or falsity depends on evidence which must be collected. Therefore, to determine whether or not it is pointless to deny the logical necessity of the existence of God the form of the statement must be assessed. In his Ontological argument Anselm uses the idea that God is the greatest possible being which can be conceived (thought of), and must exist in reality and in the mind, due to the fact that something what exists in reality and the mind is greater than that which simply exists in the mind alone.

In Anselm's second argument a conclusion is drawn, which states that God has to exist and cannot fail to exist. In philosophical terms this refers to necessary existence. God is not a contingent being, due to the fact that God exists by necessity. According to Anselm, God simply must exist, and this should not be denied. Anselm also claims that is it part of God’s nature that God exists, and this suggests the idea that a predicate of God is God’s existence. An argument which defends the existence of God as an analytic proposition is Descartes’ response to the criticism of his argument.

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Descartes uses the triangle as an example. The nature of a triangle is that it has three sides, and three interior angles totaling 180 degrees. This nature is immutable, meaning that it is incapable of change and difference. Secondly, triangles are simply an example of ‘what you see is what you get’ meaning that even if no one had any knowledge of a triangle it would still exist in its current form. The key point in this concept is that, like a triangle, God also has an immutable nature.

According to Descartes part of God’s nature is that it exists. Part of God’s essence is therefore existence, and from this Descartes states that God existing is as fundamental to the nature of God as the interior angles adding to 180 degrees are an essential part of what a triangle is. Descartes goes of to give two reasons as to why we should believe that God exists. The first is the idea that if you study the idea of God carefully enough is clear that the perfection of existence is part of the way of God.

Secondly is the idea that even though you can claim to happily think of mountains and valleys, it does not mean that they exist, whereas Descartes insists that existence is a perfection, and hence God being perfect must exist. When an atheist denies the existence of God, logic will often be uses as his means of reasoning and arguing his point. It is possible to state that logic so clearly demonstrates the existence of God, as a source of beginning and creation, but the matter of fact is that the Atheist has no reason to use logic at all, let alone deny the existence of God at all.

As humans we understand that logic is valid, due to the fact that we must use it constantly; and we also know that logic cannot prove itself to be valid. There can be no logical answer other than to say that logic demands the existence of God. Logic presupposes Gods existence, and in this respect by denying God, you are simply denying logic. This therefore means that atheists are stalled. If he admits to the existence of logic, he must admit and understand the existence of God, yet if he denies God he must demonstrate how logic is valid.

This is something which cannot be done. Logic demands the existence of God. Logic, therefore, proves the existence of God. However, Immanuel Kant argues that existence is not a predicate. Philosophers try to explain this as Kant saying that existence is part of the concept of God (an analytic statement) but it does not prove that God exists in reality. For Kant, all philosophical statements or propositions regarding existence or actuality or synthetics, and need to be proven or verified as true or false.

For Kant, as well as many others, God’s existence (like any other things existence, is synthetic and must be proven in order to be understood and believed. However, Descartes, in reply to Gassendi stated that ‘the relation between existence and essence is manifestly quite different in the case of God from what is it in the case of a triangle. ’ In other words, Descartes is attempting to state that God is a different form of being/ thing than a triangle, and it is the essence of God to exist.

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