The Ontological Argument: Can God’s Existence Be Proven by Thought Alone?

Episode 2.48

Is the very idea of God enough to prove that God exists?

In this episode, Zach and Michael unpack one of the most famous—and most misunderstood—arguments in philosophy: the Ontological Argument. From Anselm’s “that than which nothing greater can be conceived,” to Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, and Alvin Plantinga’s modern modal version, they trace how the debate evolved over nearly a thousand years.

Covered in this episode:

– Why some concepts logically entail others (valley–mountain, shadow–light)

– Anselm’s original argument and the “greatest conceivable being”

– Kant’s critique that “existence is not a predicate”

– Plantinga’s modal argument: if God is possible, God is actual

– Atheist counterarguments and why they must deny God’s possibility itself

– Modern developments from Pruss & Rasmussen

The Ontological Argument remains as bold as ever—an exercise in pure reason that asks whether logic itself points to God.

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