Classical Theism, Philosophy, and Religion Forum / Intro page on Kurt Gödel's OA

**Posted by DanielCC** 8/01/2016 11:33 am

I am very pleased to at last discover a relatively accessible online introduction to Kurt Gödel's version of the Modal Ontological Argument. Kudos to Christopher Small for taking the time to put together and manage these web pages.

http://www.stats.uwaterloo.ca/~cgsmall/ontology.html
http://www.stats.uwaterloo.ca/~cgsmall/ontology1.html
http://www.stats.uwaterloo.ca/~cgsmall/ontology2.html

(Online presentations of the Modal OA tend to go from simplistic paraphrases of Plantinga straight to blisteringly technical logical schematics for modern versions. To give a little background information the type of argument Gödel develops is important since it attempts to justify the controversial possibility premise by a neat Scotist-Leibnizian coda to the effect that of their nature all pure perfections must be compossible. Although the semantics of Gödel's original formulation have been shown to be faulty it's of importance for modern cleaned up formulations and for Maydole's Modal Supremacy Argument)

**Posted by Mysterious Brony** 8/01/2016 4:46 pm

"To give a little background information the type of argument Gödel develops is important since it attempts to justify the controversial possibility premise by a neat Scotist-Leibnizian coda to the effect that of their nature all pure perfections must be compossible."

I haven't read Scotus, so in which of Scotus' works does he talk about something of a MOA or the like?

**Posted by AKG** 8/01/2016 6:16 pm

I saw these a while ago, but I didn't understand it. Still don't.

**Posted by DanielCC** 8/10/2016 7:18 am

My apologies gentlemen, I was away for the week and didn't have ready access to a PC.

@Mysterious Brony, Scotus discusses the OA in his Treatise on God as First Principle. He may also mention in in his Parisian Lectures though I am not well enough acquainted with them to say. If you want something more substantial there is this rather formidable thesis paper examining Leibniz and Scotus' take on that argument.

AKG, What part in particular is giving you difficulties?

**Posted by AKG** 8/10/2016 8:01 am

The entire article as I know jack about modal logic or the axioms needed to understand the argument.