Is God metaphysically necessary?

Is God metaphysically necessary?

While many theologians (e.g. Anselm of Canterbury, René Descartes, and Gottfried Leibniz) considered God to be a logically or metaphysically necessary being, Richard Swinburne argued for factual necessity, and Alvin Plantinga argues that God is a causally necessary being.

What does it mean if something exists necessarily?

A thing exists necessarily if however things had been, it would still have existed. The standard candidates include such abstract entities as numbers, and in religious thought, God.

What does it mean that God is a necessary being?

The notion of necessary being, applied to God and withheld from man, indicates that God and man differ not merely in the characteristics which they possess but more fundamentally, in their modes of being, or in the fact that they exist in different senses of the word ‘exist’.

What does necessary being mean?

A necessary being is simply a being that possesses necessary existence. But we may define this concept very simply in terms of the concept of a possible world: a necessary being is a being that exists in all possible worlds (and necessary existence is the property of existing in all possible worlds).

What does logical necessity mean?

logical necessity When something is logically necessary, it is true by definition. These can also be called analytic truths. If we can prove that something is true because “it could not be otherwise,” then it is logically necessary. The statement is true with an absolute degree of certainty.

Do our ideas of the things of the world necessarily entail their existence?

Knowledge of the external world, according to Locke, is knowledge of the existence of something distinct from our mind (and so, of course, distinct from the ideas in our mind). Even Locke himself notes that the mere existence of an idea of something does not guarantee the existence of what that idea is an idea of.

How does the design argument prove the existence of God?

This is an argument for the existence of God. It points to evidence that suggests our world works well – ie that it was designed in a specific way. The argument follows that if it was designed like this, then someone or something must have designed it.

Can there be more than one necessary being?

Necessary existence cannot be limited to possible existence. Thus, there can only be one existing being which is necessary through itself. Ibn Sina says that every aspect of that which necessarily exists is necessary.

What is an example of a necessary being?

There are various entities which, if they exist, would be candidates for necessary beings: God, propositions, relations, properties, states of affairs, possible worlds, and numbers, among others.

What makes a thing a necessity what makes it necessary?

noun, plural ne·ces·si·ties. something necessary or indispensable: food, shelter, and other necessities of life. the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability: the necessity of adequate housing.

Is God’s existence necessary?

As we already unpacked the argument from necessity, we have found that God’s existence is mandatory. However, the logical necessity of God’s existence is found in the following argument presented by Douglas Grootius: God is defined as a maximally great or Perfect Being.

What is the philosophical argument for the existence of God?

The philosophical argument for God’s existence is this: If something exists now, then Something exists necessarily. What we mean by “necessary existence” is that there is Something that has the power of existence within itself eternally. That Being cannot not exist. It exists by the sheer power of what it is.

What does it mean to say that God exists contingently?

To say that a being exists contingently means that its existence depends on something else and that it is possible to conceive of the nonexistence of the being. 16. To say that God’s existence is necessary (rather than contingent) means that God does not rely or depend on anything else for his existence.

Is it possible that a maximally great being exists?

It is possible that a maximally great being exists. If it is possible that a maximally great being exists, then a maximally great being exists in some possible world. That is, God’s existence is not impossible (logically contradictory), so we can conceive of a world in which God does exist.