Difference between revisions of "God/arguments for/Gödel"
< God | arguments for
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m (fixed character set) |
m (Woozle moved page God/arguments for/Gödel to God/arguments for/Gödel without leaving a redirect: character set fix) |
Latest revision as of 16:43, 16 October 2014
About
Gödel's ontological proof is a supposed mathematical proof of the existence of God; it is a formalization of Saint Anselm's ontological argument by legendary mathematician Kurt Gödel.
However, it is basically wordplay (as are many such proofs) which commits the logical fallacy of assuming the conclusion.
Argument
The argument can be paraphrased thusly:
- The definition of God is that it is an entity possessing only positive qualities.
- Not existing would be a negative quality.
- Therefore God must exist.
This boils down to a claim that "If an entity possessing only positive qualities existed, then it couldn't not exist." – which doesn't prove anything at all.