In recent years, the ontological argument and theistic metaphysics have been criticised by philosophers working in both the analytic and continental traditions. Responses to these criticisms have primarily come from philosophers who make use of the traditional, and problematic, concept of God. In this 2006 volume, Daniel A. Dombrowski defends the ontological argument against its contemporary critics, but he does so by using a neoclassical or process concept of God, thereby strengthening the case for a contemporary theistic metaphysics. Relying on the thought of Charles Hartshorne, he builds on Hartshorne's crucial distinction between divine existence and divine actuality, which enables neoclassical defenders of the ontological argument to avoid the familiar criticism that the argument moves illegitimately from an abstract concept to concrete reality. His argument, thus, avoids the problems inherent in the traditional concept of God as static.
Author(s): Daniel A. Dombrowski
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 180
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 9
Introduction......Page 11
A Brief History up until Anselm......Page 17
Anselm......Page 21
After Anselm......Page 28
Hume and Theistic Metaphysics......Page 35
2 Poetry versus the Ontological Argument: Richard Rorty’s Challenge......Page 42
Some Important Concessions......Page 43
Opposition to Demonstration......Page 49
Contra Metaphysical Indeterminism......Page 50
The Denial of Relativism......Page 51
"Getting Things Right"......Page 52
Political Implications......Page 54
The Experiential and the Contingent......Page 56
Necessary Truth......Page 58
Future Contingency......Page 59
Contra Essentialism......Page 60
Nancarrow's Thesis......Page 63
Wordsworth......Page 68
The Viability of Philosophy......Page 72
Religious Language......Page 77
The Hegelian Background......Page 86
Taylor's A/theology......Page 89
Rorty, Again......Page 92
Epistemological Conservativism......Page 94
The General Objection......Page 102
De Re Modality......Page 106
More Natural Language Considerations......Page 113
5 Oppy, Perfect Islands, Existence as a Predicate......Page 120
Perfect Island Objections......Page 121
Oppy and the Existence Is Not a Predicate Objection......Page 125
Neoclassical Theism and the Existence Is Not a Predicate Objection......Page 128
Essence, Existence, Actuality......Page 134
Morris's Anselmian Explorations and Rogers' Perfect Being Theology......Page 139
Premodern, Modern, Postmodern......Page 145
The Noncompetitive and the Competitive......Page 150
Plantinga and Aseity......Page 155
The Religious Significance of the Ontological Argument......Page 158
Bibliography......Page 165
Index......Page 177
