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--- abstract: 'In this paper I present a novel objection to ontological arguments. The argument concerns ontological arguments in general and has the general form of a reductio ad absurdum. Roughly, it rests on the fact that if a sound ontological argument were available, it would contradict the very nature of God. For God aims at maximizing the development of human good qualities (including thus faith) and if a successful ontological argument were available, faith would become unnecessary. Lastly, I review several objections that can be raised against the present argument.' altloc: - http://www.univ-corse.fr/~franceschi chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: - Paul Franceschi creators_name: - family: Franceschi given: Paul honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 2003-03 date_type: published datestamp: 2003-03-30 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/28/50 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 2850 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/2850/1/ontarg%2Den.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: ~ issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'ontological argument, proof' lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:14 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: revised number: ~ pagerange: ~ pubdom: FALSE publication: ~ publisher: ~ refereed: TRUE referencetext: | Anselm, St. (1965) Proslogion, in St. Anselm's Proslogion, M. Charlesworth (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press. Descartes, R. (1642) Meditations on First Philosophy, translated in J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch, The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Vol. 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Franceschi, P. (2001) Une classe de concepts, Semiotica, 139 (1-4), 211-26, English translation at http://www.univ-corse.fr/~franceschi under the title 'Matrices of concepts'. Kant, I. (1787) Critique of Pure Reason, second edition, translated by N. Kemp-Smith, London: Macmillan, 1933. Kemp, K. W. (1998) 'The Virtue of Faith in Theology', Natural Science and Philosophy, 15-4, 462-77. Kenny, A. (1983) Faith and Reason, New York: Columbia University Press. Malcolm, N. (1960) 'Anselm's Ontological Arguments', Philosophical Review 69, 41-62. Oppy, G. (1995): Ontological Arguments and Belief in God, New York: Cambridge University Press. Oppy, G. (2002) 'Ontological Arguments', The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2002 Edition), E. N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2002/entries/ontological-arguments. Plantinga, A. (1974) The Nature of Necessity, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sessions, W. L. (1994) The Concept of Faith: a Philosophical Investigation, Cornell University Press Swindal, J. (2001) 'Faith and Reason', The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2001 Edition), J. Fieser & B. Dowden (eds.), http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/f/faith-re.htm. relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 12 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:47:05 subjects: - phil-logic succeeds: 2492 suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: On the Impossibility of Successful Ontological Arguments type: preprint userid: 2943 volume: ~