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A gap in all ontological arguments

bahman February 11, 2018 at 20:30 3575 views 8 comments
The only certainty that we have is that experience exists. Therefore we cannot prove the existence of any being at all. This means that there is a gap in all ontological arguments.

Comments (8)

Deleted User February 12, 2018 at 02:26 #152065
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Rich February 12, 2018 at 02:34 #152067
Quoting bahman
The only certainty that we have is that experience exists


Not that experience exists (as if it floating in some sort of vacuum) but rather we (our minds) are experiencing. It is one and the same - mind and memory.
Wayfarer February 12, 2018 at 03:13 #152071
All philosophical arguments, no matter how deep or complex, can be expressed in a sentence or two. This is the internet.
Caldwell February 12, 2018 at 03:24 #152072
Quoting bahman
The only certainty that we have is that experience exists. Therefore we cannot prove the existence of any being at all. This means that there is a gap in all ontological arguments.


Reading this gives me stomach ache.
WISDOMfromPO-MO February 12, 2018 at 04:01 #152076
Quoting bahman
The only certainty that we have is that experience exists.


Are you certain of that?

If your answer is yes, then that makes two certainties.
Rich February 12, 2018 at 05:01 #152078
Quoting WISDOMfromPO-MO
The only certainty that we have is that experience exists.
— bahman

Are you certain of that?

If your answer is yes, then that makes two certainties.


I would state it otherwise. I would say that experiences (memories) is what defines us.
bahman February 12, 2018 at 14:49 #152162
Quoting tim wood

1) What do you say that an ontological argument is? What do you say ontological means?


By ontological argument I mean the argument that prove the existence of God from the premise that God can be conceived.

Quoting tim wood

2) What, exactly, does "certainty" mean in your usage? I ask because experience is of something: if the experience is certain, isn't that which is experienced also certain? Are there differing senses of the word "certain" wherein some certain things are less certain than others?


To me what we conceive is a part of our experience. There is however a gap between what we experience and what exists in the world, object of experience. We cannot prove that the object of experience exists. The same applies to ontological argument.
bahman February 12, 2018 at 14:54 #152165
Quoting WISDOMfromPO-MO

Are you certain of that?


Yes. We experience, that is one interpretation.

Quoting WISDOMfromPO-MO

If your answer is yes, then that makes two certainties.


Yes, but that is all.