E. J. Lowe on the modal ontological argument

E. J. Lowe has defended a modal ontological argument that draws upon Plantinga's version. Briefly, the argument is this: God is a necessary being; possibly, God exists; hence, God exists. In this article, I accept the validity of Lowe's modal ontological argument and focus on how he seeks...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Eklund, Dan-Johan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2020]
In: Religious studies
Year: 2020, Volume: 56, Issue: 4, Pages: 611-622
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Plantinga, Alvin 1932-, The nature of necessity / Lowe, E. J. 1950-2014 / Ontology / Modality
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
NBC Doctrine of God
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Summary:E. J. Lowe has defended a modal ontological argument that draws upon Plantinga's version. Briefly, the argument is this: God is a necessary being; possibly, God exists; hence, God exists. In this article, I accept the validity of Lowe's modal ontological argument and focus on how he seeks to justify the argument's possibility claim in reference to his essence-based account of modal knowledge. I argue that here Lowe's defence fails. I have two complaints. I call them 'the modified "perfect island" objection' and "the conflicting possibilities objection". Both of these refer to the concern that Lowe's modal epistemology is too permissive: it permits justification of possibility claims that question the acceptability of the underlying modal epistemology.
ISSN:1469-901X
Contains:Enthalten in: Religious studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0034412519000131