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Reasonable Faith Podcast

Question of the Week #930: Great-Making Properties and the Ontological Argument

Reasonable Faith Podcast

William Lane Craig

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Christianity

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/great-making-properties-and-the-ontological-argument

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, Dr. William Lane Craig. I am S. And I am a 14-year-old from Syria. You have really saved my faith multiple times and I have taken your equip course to better defend the faith.

0:25.6

Anyway, on to the actual question, I have been studying the ontological argument and there seems to be a semantics issue when it comes to it.

0:35.6

Premise 1. God is defined as that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

0:42.3

Premise 2. It is greater to exist in reality than merely in the mind.

0:47.3

Premise 3. If God exists only in the mind, then we can conceive of something greater, a God that exists in reality.

0:55.9

Premise 4. But this would contradict the definition of God as that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

1:05.1

This is a very simple version of the ontological argument, but for this question, it is not relevant. When it comes

1:11.7

to the first premise, the use of the word greater or perfect or whatever word that is used

1:18.3

seems often subjective. The defenses I've found online often say that this refers to having

1:24.5

a maximal degree of positive aspects, such as omnipotence, but even then

1:30.0

it still feels like positive is used as a subjective filler, and from an objective point

1:35.3

of view, words like great, perfect, or positive, have no effect on metaphysical realities

1:42.5

and remain subjective. I've seen a few skeptics even bring up the counter argument

1:48.0

that if humans hypothetically evolved differently or were created differently,

1:53.0

they would not share the same values as us.

1:56.0

So concepts like an omnipotent being,

1:59.0

being greater than limited power, are foreign and do not hold weight.

2:04.3

The main point is that value is not objective and seems to be a subjective matter,

2:09.4

that, when put into metaphysics, cannot produce a solid output.

2:13.7

I have even tried talking to AI chatbots, and they always crumble when playing the theistic role.

2:19.4

How do you reconcile this?

2:21.4

Oh, my goodness.

...

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