Playing Socrates (Round 1)

I really admire Socrates and for the last few weeks I have been toying with the idea of trying to act as a modern Socrates. Today, while I was walking to the market, several Christians tried to evangelise to me. The temptation was too great to resist.

Observation vs Authority

As David Hume puts it: It’s more likely if you see the laws of nature being suspended, that you are under a misapprehension than that the laws of nature have actually been suspended. — Christopher Hitchens (source)

I’ve been watching some theist/atheist debates recently, and this comment from Christopher Hitchens stood out to me. In fact, I find the comment rather alarming.

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To Shred an Ontological Argument

Anselm’s Ontological Argument is summarized by Wikipedia as follows:

1. If I am thinking of the Greatest Being Thinkable, then I can think of no being greater

1a. If it is false that I can think of no being greater, it is false I am thinking of the Greatest Being Thinkable

2. Being is greater than not being

3. If the being I am thinking of does not exist, then it is false that I can think of no being greater.

4. If the being I am thinking of does not exist, then it is false that I am thinking of the Greatest Being Thinkable

Conclusion: If I am thinking of the Greatest Being Thinkable, then I am thinking of a being that exists

This argument has been around for a while and has been attacked many times… Yet its use still persists.