{"id":4457,"date":"2007-10-02T16:02:53","date_gmt":"2007-10-02T15:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=4457"},"modified":"2007-10-04T07:01:26","modified_gmt":"2007-10-04T06:01:26","slug":"vaishnava-ontological-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=4457","title":{"rendered":"Vaishnava Ontological Argument"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anantaram das <\/strong>( Hector Rosario )<\/p>\n

Dear friends and colleagues,<\/p>\n

I am attaching a paper<\/a> I presented on Sep 29th at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. The conference was co-sponsored by the Bhaktivedanta Institute.<\/p>\n

I am interested in getting your comments. Please, be kind enough to send them. Also, if you know of an appropriate publishing venue, please let me know.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n

Hector<\/p>\n

P.S. Here’s the abstract, the first paragraph of the introduction, and the conclusion. This may motivate you to read the paper.<\/p>\n

Abstract: I (de)construct an ontological argument based on G\u00f6del’s proof and Oppy’s parody. This approach addresses (1) omnipotence as a defining characteristic of God; (2) the existence of the soul; and (3) God’s existence and individuality.<\/p>\n

0. Introduction<\/p>\n

It is generally accepted that God’s existence can neither be proved nor disproved scientifically. However, Tarski argued that every mathematical science is deductive, and every deductive science is mathematical. Therefore, I propose that the existence of God can be proved scientifically \u2013 using mathematical logic or some other deductive method \u2013 provided we agree on a definition of God, a set of axioms, and some rules of inference. *<\/p>\n

* A reader may invoke G\u00f6del’s Incompleteness Theorems as a counterargument. For such a potential misunderstanding, I recommend T. Franz\u00e9n’s G\u00f6del’s Theorem: An Incomplete Guide to Its Use and Abuse, 2005.
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\n.<\/p>\n

9. Conclusion<\/p>\n

I have purposely used the term existence rather loosely trusting that the reader may have a better sense than I about what that is. With that concession, I have given a sketch for a scientific proof of God’s (Platonic) existence. That is, for a God that is consistent with some essential aspects of Vaishnavism, like omnipotence. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing, for ascribing reality to such a god would imply ascribing reality to all logical truths \u2013 to this I object. (In this age of religious intolerance, I should guard against Pythagorean fundamentalists.) But why would anyone create an ontological argument and then whack it like a 5 de Mayo pi\u00f1ata? Well, deductive thought is seductive. Yet, the mystery of spiritual life often escapes our purview.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/vaishnavaontologicalargument-rosario.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy Anantaram das<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have purposely used the term existence rather loosely trusting that the reader may have a better sense than I about what that is. With that concession, I have given a sketch for a scientific proof of God’s (Platonic) existence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}