Computer-assisted Reconstruction and Assessment of E. J. Lowe's Modal Ontological Argument

David Fuenmayor 📧 and Christoph Benzmüller 🌐

September 21, 2017

Abstract

Computers may help us to understand --not just verify-- philosophical arguments. By utilizing modern proof assistants in an iterative interpretive process, we can reconstruct and assess an argument by fully formal means. Through the mechanization of a variant of St. Anselm's ontological argument by E. J. Lowe, which is a paradigmatic example of a natural-language argument with strong ties to metaphysics and religion, we offer an ideal showcase for our computer-assisted interpretive method.

License

BSD License

Topics

Session Lowe_Ontological_Argument