Re: Necessary Existence and Existence is not a property

>The necesary existence stuff depends, in part, on the person posing the
>problem.  But, I will give you my take.  If god exists, it exists
>necessarily, i.e., it is not a contingent existence depending on anything
>else (in fact, everything else depends on it).  So, either god has the
>property of "necessary existence", or it does not exist at all.  Finally,
>"necessary existence" could not be a property alongside other properties,
>like goodness or, if existence were a predicate, existence, e.g.  "Necessary
>existence" is a separate and distinct type of thing from existence, i.e., it
>is not a kind of existence (it merely shares the name) if we mean by
>existence that characteristic of things that are part of the world in which
>we live.  So an argument which merely proves that "god" exists is not
>concerned with god at all; any argument which concerns itself with god must
>prove that god necessarily exists or it fails.  Now, it is interesting to
>note that Anselm (as well as other proponents of the ontological argument)
>claims that the argument proves, not merely that god exists, but that god
>necessarily exists (i.e., possesses necessary existence).  If that is so,
>then Kant's objection is irrelevant since while existence may not be a
>predicate, necessary existence may.  But Anselm's argument also fails
>because he treats existence as one perfection among others; but whatever
>necessary existence may be it cannot be the type of quality which is shared
>with contingent beings.  (This last point needs considerable expansion, but
>I am not inclined to go there.  Where you end up if you pursue this line of
>reasoning is that NONE of the properties of god can be shared with
>contingent beings, so, e.g., the "goodness" of god is radically other from
>the goodness which human beings may or may not possess.)
>
Very interesting stuff. My two cents worth ... Simply that existence
itself needs to be properly defined before categorising it into
necessary or contingent. Ofcourse God is necessarily existent and all
other creatures are contingent - but note there can be only one
Necessary Existace and no duality/plurality can exist here whereas the
contingent existence is unlimited and is sourced from the one
Necessary Existence.

Noor