God, Modality and Essentialism. A Version of the Scotist Proof for God’s Existence
Abstract
A proof for God’s existence, inspired by Duns Scotus’s Tractatus de primo principio, is analyzed. The conclusion is based on three premises arranged in the matrix of a specific modal logic. The premises are: 1. it is possible for the world to be created by God; 2. if the world is created by God, then God exists; 3. if God exists, then God exists necessarily. In comparison to the original Scotus’s work the concept of essential order has been removed and replaced with a concept of creation. Modal expressions of the proof have been analyzed with an application of essentialism of Aristotle and Ibn Sina – the version of essentialism accepted by Scotus. Scotus’s underlying modal logic has been reconstructed and discussed in two versions: 1. as a modal logic with one pair of natural modalities; 2. as a multimodal logic with two pairs of modalities – natural and logical. The concept of natural modality is based on the essentialism discussed, the concept of logical modality is based on Scotus’s idea of non repugnantia terminorum.
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