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title: "George Pell on The ontological argument"
description: "Pell acknowledged the ontological argument as an interesting philosophical exercise but did not rely on it as a primary case for God's existence."
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# George Pell on The ontological argument

> Pell acknowledged the ontological argument as an interesting philosophical exercise but did not rely on it as a primary case for God's existence.

Position

# George Pell on _The ontological argument_

Nuanced positionCardinal of the Catholic Church

Pell acknowledged the ontological argument as an interesting philosophical exercise but did not rely on it as a primary case for God's existence.

George Pell's engagement with the ontological argument was characteristically restrained. Following the mainstream Catholic intellectual tradition, which has long been ambivalent about Anselm's proof, Pell acknowledged the argument's ingenuity without placing much apologetic weight on it. Aquinas himself rejected the ontological argument, and Pell was content to follow his lead.

Pell's preferred arguments for God's existence were cosmological and teleological — rooted in observation of the world rather than pure conceptual analysis. He found the move from 'we can conceive of a greatest possible being' to 'therefore that being exists' philosophically unsatisfying, even if he accepted the conclusion on other grounds.

In practice, Pell rarely if ever deployed the ontological argument in public debate or popular apologetics. He was a practical theologian and churchman, and the arguments he favoured were those with the most persuasive force for ordinary audiences: the existence of the universe, the order of nature, and the moral experience of human beings.

Continue exploring

[

George Pell

Full profile — positions, quotes, and key moments.

](/people/george-pell)[

The ontological argument

The full argument — stated fairly, then answered.

](/arguments/ontological-argument)

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