The Logic of Perfection

by Charles Hartshorne

"In blunt outline the answer to the question, how do we rationally know God, is we find Him in all of our fundamental meanings, and if we try to purify them of involvement with deity we find that nothing unequivocal is left. All begins to dissolve in paradox. Unless we are forced to conceive God Himself in equally paradoxical terms--which might be called the question of philosophy--we are bound to stand by our meanings, God and all." This book, one of the handful of truly pathbreaking works in twentieth-century philosophical theology, presents Charles Hartshorne's persuasive rehabilitation of Anselm's Ontological Argument, recast in neoclassical form as "the Modal Proof," along with applications of Hartshorne's method to a variety of issues in contemporary metaphysical and religious thinking. Charles Hartshorne authored many works, including A Natural Theology for Our Time and Anselm's A Re-examination of the Ontological Argument for God's Existence.

Genres: Philosophy

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1973