History of the Ontological Argument

Introduction

Most arguments will point to evidence in the world around us and conclude from that evidence that the best explanation is God. There is also a series of epistemic arguments which argue that one must posit God in order for humans to have true knowledge of anything. Ontological arguments, on the other hand, argue that non-theistic worldviews are incoherent, i.e. that asserting atheism is a bit like asserting that square circles exist.

The argument is subtle, not only with variations between the different authors, but variations in how the individual authors expressed this argument. Even the older versions of this argument are quite a bit stronger than modern philosophers realize, since the “canonical” critiques often overlook subtle and yet critical distinctions in the argument. This paper will first look at the argument through the eyes of Anselm, and through its development up to the version proposed by Alvin Plantinga. It will then look at the argument’s historical critics, and then evaluate the contributions of each person toward the development of the ontological argument.

Anselm

            The original version of the ontological argument goes back to Anselm of Canterbury, specifically to his Proslogion. Anselm thought of God not just as the creator of the universe, but as a being so great, that no one could even think of something that is greater than God.[1] If someone could think of something greater than God, then the creature would pass judgment upon the creator.[2]God either exists in the thought alone, the way that unicorns exist only in the thought, or God exists both in thought and reality. If God only existed in thought, then we could imagine something greater: a God that exists in both thought and reality. Therefore, Anselm concludes, God cannot be thought of as not existing.[3]
            Anselm also cuts off a potential objection. He notes that the Psalmist states “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God.’” If God cannot even be thought of as not existing, then how is it that anyone could fail to believe that God exists? Anselm responds. “A thing is thought of one way which words signifying it are thought. It is quite a different way when the thing is itself understood.”[4]One can assert the words that there is no God, yet this is different than believing in the concept of a godless reality. “Those who say that God does not exist will give the words some other meaning or no meaning. God is greater than which none can be thought. Whoever understands this also understands that God exists in such a way that one cannot even think of him as not existing.”[5]Anselm draws a distinction between the words and that which the words designate. Anselm argues that it is the object that we call God that we cannot even think of as non-existent.

Descartes

            Descartes gives a version of the ontological argument, introducing it in his Discourse on Method and then presenting it fully in his Meditations. In his Discourse, Descartes explains how he came upon the method that would lead to his Meditations. He wondered if he could think of anything more perfect than himself, and said that the fact that he doubted meant that he could not be the most perfect being. He concluded that this idea of a perfection greater than himself could not have been generated internally, and therefore had to be placed in him by a more perfect being.[6]

            In his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes gives a more detailed explanation in his third meditation. Descartes moves from belief in the self to belief in God. Descartes had been doubting his own existence, and after establishing that, wondering whether his own reasoning and sense experience were valid. He called in God as a guarantor of his sense experience, reasoning from the idea of God to the existence of God. Descartes argued that “something more perfect cannot proceed from that which is less perfect”[7]Even if one could imagine that such a being does not exist, one cannot imagine that his idea represents nothing real.[8]Descartes concludes “I perceive that the objective being of an idea cannot be produced by a being that exists potentially only, which properly speaking is nothing, but only by a being which is formal or actual.”[9]Perhaps as a result of intuition, Descartes infers the existence of a perfect being from its idea.

            Descartes further clarified his position in the introduction to the Meditations. He said that people often object that the idea of something more perfect than oneself entails that the idea is more perfect, much less that it represents an external object. Descartes replied that such an objection commits the fallacy of equivocation. If it is taken as an act of understanding, it cannot be said that the understanding is more perfect than him. If it is taken objectively, as that object which is represented by the act, would be more perfect.[10]

Leibniz

            In his New Essays, Leibniz gives a few of his opinions on the ontological argument as formulated by Descartes. In his opinion, the ontological argument is sound, but has hidden premises in it. It assumes that the idea of a perfect being is a coherent notion, that it does not imply a contradiction, and that such a being possibly exists. He mentions that we can conceive of a perpetual motion machine. We could describe such a device, even though such a device is impossible. Still, Leibniz concludes that “we are entitled to assume the possibility of any being, and above all of God, until someone proves the contrary.”[11]This seems a bit like a Moorean Shift, stating that the possibility that God exists seems more plausible prima facieand demanding that those who argue otherwise give an account for their view.

Gödel

            Kurt Gödel was one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20^th century, and also had his own ontological argument for the existence of God. Godel gave a short logical proof of the existence of God. He argued as his premises that a property is either positive, or its negation is positive, and if two properties are positive, then the conjunction of the two properties is positive. God is defined as that which has every positive property. He also stipulated that all positive properties are necessarily positive, and that necessary existence is positive. Furthermore, all essences of something are necessarily equivalent. He also calls a positive property, one that is positive in the moral aesthetic sense, and as an objective feature of reality.[12]From these premises and axioms, it follows logically that all positive properties can be instantiated in the same thing, and that there is some being that has all these properties, which is what we mean by God.

Plantinga

            Plantinga’s argument uses modal logic with the possible worlds semantics invented by Saul Kripke. Plantinga bases his version of the argument from Norman Malcolm’s version.

Even if an essence entailing is maximally great in W is exemplified, it does not so far follow that this essence entails is maximally great in α. For all we have shown so far, this being might be at a maximum in some world W, but be pretty insignificant in α, our world. So the argument does not show that there is a being that enjoys maximal greatness in fact; it shows at most that there is a being that in some world or other has maximal greatness.[13]

What Plantinga is arguing is that there is a difference between stating that a maximally great being has necessary existence, and that a maximally great being has the properties of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence in every possible world. Perhaps such a being would be omniperfect in one world, and impotent in another. It would have the properties stipulated by Malcolm, and yet would fail to demonstrate that such a being exists in this world. Plantinga modifies this argument by stating that the property of being omniperfect can be called “maximal excellence” and that the property of maximal greatness is to possess maximal excellence in every possible world.[14]This gets around the flaw in Malcolm’s version.

            Plantinga then advances the argument as follows:

1.      The property has maximal greatnessentails the property has maximal excellence in every possible world.

2.      Maximal excellence entails omnipotence, omniscience, and moral perfection.

3.      Maximal greatness is possibly exemplified.

This shows that there is some possible world where a being has maximal greatness, which then means that such a being has maximal excellence in every possible world. He argues that it might be a weak argument, since there is not much warrant for believing that maximal greatness is possibly exemplified unless one already believes that a maximally great being exists.

Gaunilo

            Gaunilo was Anselm’s first critic. Despite being pious himself, he found difficulties, not so much with Anselm’s perfect being theology, but in his use of it to demonstrate the existence of God. Gaunilo gives a reductio argument against Anselm. The former argues that we often talk about nonexistent things. Perhaps God exists in the mind only in the sense that the fool understands what Anselm is saying. A picture first exists in the painter’s mind, and then in reality. There needs to be a distinction between entertaining an idea in the mind and understanding that the corresponding object exists, and Gaunilo argues that Anselm’s argument can be reduced to absurdity because it fails to take that into account. Furthermore, there seems to be no point in arguing that God exists if it is impossible to imagine that God does not exist. “For if God cannot be thought not to exist, then what is the point of launching this whole argument against someone who might deny that something of such a nature actually exists?”[15] Gaunilo hints that the ontological argument might be self-refuting.

            Finally, Gaunilo parodies the argument with his idea of a most perfect island, which cannot be imagined not to exist. Does this imply that such an island exists? Gaunilo also draws a distinction between objects that cannot fail to exist and objects that cannot be imagined not to exist. He says that he is not sure if he can imagine himself as non-existing, even though he thinks of himself as a contingent being.

            Anselm replies to Gaunilo. The painting is a bad analogy, since objects that begin to exist are contingent objects. “Whatever can be thought of yet does not actually exist, could, if it did come to exist, not existence again in reality and in the mind.”[16]This reply seems a bit different from the other reply, since it appears to be asserting that if God exists, he exists necessarily. This is different than saying that the concept of God entails his existence.

Aquinas

            Thomas Aquinas is one of the most eminent critics of Anselm’s ontological argument, responding in his Summa Theologiae.

[H]e who hears the name "God" may perhaps not know that it signifies "something greater than which cannot be conceived," since some people have thought of God as a body. Granting, however, that someone should think of God in this way, namely as "that being a greater than which cannot be conceived, "it does not follow on this account that the person must understand what is signified to exist in the world of fact, but only in the mind. Nor can one argue that it exists in fact unless one grants that there actually exists in fact something a greater than which cannot be conceived. It is, however, precisely this assertion the atheist denies.[17]

Aquinas did not believe that the ontological argument was helpful in establishing the existence of God. It, according to Aquinas, seems to beg the question against the atheist. Aquinas also argues that we seem to have a muddled and confused knowledge of God. It is one thing to know that someone is approaching, and another to know who is approaching. The fact that people have some innate sense of God does not mean that people have innate knowledge of an accurate view of God.

Hume

            Hume attacks several species of argument for the existence of God in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

Nothing exists without a cause; and the original cause of this universe (whatever it be) we call God; and piously ascribe to him every species of perfection. Whoever scruples this fundamental truth, deserves every punishment which can be inflicted among philosophers, to wit, the greatest ridicule, contempt, and disapprobation. But as all perfection is entirely relative, we ought never to imagine that we comprehend the attributes of this divine Being, or to suppose that his perfections have any analogy or likeness to the perfections of a human creature. . . But let us beware, lest we think that our ideas anywise correspond to his perfections, or that his attributes have any resemblance to these qualities among men. He is infinitely superior to our limited view and comprehension; and is more the object of worship in the temple, than of disputation in the schools.[18]

Hume attacks the doctrine that God should even be seen as the most perfect being. His attack is twofold: first, that the arguments for God fall far short of establishing God as a perfect being; second, there is no reason to think that what humans believe to be attributes of a perfect being are in fact the actual attributes that would comprise a most perfect being. This is because Hume’s starting point is that “our ideas reach no further than our experience.”[19]We can know nothing a priori.[20]Since the ontological argument is an a priori argument, this objection would immediately dismiss all types of ontological arguments.

            Hume then attacks the ontological argument directly. Again, he asserts his empiricism before his analysis of the argument itself.          

Nothing is demonstrable, unless the contrary implies a contradiction. Nothing, that is distinctly conceivable, implies a contradiction. Whatever we conceive as existent, we can also conceive as non-existent. There is no being, therefore, whose non-existence implies a contradiction. Consequently there is no being, whose existence is demonstrable.[21]

This is more of an assertion than an actual argument, but Hume buttresses this with an additional explanation. According to Hume, we could always conceive of the non-existence of any existing thing. The mind need not, and indeed has no justification, of believing that something that currently exists cannot cease to exist. Hume concludes that the term “necessary being” is either meaningless or at least cannot be given a consistent definition.[22]

Kant

            The Critique of pure Reason was a turning point in the history of philosophy. Kant’s key point is that the necessity of judgments is not the same is the necessity of things.[23]It may be necessary to think that a triangle is defined as that which has three sides. It is different to infer from this anything about reality. Kant argues that contradiction arises when we cancel a predicate that a subject needs in order to maintain its identity. Kant says that one can instead cancel the subject, no contradiction arises. If one cancels the idea of a triangle, the property of having three angles will be cancelled with it.[24]“To posit a triangle and cancel its three angles is contradictory; but to cancel the triangle together with its three angles is not a contradiction. It is exactly the same with an absolutely necessary being. If you cancel its existence, then you cancel the thing itself with all of its predicates; where is the contradiction supposed to come from?”[25]

            Kant then argues that God as a necessary and existing being is either analytic or synthetic. If it is analytic, then the argument becomes a tautology. Existence is conflated with possibility, and then inferred from possibility. If all positing is called “reality” then all one does by positing God is saying that one is positing what one is positing. Existence adds nothing to one’s thought of the object. If the property of divine existence is synthetic, then one can cancel existence without contradiction, since contradiction only arises when cancelling analytic properties.[26]“Being is obviously not a real predicate, i.e., a concept of something that could add to the concept of a thing. It is merely the positing of a thing or of certain determinations in themselves.”[27]This is the crux of Kant’s argument. He states that being, or existence, is not a property of anything. If it was, then the thing as it exists in the understanding would be different than the thing that is instantiated in reality. If that were the case, then we could never say that the thing in our concept has been instantiated in reality. Kant then states that if we were to make existence one of Kant’s a prioricategories, then we would not be able to distinguish it from mere possibility. Kant states again that we cannot obtain possibility through anything other than the synthetic cognition. Kant concludes that “a human being can no more become richer in insight from mere ideas than a merchant could in resources if he wanted to improve his financial state by adding a few zeroes to his cash balance.”[28]

Hegel

            In the spirit of continental philosophy, Hegel gives his thoughts on the matter. He opens by mentioning the Notion of God, which is meant as a sort of conception that we have regarding a perfect being, whereby Being is part of the conception.[29]Hegel also argues that the concept of God is how he seems to us in the finite spirit.[30] “The Notion of God is that of something boundless, not boundless in the bad sense, but rather as representing what has at the same time the most determinate character possible, pure self-determination.”[31]Unlike other arguments which proceed from the finite world to an infinite God, the ontological argument begins with this Notion.

            Hegel then begins his criticism of the ontological argument. “If God is defined as the Substance of all realities, then Being does not belong to Him, for Being is no reality. It makes no difference to the Notion or conception whether it exists or does not exist, it remains the same.”[32]He then states that in the ontological argument, the Notion of God and the existence of God form a single identity, so that God cannot be conceived without existing. “What is unsatisfactory in this view is that we have here a presupposition, and this means that the Notion measured by this standard of hypothetical necessity must be something subjective.”[33]Hegel argues that subjectivity is inherently finite, which is contradictory to the Notion of God as the infinite.

Observations

            The ontological argument has shown great resiliency to criticism, which explains its longevity. Anselm’s original version of the argument has merit, and would be worth pursuing in natural theology, even if later philosophers had not improved upon it. Many attacks came upon it, but none of the counter-arguments are decisive. No one has ever marshalled a reductio ad absurdum against it. The island parody was refuted rather quickly. There is a difference between talk about a greatest conceivable object within some category, and a greatest conceivable object simpliciter. The latter quantifies over the whole range of being, rather than just a subset of it. Furthermore, islands have great-making properties which do not have obvious maxima. No matter how many good things this island would have, one only need add an additional good thing and the island would be greater. This is not so regarding beings. Power seems to top out at omnipotence, for example.

The formulation by Descartes appears less like an ontological argument, and more like a transcendental argument for the existence of God. Descartes takes the reliability of our mental faculties for granted, and then posits God as a guarantor of this. This is different than using the divine properties alone as justification of the existence of this perfect being. He does, however, give a sketch of the ontological argument that is made complete by Leibniz.

Kurt Gödel paved the way for more rigorous versions of the ontological argument, such as those by Plantinga and Maydole. Gödel’s argument is formal, deductive, and valid. Hence, one cannot deny the conclusions without denying and justifying the denial of, one of the premises. One obvious path of attack is to deny the existence of positive properties, but this seems a bit desperate. Another route is to deny that every property is either positive or has a negation that is positive. Tautological properties such as “being self-identical” do not appear to be positive properties. Properties such as “being green” or “not being green” do not seem to be positive properties. If they were, one would be positive, but it is not obvious which one. Another criticism can be against Gödel’s logic. The second-order logic that Gödel uses is neither consistent nor complete, so one may still evade the argument by claiming that the ontological argument is more like a paradox of the system, the way that Liar and Curry paradoxes, as well as Russell’s paradox, arise as a consequence of this logical system.

Robert Maydole explains one of the more devastating critiques of Gödel’s argument. First, Godel’s argument shows that if there is a positive property, then every tautological property is also a positive property. Worse, Sobel gave an argument that Godel’s ontological argument leads to modal collapse, where all propositions become necessary propositions.[34]Gödel’s argument may be valid, but it is not sound.

Alvin Plantinga serves as the gateway into the most recent versions of the argument. His modal version is valid, and only the first premise, regarding the possibility of this maximally great being, is seriously challenged in the literature. The other premises are fairly uncontroversial. The real issue with Plantinga’s version is that the first premise is not that different from the conclusion of the argument. Indeed, the possibility of a maximally great being is logically equivalent to the existence of such a being.

Aquinas critiques the argument by stating that people can have misconceptions about God, but one might ask whether these misconceptions are really about God, and not about something else. If someone talks about the Titanic, and identifies it as a tin whistle that can be held in the palm of one’s hand, then that person is not really talking about the Titanic. Aquinas does help to draw a distinction between conceiving of something and imagining something. Conceiving means to form a coherent concept, while imagining generally involves forming images in one’s mind. One can conceive of highly complex structures without being able to imagine them. One can conceive of triangularity and yet not imagine it, since the idea is different than any particular triangle.

Hume’s critique is somewhat puzzling. On one hand, he wants to affirm that nothing in the mind exists which is not based on experience. On the other hand, he wants to draw general conclusions which cannot simply be known through repeat observation. Greg Bahnsen observes the trouble with Hume’s line of reasoning.

Hume’s strict empiricism landed into utter skepticism by his own admission. Hume’s philosophy led to skepticism about God, the external world, the existence of the self and all scientific reasoning. Even Hume’s attempt to explain why humans engage in inductive reasoning he said “by force of natural instinct or habit, they do this regardless of rational justification.” Even this attempt rests on the validity of inductive inference, now about human nature and the alleged workings of the human mind and habits. Furthermore, any attempt to mitigate Hume’s skepticism by turning toward a pragmatic interest in action and problem solving rather than theoretical demands of a philosophy, is not only a philosophical cop-out but itself rests upon the premise of experience and regularities in the behavior of nature and man, from which generalizations we are allowed to make successful plans of action. Even the pragmatic attempt to deal with Hume’s skepticism rests upon the very regularity of nature which Hume’s philosophy rules out as intellectual illegitimate. Hume’s anti-metaphysical empiricism proved to destroy objectivity, rationality and science.[35]

Hume’s skepticism becomes like the universal acid, which no one can ever use, since it dissolves any container. The inability for Hume’s empiricism to justify inductive reasoning, which is the foundation of knowledge on empiricism, makes the price of his worldview so high, that no one who holds to it could seriously do science. If the price of denying the ontological argument is total skepticism about the external world, induction, and the existence of the self, then the ontological argument has done its job in reducing atheism to absurdity.

            Kant’s critique of the argument is likely the most difficult to answer. It is more thorough, and does not beg the question in the same way as Hume’s critique does. Hume’s system was so thoroughly mired in skepticism, that no one could seriously live their lives as though they actually believed what he was teaching. Kant was much more subtle, and gave justification for how we could trust our a priori intuitions, at least regarding the world of appearance. The philosophical price of embracing Kant’s system was much smaller, and one could live consistently with it.

            It does seem to be the case that existence is not something we predicate of objects. To say “my car is blue, about 10 years old, stick shift, and existing” seems like an odd description. If the car did not exist, it would not have those other properties. One line of defense is to assert that all objects exist necessarily, but some objects have concreteness as a contingent property. One could then argue that to be concrete is greater than to be abstract, and the ontological argument evades Kant’s critique. Robert Maydole notes that “it is important not to conflate existence-in-reality with existence generally.”[36]Anselm believed that things that exist in the understanding exist just as much as things that exist in reality. In short, Anselm did not believe that existence was a predicate. Kant’s rebuttal is far from decisive, but it is still too strong to ignore. If existence in the understanding is a distinct property from existence in reality, then the ontological argument may be a form of equivocation, at least if the identity of indescernibles holds.

Plantinga also gave a devastating critique of Kant in God and Other Minds.  “Although the argument certainly looks at first sight as if it ought to be unsound, it is profoundly difficult to say what exactly is wrong with it. Indeed, it is doubtful that any philosopher has given a really convincing and thorough refutation of the ontological argument.”[37]He then mentions Kant’s critique, and notes that Kant never gave a rigorous enough definition of “is a predicate” in a clear enough way that existence cannot be a predicate, or even that Anselm’s version requires existence to be one. He also gives his criticism of Kant’s argument regarding God’s necessary existence being a synthetic truth.

But what could Kant possibly mean when he says that there is nothing "outside of" God that could be contradicted by the denial of His existence? Presumably it is propositions that could contradict it; and there are plenty of them that do so, whether or not God exists. Does he perhaps mean to say that no true proposition would contradict the denial of God's existence? But this would be to hold that God does not exist, which is certainly nothing Kant is prepared to affirm. Does he mean that no necessarily true proposition would contradict it? But surely this would beg the whole question; for the claim that the proposition God does not exist is not inconsistent with any necessary proposition, is logically equivalent to the claim that God exists is not necessarily true.[38]

Kant’s arguments seem less forceful when they are analyzed critically. Plantinga argues that it is Kant who begs the question in his attack on the ontological argument. Kant’s argument may be little more than an assertion that no propositions about what exists are necessary.

            Hegel builds on Kant’s critique, but adds little to it. His argument seems to assert its conclusions, rather than reasoning toward them. Hegel is already convinced that human thought is incapable of grasping the infinite, and hence, unable to deliver ontological arguments. He also assumes that the notion of greatness or of perfection are subjective notions, rather than human recognition of objective features of reality.

Conclusion

The ontological argument certainly had its challengers, but is still going strong today. The argument is rationalist in nature, which becomes the focus of its more recent critiques. They assume that humans do not have innate ideas, and hence are limited in thought to the deliverance of sense experience. Such epistemologies bear a burden of proof that must be met in order to guarantee the success of such counter-arguments. It seems difficult, even in principle, for epistemologies which deny absolute knowledge of such universals to lay claim to such absolute knowledge of such a universal principle as empiricism itself.

Modern builds of the ontological argument need to address Kant’s criticisms first and foremost. It was Kant who rightly stated that existence is not a predicate. Things cannot be stipulated into existence, and any viable version of the ontological argument must avoid this pitfall. The ontological argument cannot provide an airtight proof based on indubitable premises, since a determined critic, like Hume, can question even the reliability of our mental faculties. Instead, the argument will have to be based on premises which are more intuitively plausible than their negations. Plantinga has given us a sketch of such a proof, but there needs to be a stronger case for the possibility premise in order for the argument to have any reasonable strength. This will need to be the subject of future investigations.

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[1] Anselm, Proslogion ch. 2.

[2] Ibid., ch 4.

[3] Ibid., ch 3.

[4] Ibid., ch 4.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Descartes, Discourse on Method, ch. 4.

[7] René Descartes, Discourse On Method and Meditations, trans. Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane and G R T. Ross Dover Philosophical Classics (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2003), 87.

[8] Ibid., 88.

[9] Ibid., 89.

[10] Ibid., 60.

[11] Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, New Essays On Human Understanding. Edited and translated by Peter Remnant and Jonathan Bennett. 1 vols. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy, 219.

[12] Kurt Gödel, 1995, "Ontological Proof". Collected Works: Unpublished Essays & Lectures, Volume III, 403-404.

[13] Alvin Plantinga, The Nature of Necessity, Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974),  213.

[14] Ibid., 214.

[15] Guanilo.

[16] Anselm, Reply to Guanilo.

[17] Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1, Q2, A1.

[18] David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779, edited with an introduction by H. Aiken, London: Macmillan, 1948, 13.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Hume, 16.

[21] Ibid., 45-46.

[22] Ibid., 46.

[23] Ibid., 564.

[24] Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, ed. and trans. Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood, The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 565.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid., 566.

[27] Ibid., 567.

[28] Ibid., 569.

[29] G.W.F. Hegel, Amplification of the Ontological Proof, from Wikisource https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lectures_on_the_Proofs_of_the_Existence_of_God/Amplification_of_the_Ontological_Proof_1831 360.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid., 361.

[32] Ibid, 363.

[33] Ibid, 364.

[34] William Lane Craig and James Porter Moreland, eds., The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology(Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 577.

[35] Greg Bahnsen, “The Debate that Never Happened,” http://trueforms.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/greg-bahnsen-vs-michael-martin-opening-remarks/

[36] Craig, 554-555.

[37] Alvin Plantinga, God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God, Cornell Paperbacks (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1990), 27.

[38] Ibid., 31.