Summary Of St. Anslem's Ontological Argument

Improved Essays
An ontological argument is an a priori demonstration of the existence of God. Perhaps one of the most famous ontological arguments presented was by St. Anselm (1033-1109) who was an Archbishop of Canterbury and Abbot of Bec. He presented his argument in his book Proslogion. Anslem’s expectation for his argument was for it to help him understand the nature of God, and possibly persuade a non-believer of the existence of God. First, Anselm describes his way of classifying unknown things as truly existing or not. He states that something can exist in the understanding, meaning that if one can understand the meanings of the words that pertain to it or if it can be conceived in itself. (Rowe, p 106) For example, a watchmaker first thinks …show more content…
Anselm says that something can exist in the understanding and not in reality but if something exists in reality it must exist in the understanding. (Rowe, p 105) After the watchmaker designs the watch and builds the watch, it exists in both the understanding and in reality. Secondly, Anselm breaks down the differences of possible beings. He describes a contingent being which is a being that truly exists in reality, but possibly could not have existed, an example would be Anslem’s book; He wrote it, but he could have possibly not have written it. Next, he defines an impossible being, which cannot exist in the understanding as a round square cannot exist in the understanding. In “An Analysis of the Ontological Argument, William Rowe wrote, “unlike the round square, God is a possible being.” (Rowe, p 106) In contrast, Anselm explains a merely possible being, a being that could have existed but does not, like a sibling that could have been born. The most important being Anselm mentions is the necessary being, which is a being that exists and could not have failed to exist. The necessary being is the most important because Anselm equates God to the necessary being and states that God is greater than any possible being. (Rowe, p

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    It was Thomas Merton, a Catholic English writer who once said “To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name” (Merton).…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Descartes fifth Meditation presents the Ontological Argument for God’s Existence. Though many people find Descartes Ontological Argument for God’s Existence to be an unpersuasive and weak argument, I find it is a very strong argument that provides a strong foundation and argument for God’s existence. In this paper I plan to elaborate upon Descartes fifth meditation and slightly over the first and third. After this I will then explain its strong points and weaknesses. I believe Descartes Ontological Argument for God’s Existence in Meditation five to be a strong and persuasive argument.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anselm is best known for the arguments he provided in regards to the existence of God. He especially contributed to what today is known as the “ontological argument”, or an argument about the state of existing or being. Anselm provides many reasonable arguments for the existence of God, and had an avid ability to explain reason behind it. Through Cur Deus Homo, he tries to rationalize God’s method for saving the world through Christ’s death as satisfaction, Anselm has been able to offer a significant view and meaning that many Christians today follow by providing a definition for the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anselm's Three Proofs

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages

    ANSELM: Like Augustine, Anselm used both faith and reason in his investigation for truth. In his view, Faith comes first but reason should follow, giving reasons for what human beings believe. Anselm’s monks asked him to write a model reflection on God in which everything would be proved by reason and nothing on the authority of Scripture. He replied with his “Monologion”. It contains three proofs of the existence of God, all of which are based on Neoplatonic thought.…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this paper I will argue that St. Anselm’s ontological argument is not adequate in proving the existence of God. First I will discuss his ambiguous use of the term “God”. Then, I will move on to analyze the term “greatest” made in his premises. Lastly, I will also criticize Anselm's argument by demonstrating that Anselm’s reply to Gaunilo’s objections are unconvincing. Anselm was the first one who developed the ontological argument, an argument for God’s existence based on reason, not on physical evidence.…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gaunilo responds to the Ontological Argument by saying that the argument “proves too much”. By this, Gaunilo means that the Ontological Argument could be applied to anything, not just God; even things that we know do not exist. The example that Gaunilo uses is conceiving the most perfect island than which no greater island is possible. The most perfect island must exist in reality and in the mind, because if it did not, then it would be possible to conceive of an island greater than the most perfect island, that is one that actually exists. Therefore, Gaunilo is arguing that by using Anselm’s reasoning, it is better to exist (in the mind and reality) than to not exist, for if it did not exist, it would not be as perfect.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Furthermore, for something to be TTWNGCBT, it must exist in both understanding and reality. God is also something TTWNGCBT, so Anselm concludes that god exists in both reality and a person’s…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Anselm's Ontological Argument consist of nine reasons to believe that god exists so that even the non believer can grasp the concept of god. Reason one, god exist in the understanding. Reason two, god might exist in reality. Reason three, of something exist in the understanding but not in reality, it could have been greater than it is. Reason four, god exists only in the understanding.…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His definition is “something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought” (Pg.15) or in simpler terms the greatest conceivable being. Anselm uses reductio ad absurdum to prove that the contrary to his belief would be absurd.…

    • 1583 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Anselm starts by questioning God and asking, “But how are You beyond all things? For in what way are You beyond those things that will never have an end?” (Anselm, 99). Having Anselm question God would make me a little hesitant to listen and believe to everything he has been saying about God. Anselm has been talking about how he believes God to be the greatest being to ever exist, but then goes and questions his greatness.…

    • 1685 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    2.2.8 Norman Malcolm Malcolm expanded on Anselm’s second argument, where most saw the second argument as a rephrasing of the first, Malcolm saw it as an entirely different argument. He believes that Anselm’s second argument is actually an argument that it is greater to exist necessarily rather than contingently, so it becomes a part of the concept that the greatest conceivable being would exist necessarily rather than contingently. This would free the argument from one of Kant’s critiques; the critique that existence isn’t a valid predicate, using this new argument, existence actually adds something to our concept of what God is rather than just being a statement on whether he exists. The crux of the argument is whether or not there exists a unique being that must exist necessarily rather than contingently, everything we know is contingent on something else, for example, you are contingent on your parents.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The ontological argument is different than the cosmological or teleological arguments as it relies on A Priori knowledge rather than A Posteriori. A Priori knowledge is knowledge that you can know prior to any experience; it is known through reason alone. This essay will explore how reliable the ontological argument is. The ontological argument is an argument for the existence of god by St Anselm (1033-1109). Anselm defined god as “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.”…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anselm’s Ontological Argument Anselm creates the Ontological argument with one primary goal. He claims to succeed in developing an argument of the existence of God without the requirement of actual proof. Anselm 's reasoning and argument only gives a mere opinion on the topic of the existence of God. He formulates a two part hypothesis consisting of: God exists and God has always existed. Anselm’s Ontological argument expresses accusations that are simply in his favor or his outlook on God.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the piece of Ontological Argument, St. Anselm argues that being able to exist in both reality and in understanding is the best to humans. He specifically focuses on the topic of an omnient God. He does use a reducto in his argument, so part of the premises contradict, but this contradiction strengthens the proof for the conclusion. I agree with his point of view. St. Anselm refers back to the difference between conceiving in concept vs in realty, all though out his writing.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “God is that which no greater can be conceived” is a statement that rules out any credible support other than from Anselm own Christian devotion. Anselm makes this evident when he states “I may understand that you exist as we believe you to exist, and that you are what we believe you to be” (Anselm, 7) this means that Anselm alone doesn’t know the clear nature of God but he is able to make simple inferences for this proof. So how can we come to know that God is none greater than can be conceived if we are designating our own definition of a maximally perfect being. Anselm portrays that God can be known solely from reasoning in thoughts rather than from impression of god himself in our knowledge.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays