Proslogium St. Anselm Essay

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In Proslogium, St. Anselm presents the basis of the ontological argument for the existence of God. His argument is driven by two main ideas – the first being that it is possible to conceive of a being that is God, and the second being that existence is a great-making quality. In this essay, I will contend that this argument fails because existence cannot be conceived to be a great-making quality.
Anselm defines a great-making quality to be one that when added to something, allows that entity to become “better than, superior to, or more worthy than ” it was, without such a quality. His reasoning so far seems fairly unproblematic. It is definitely possible to conceive of certain qualities, such as wisdom, that when attributed to a person, may enable that same person to be …show more content…
As such, the basis of my contention lies in the notion of expectation creating a gap between existence in the mind and existence in reality. With this gap, it seems to produce, instead, two different entities. Therefore, I argue that such a comparison to determine greatness cannot take place.
In addition, the notion to ‘conceive an idea of a non-existent possible entity’ is a rather vague concept to fully understand, considering how there is presently no such entity to base off of or set the standards. Without prior knowledge of such an entity then, it would be reasonable to think that one is unable to fully comprehend its existence in the mind and accurately compare it to its actual existence in reality.
In conclusion, I have presented a mismatch between existence in the mind and existence in reality of a non-existent possible being, thus illustrating the lack of grounds for a fair comparison that is a basis of the premise present by Anselm in the ontological

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