St. Anselm's Argument For The Existence Of God

St. Anselm’s argument is very different in how he goes about it. He creates an argument which has the form of a reductio ad absurdum, which means it states a hypothesis, proves that it has absurd or unacceptable implications, and then concludes that the hypothesis is false. In this case Anselm’s hypothesis is that God does not exist and proves it to be false proving that God does in fact exist. His argument rests upon the conception of God as “that than which no greater can be conceived”. This argument is supposed to conflict with the hypothesis and prove that God does indeed exist. He starts out his argument propositions that do not rely on experience for their grounds. Then he goes on by proving that God exists by purely rational means. His …show more content…
The fool’s two important beliefs is that he understands the claim that God exists but he in fact does not believe God exists. In his argument he demonstrates this combination of beliefs cannot coexist. Anselm first states that if God is that than which no greater can be conceived, then nothing can be imagined that is greater than God. By “God” we assume an unparalleled being and cannot be improved upon. So then if God does not exist, then something can be thought to be greater than God, namely a God that does exist. This hypothesis gives rise to a ridiculous conclusion that there both is and is not something than can be imagined greater than God. It is possible to think that a God does exist but also it is impossible to imagine something greater than the greatest thing imaginable. He is not trying to prove that this is what the word “God” means but just trying to prove that there exists a being of this sort, his proposition would be significant. The fool he claims, doe understand the definition of God but denes his very existence. Anselm then applies the contrast he has just drawn up