Craig Reiner
Lesson 3 Level 1 One difficult idea for philosopher to prove is whether or not God exists. The philosopher St. Anselm of Canterbury took on this feat in the 11th century in his work entitled Proslogion. In the beginning Anselm tries to use the idea of the limitations of human thought to prove that God exists. The basic idea behind Anselm argument for the existence of God is that there is “Something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought (Anselm 266)”. He believes that there must exist something that is so great or mighty that a person cannot think of something mightier than that. This means that for God to exist he must be the mightiest thing that a human can believe, but what does it mean to exist? Anselm tells us that …show more content…
Anselm uses this to prove that God must at least exist in the mind when he says that “what he understands is in his mind, even if he does not understand that it actually exists (Anselm 266)”. Since the atheist brings up the idea of there not being a God, he is forced to acknowledge that God must exist in his mind because he is thinking about God. Once you think that something does not exist you are acknowledging that it does exist at least in thought. Anselm then sets out to prove that since God exists in the mind he has to exist in reality. He does this by going back to the idea that “something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought (Anselm 266)” to show that there is no way to for one to exist without the other. “For if it exists solely in the mind, it can be thought to exist in reality also, which is greater (Anselm 266)”. This means that if someone believes that something only exists in the mind then there has to be something else in reality that is greater than that. Later in the reading Gaunilo uses a great example of this with the use of the magical island (Anselm 267). He thinks of this magical perfect island but believes that it is only in his mind and that there must be something greater that already exists in reality. This creates a
Lesson 3 Level 1 One difficult idea for philosopher to prove is whether or not God exists. The philosopher St. Anselm of Canterbury took on this feat in the 11th century in his work entitled Proslogion. In the beginning Anselm tries to use the idea of the limitations of human thought to prove that God exists. The basic idea behind Anselm argument for the existence of God is that there is “Something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought (Anselm 266)”. He believes that there must exist something that is so great or mighty that a person cannot think of something mightier than that. This means that for God to exist he must be the mightiest thing that a human can believe, but what does it mean to exist? Anselm tells us that …show more content…
Anselm uses this to prove that God must at least exist in the mind when he says that “what he understands is in his mind, even if he does not understand that it actually exists (Anselm 266)”. Since the atheist brings up the idea of there not being a God, he is forced to acknowledge that God must exist in his mind because he is thinking about God. Once you think that something does not exist you are acknowledging that it does exist at least in thought. Anselm then sets out to prove that since God exists in the mind he has to exist in reality. He does this by going back to the idea that “something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought (Anselm 266)” to show that there is no way to for one to exist without the other. “For if it exists solely in the mind, it can be thought to exist in reality also, which is greater (Anselm 266)”. This means that if someone believes that something only exists in the mind then there has to be something else in reality that is greater than that. Later in the reading Gaunilo uses a great example of this with the use of the magical island (Anselm 267). He thinks of this magical perfect island but believes that it is only in his mind and that there must be something greater that already exists in reality. This creates a