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Critique Of Anselm's Ontological Argument

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Throughout the book Proslogium, Anselm is writing directly to God and telling him how much he believes in him. Anselm states his opinion on God which is most commonly referred to as the Ontological Argument. He talks about how he believes God to be the greatest, highest, and most powerful being to ever exist in the universe. He believes that there is absolutely no possibility that there is any being that can be seen as being greater than God in any way, shape, or form. The Ontological Argument is a very good argument when trying to persuade others to believe in God, however there are some faults to the argument. It is hard to truly believe because Anselm contradicts himself and has to question God’s existence. For someone who is so sure of …show more content…
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. This makes me as the reader very reluctant to agree with Anselm’s point of view if he isn’t even sure of what he is …show more content…
Anselm’s argument can be used to assume that God exists, but his argument only works for God. You can’t think anything else into existence, it’s just invalid. For example, you can’t just think unicorns into existence. They don’t exist and there is no way that if you believe they exist they will one day start roaming the Earth and begin their existence. Normally, we need proof to believe that something exists. If you wanted to prove to others that unicorns exist and make people believe in them, then you need some kind of proof. Once proof is given, then people truly will start to believe that whatever it is actually exist. If you have absolutely no proof that God exists besides your own individual belief, it will be hard to persuade others that God is real and that everyone needs to believe in

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