Explain Anselm’s ontological argument. The ontological argument was put forth at first as a prayer by the eleventh century monk and philosopher Anselm of Canterbury. In his Proslogion‚ which means discourse‚ he presented this argument as a prayer for believers to substantiate their belief in god. Anselm uses ‘a priori’ (which means before experience) reasoning‚ which conveys that it does not rely or depend on experience and so an argument of this sort is more plausible and likely to intrigue and
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Anselm’s ontological argument is a deductive argument based on an ‘a priori’ premise‚ that is‚ it is based on reason and logic rather than experience of the world. The argument attempts to prove the necessary existence of the God of Classical Theism based on Anselm’s own definition of God – which he believed to be universal. He uses this premise to conclude God’s existence‚ however‚ when examining his argument‚ it is easy to doubt much of what he said. Scholars such as Gaunilo‚ and later Aquinas
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Ontological Argument of St. Anselm St. Anselm was a philosopher who proposed the first ontological argument in Western Christian tradition back in 1078 through his work Proslogian. An ontological argument is “an argument aiming to prove the existence of God through just thought of God alone” (Timmons 439). St. Anselm believed the definition of God to be‚ “That than which nothing greater can be conceived.” While Anselm argued God’s existence was purely through introspection‚ it can be disputed that
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a) Explain Anselm’s ontological argument (25) Saint Anselm‚ the author of the book The Proslogian came up with what is believed to be the first formulation of the ontological argument. The writings of the ontological argument in The Proslogian were Anselm’s reflections of the passage Psalm 14:1 “Fools say in their hearts ’There is no god’” and directs his argument at the ‘fools’ From this passage. Ontology means the study of being so therefore Anselm’s argument is formulated to prove the existence
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Anselm’s ontological argument is a priori proof of God’s existence. Anselm begins his argument with ideas that do not depend on experience and progress to a throughly logical explanation that God necessarily exists. Anselm’s goal is to prove to the "fool" that God has to exist. He says that anyone who has an understanding of the existence of God can and logically has to believe that God really does exist. Anselm starts off with a statement that is slightly simple and straight forward;
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The ontological argument proposed by Anselm‚ in Anselm’s Proslogion is a priori argument‚ meaning it does not start from a feature of the world but rather a definition of God. It seeks to move from a definition of god to the reality of god by reasoning. The first line in Anselms ontological argument is “the fool says in his heart there is no god”‚ from this Anselm can deduce that the fool has an understanding of what god is .The fool has to admit that god is that than which nothing greater can
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Anselm’s ontological argument for the existence of god is done via “A Priori” argument meaning this argument uses mostly reasoning and definition to prove his point. Anselm begins his Chapter 2 argument with his own understanding of God‚ “I may understand that you exist as we believe you exist‚ and that you are what we believe you to be. Now we believe that you are something that which nothing greater can be thought.” (Feinberg‚ p. 30). Anslem’s understanding of God is a vital part for this argument
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The ontological argument for God’s existence is a work of art resulting from philosophical argumentation. An ontological argument for the existence of God is one that attempts the method of a priori proof‚ which utilizes intuition and reason alone. The term a priori refers to deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is the type of reasoning that proceeds from general principles or premises to derive particular information. The argument works by examining the concept of God‚ and arguing that it implies
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Archbishop of Canterbury1‚ the ontological argument was born in the early 1100’s. The ontological point of view‚ according to St. Anselm‚ describes God as “a being than which no greater can be conceived”.2 St. Anselm concluded that if such being failed to exist‚ another even greater being could be conceived that does exist. This argument would be illogical‚ as no being can be greater than the greatest being. Therefore God must exist. As you can see‚ St. Anselm’s ontological argument attempts to prove the
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Anselm’s ontological argument is an a priori proof of God’s existence. Anselm starts with an idea that depends on experience for their justification and then proceeds by purely logical means to the conclusion that God exists. His aim is to refute “the fool who says in his heart there is no God” (Psalms 14:1) this is showing that the ‘fool’ has important features which are; he understands the claim that God exists and he does not believe God exists. Anselm said “an atheist cannot consistently be an
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