Explain Anselm’s Ontological argument (25 marks) Anselm‚ Archbishop of Canterbury and a monk was the creator of the Ontological Argument. The main aspect behind the argument was that the existence of God was true‚ in simple words‚ God exists. The argument is deductive as it depends only on knowledge and logic‚ not on experience as experiencing God is impossible physically. It is also a priori for similar reasons; the argument relies on logic alone. Anselm put forward his ideas about the existence
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Writing Assignment Number 2: The Ontological Argument Through the ontological argument‚ Anselm seeks to prove that God exists and he attempts to refute the fool who says in his heart that there is no God. This fool has two important characteristics: he understands the claim that God exists and he does not believe that God exists. Gaunilo plays the role of the “fool” and challenges Anselm’s ontological argument. I will argue that Anselm’s response to Gaunilo’s attack is not adequate because
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Summary of the Ontological Argument The Ontological Argument of St. Anselm is an a priori argument; it is formulated through reason alone‚ rather than experience. This argument does not rely on external evidence or sense experience. It is deductive (universal to particular) as it draws from its argument purely from a set of premises. In the 11th century‚ St. Anselm presented his argument for the existence of God in his published work‚ the Proslogion. His work was based on 4 premises which led
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The Ontological Argument: An explanation and critical assessment Phil 361 Lec 01 Professor: Reid Buchanan Ryley Braun‚ 10013764 April 16‚ 2010 The ontological argument is an attempt to refute skepticism of God and prove His existence through reason alone. The philosopher‚ Saint Anselm‚ presented his work on the ontological argument‚ or argument from reason‚ in his text the Proslogium. The argument‚ on the surface‚ is very logically convincing and attempts to allure even the skeptic of
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Ontological Argument One of the most fascinating arguments for the existence of an all-perfect God is the ontological argument. Ontological arguments are arguments to prove the existence of God based on pure reason alone. They attempt to show that we can deduce God’s existence from‚ so to speak‚ the very definition of God. St. Anselm of Canterbury proposed the first and most well known ontological argument in 1078 in his Proslogion‚ but it was actually Immanuel Kant‚ an 18th century German philosopher
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and weaknesses of ontological argument The Ontological Argument was‚ and still is‚ a hot-topic for debate among philosophers; many famous philosophers have published criticisms of the theory including Immanuel Kant and St. Thomas Aquinas. This obviously raises questions regarding whether or not this argument works. While there is no clear-cut answer to these questions‚ I personally believe that the negatives of this argument outweigh the positives‚ thereby making it a weak argument. The first published
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I will be discussing Anselm’s Ontological Argument and why I believe it is a successful argument besides the objections posed. Anselm’s argument is an argument in which he seeks to prove that God exists using a reduction ad absurdum form of argument. There are two objections to this argument which I will discuss and provide what I believe to be successful responses to prove the objections ineffective. The first objection which I will discuss Gaunilo’s Perfect “Island Objection”‚ which applies this
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AQUINAS’ AND ANSELM’S ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IN SYLLOGISTIC FORM Aquinas [I] Aquinas’ First Argument‚ Motion (1) Objects are in motion. (2) If something is in motion‚ then it must be caused to be in motion by something outside of itself. (3) There can be no infinite chain of movers/movees. (4) So there is a first‚ unmoved mover. (5) Therefore‚ God exists. [II] Aquinas’ Second Argument‚ Causality (1) Some events cause other events. (2) If an event happens
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Anselm’s most famous work was a book called the Proslogion in which he outlines his Ontological argument in the form of a prayer spoken directly to God. As a firm believer in God‚ Anselm wished to prove God’s existence and confirm his strong faith by using logic and reason. The Ontological argument is a priori and is based on deductive reasoning because it seeks to prove the existence of God from the understanding of the attributes of the God of classical theism. Chapter Two of the Proslogion introduces
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St. Anselm (1033/34-1109)‚ was abbot of Bec and later archbishop of Canterbury (pg. 444). The Ontological Argument‚ has two basic arguments that God exists and there is not greater being than God. Anselm’s main goal is to deepen the love and understanding of God‚ and uses natural theology. This is the study of what could be know about God independently of special revelation. His argument is that we can only think of things that exists in our reality. If we can think of it‚ it already exists‚ like
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