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 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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that Anselm’s ontological argument is sound and his conclusion logically follows from his premises. I will consider an objection towards Anselm’s definition of God and show that it is unconvincing and flawed. The objection against Anselm’s ontological argument that I will consider will be one brought up by a contemporary of Anselm‚ Gauinilo. His objection was that if you were to take Anselm’s logic of existence then you can infer anything into existence (essentially parallel arguments). I shall consider
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understand that I may believe‚ but I believe in order to understand. For this I also believe- that unless I believed‚ I should not understand”. Anselm employed his powers of reason in order to establish‚ by rational argument‚ the existence of God (Ally 2010:62). Anselm’s ontological argument When we are really thinking of something (and not merely uttering the associated verbal symbol)‚ that thinking is our understanding (2010:63). Of course‚ we need not understand that it exists‚ for we may be thinking
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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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to outline the Ontological Argument‚ proposed by Anselm of Canterbury‚ to prove the existence of God (in particular the Christian God). It also discusses Gaunilo’s objection to the ontological argument with the use of the “Lost Island” analogy. And finally offers an opinion as to whether or not Gaunilo’s objection successfully refutes Anselm’s argument. Anselm’s ontological argument‚ sourced from the “Proslogium” (with himself as the author)‚ is a highly controversial argument that aims to prove
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Part B. The ontological argument is a convincing argument. Discuss. The ontological argument was first made famous in the 11th century by St Anslem from Canterbury and was later taken further by French philosopher Rene Descartes. The debate is an attempt to confirm God’s existence as a priori argument. It does not rely on observations of the world around us it simply uses logic and the idea that it is illogical to say that God does not exist as its main factor. There are three elements to St
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Modern Versions of the Ontological Argument Norman Malcolm One influential attempt to ground the ontological argument in the notion of God as an unlimited being. As Malcolm describes this idea: “God is usually conceived of as an unlimited being. He is conceived of as a being who could not be limited‚ that is‚ as an absolutely unlimited being.… If God is conceived to be an absolutely unlimited being He must be conceived to be unlimited in regard to His existence as well as His operation. In this
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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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of the ontological argument as presented by Anselm‚ and explain its purpose. The ontological argument is A priori argument for the existence of God. St Anselm is the name most firmly associated with the origins of the ontological argument and he was an 11 century writer and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The argument has the form of a deductive proof and it an analytical argument. He wrote two treatises (the Monologion and Proslogion) which became the foundation of the Ontological Argument. The
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