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Anselms Ontological Argument - Term Papers

Anselms Ontological Argument

As a theologian and philosopher, Saint Anselm strove to prove the existence of God in reality. The bulk of his argument is found in Chapter II of Proslogium.
Anselm begins by defining God as “a being than which nothing greater can be conceived”. He continues by stating that “even a fool” has the capacity to understand this definition of God and that whatever is understood exists in the understanding. Anselm now draws his first intermediate inference based on these initial premises; God must exist in the understanding, and is therefore a possible being. Aneselm next draws on the premise that if something exists in reality, it is greater than if it exists in ...

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statement: the being than which none greater is possible is not the being than which none greater is possible. Therefore Anselm supposition that God exists only in the understanding is false. By proving this to be invalid Anselm has, in effect, proven that God must exist in the understanding and reality. This final conclusion, that God must exist in reality, is the goal of Anselm’s argument.
Chapters III, and IV of Proslogium support Anselm argument by explaining in depth the definition of God. He asserts that nothing greater can be conceived that is not God and that if a mind could conceive of a being better than God, that creature would rise above God. In Chapter V Anselm proceeds to deduce God’s nature from the same basic definition of Him as something greater than which cannot be thought. He arrives as all the standard attributes: “just, truthful, blessed, and whatever it is better to be than not to be”.
Many objections have been raised as ...

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Anselms Ontological Argument. (2004, July 31). Retrieved November 30, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Anselms-Ontological-Argument/11904

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/31/2004 07:58:46 PM
Category: Miscellaneous
Type: Free Paper
Words: 675
Pages: 3

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