preview

Gods Existence Essay

Better Essays

Almost everyone at some particular point in his or her life has challenged the existence of God. This may happen for a number of reasons. For example he or she might have been at a point in their life when their faith alone was just not enough for them to believe. Humans have a natural instinct to find reasons for events that can’t be explained. For some, the existence of God may help give them the answers they are looking for.
Philosophers spend a great deal of their time trying to prove or to disprove the existence of God. One philosopher that confronted God’s existence was Anselm.
Anselm was the Archbishop of Canterbury and was a very influential philosopher between Augustine and …show more content…

Because of this the fool can comprehend “something than which nothing greater can be thought'; even though he doesn’t know that it exists.
After showing that even the fool agrees with the idea of God existing in the mind, Anselm moves toward implementing the idea that God exists outside of the mind. Anyone can think of something greater than a being which exists as an idea in the intellect. That is the actual existence of that being for which there is no greater (Stumpf 373). As an example, one can think of an island which exists only in his intellect. Since it is only in his intellect as an idea, he then can think of something greater. That something greater would be the island actually existing. So, if something exists only in the mind, like a yellow island, a greater something can be thought of, such as a real yellow island. Therefore, if God is only present in the mind, it is possible to think of something greater. However, if even a fool agrees with the statement, “that something than which nothing greater can be though exists in the mind'; (Stumpf 373).
Therefore, this something, or God must exist in reality. This is because nothing greater can be thought of other than God.
This theory or proof put forth by Anselm came under though

Get Access