St. Anselm's Description Of The Existence Of God

In Anselm’s ontological argument of the existence of God, Anselm’s goal is to prove the existence of God by purely logical truths and reasoning (that is, his argument only contains A Priori knowledge). A summary of Anselm’s argument is that, because God exists in understanding, and that God is the supreme being, and that real things are greater than things only existing in understanding, then God must exist in understanding. A formal, numbered argument follows:

730012506 PHIL 134H Paper # 1 Anselm’s Ontological Argument Eleventh century French monk, Anslem of Catenbury, offered a deductive argument proving the existence of God. In order to truly grasp the argument, we must first attempt to understand the philosopher and his own ideologies. Anslem preludes his proof by stating his profound faith in God, consequently affirming that it is only through God’s enlightening that his understanding can reach as high as God. He also adds that he who says in his heart that there is no God is a fool, per the Bible.

Anselm believed in a perfect being theology, and support for premise one resides within Anselm's Principle of God's Necessary Perfection (Marenbon 121). A being 'that which nothing greater can be conceived' is by definition the greatest being, or most perfect being, possible. He uses the idea that 'that which nothing greater can be conceived' exists in someone's mind as a starting point, and seeks to build upon this foundation to show that God necessarily exists in reality as well. If it could not be conceived in one's understanding, then as far as this argument is concerned, it couldn't be shown to exist in reality as well.

According to this theology, God is the fullness of perfection whose being can be described by every perfect attribute that the human mind is capable of understanding, or “the greatest possible being… exhibiting maximal perfection”, to use Anselm’s own words (Pojman and Rea 16). If one is able to grasp what is meant by the definition “that which no greater being can be thought”, then one must concede that such a being exists in understanding and thought as he was able to understand what is meant. If one is not able to conceptualize such a being, then he is, to quote Anselm, a “fool” who does not “understand what God is”. Essentially, in thinking about the first premise of Anselm’s argument, one effectively proves the validity of that

To begin with, Anselm introduces the Ontological argument as a viral component of the religious aspect of mankind. The presence of a God should not be debated. He portrays this God as an all perfect being that represents the divine concept. He argues that no being is greater than God whether imagined or perceived by the human mind. From the human perspective of divinity, God’s existence is merely an idea of the mind. Even though man’s imagination can present an even higher being than God, it fails to make sense in philosophical principles since it is contradictory. Also, the existence of God can be conceptualized. This means that the senses of man are enough to act as proof of the presence of a being higher and more powerful than him. Philosophy allows for proof to be logical and factual as well as imaginative. From this point, the objection to an idea or imagination such as the existence of God makes his

In the book, The Proslogion, written by Saint Anselm, we find the Ontological Argument. This argument made by Saint Anselm gives us proofs that he believes helps prove the existence of God. Anselm gives many reasons as to why the simple understanding of God can help prove that God himself exists, as well as mentioning how the idea of God cannot be thought not to exist. Though this argument has been looked at by people such as Guanilo, a monk, whose response to Anselm 's proofs was trying to say that there were flaws, there are more reasons as to why Anselm 's proofs work well with his argument. From the understanding of God existing, and the idea behind greatness Anselm 's argument is one that is strong and can work as a proof when trying

In the "Proslogion," Anselm states that God is "something greater that which we can conceive of nothing." This very confusing statement, which is likely

A standout amongst the most questionable, disputable topics has been the presence of god. There are various regular arguments for the presence of God. Descartes is one of many, he trusted in himself that he had affirmation of God's quality through an extraordinary examination of the mind. Descartes has more than one of many thoughts. To start Descartes ask "how would I know that I exist? As covered in my presentation Descartes wants to demonstrate that there is no evil spirit that is always deceiving him. Remembering the true objective to do this; he leaves to show that he has the unmistakable and a particular thought that God is incredible and can't along these lines mislead him. This is done by recommending the considerations can have more prominent reality. For Descartes Existence is conventional and those things that exist are more flawless or all the more awesome then those things that don't. Descartes suggests that there are three sorts of thoughts: Innate, Invented, and Adventitious. Innate thoughts are and have reliably been inside us, Fictitious or imagined contemplations begin from our imaginative energy , and Adventitious considerations start from experiences of the world. He contends that the possibility of God is Innate and set in us by God and he dismissed the likelihood that the possibility of God is Invented or Adventitious.

Saint Thomas Aquinas: Proof of the Existence of God The writing of the Proof of the Existence of God by Saint Thomas Aquinas is about whether God exists or not and the logic behind his ideas. The piece begins with St. Thomas talking about whether the existence of God is demonstrable or capable of being logical. At first, he says that it is not because a demonstration is for something that exists but God cannot be seen and is only an idea.

Without this premises his argument would fail. It must be agreed to, because it is a true statement. You do not have to believe in God in order to agree to these Premises. In agreeing to these first premises, St Anselm forces you to admit that God does exist in reality because his premises support his conclusion. St. Anselm's Theory is that if God is that which nothing greater can be conceived, the idea of God must exist, if only in the mind. To exist in reality is greater than existing in the mind (idea). Therefore God, being that which nothing greater can be conceived must exist in reality. All his premises support his conclusion, creating a valid and sound argument proving that God must exist.

There are two main points that could be used to explain why a “fool” might say that “There is no God” in his or her heart. One being that they do not acknowledge what these words really mean. They might think they know what they are saying, but after explaining to them what the words actually mean, this “fool” could have a change of heart. The second way that the “fool” might say this is because they actually know what they are trying to deny. They believe in Anselm’s “discovery” and think of such when they think about “There is no God.” They understand that people believe in God, but also knows that he does not exist in reality. These are the two ways that a “fool” may say in his or her heart, “There is no God.” It is solely based on whether

Anselm goes on to justify his assumption by using the analogy of a painter. In short, when a painter first conceives of what it is he wants to accomplish, he has it in his understanding but does not yet understand it to exist. He doesn’t understand it to exist because he has yet to construct his painting. His point in general is that there is a difference between saying that something exists in my mind and saying that I believe that something exists. Anselm goes on to introduce another assumption that could be considered a new version of the argument. He tries to show that God cannot possibly exist in the understanding alone by contrasting existing in the understand with existing in reality.

Many people have contributed to our Christian theology, but none have been more influential as Saint Anselm, because of his vast research and investigation of God’s existence and that he was the first real Christian Philosopher. The fact that he was a pioneer in the ontological argument, and how it’s still used today; further proves just how important his works really are. Is it logical to questions God’s existence using critical thinking? Using every opportunity to learn, both good and bad, makes us wiser, but those who continue on making those mistakes will never grow towards God. Likewise, those who search for God will be blessed with more knowledge and understanding of God’s presence. Today we live in a world where knowledge is more accessible

Anselm in this case defines God as “a being than which nothing greater can be conceived” (Anselm 30). Ontological arguments tend to be a priori, which is an argument that utilizes thoughts as opposed to empirical evidence to prove validity. Anselm addresses the Atheist fool in an attempt to disprove him “since the fool has said in his heart, There is no God?”(Anselm, 30). Anselm stressed that it is obligatory to recognize God as a perfect being that cannot be improved upon, and if someone understands the concept of God, then God exists in that person’s understanding. It is greater to exist in reality than just simply the understanding. The fool understands the concept of God. Therefore the fool has God in his understanding. Suppose God exists only in the understanding of the fool and not in reality. We could then think of something exactly as it existed in the fools understanding but it can also exist in reality, and the being we conceived of would be greater than the being that exists in the fools understanding. Therefore God exists not only in the understanding of the fool but also in reality. By showing that God exists in reality as well as in the understanding, we see that it is imperative that we should believe in God and that it is indeed reasonable.

The existence of God has been a question since the idea of God was conceived. Descartes tries to prove Gods existence, to disprove his Evil demon theory, and to show that there is without a doubt something external to ones own existence. He is looking for a definite certainty, a foundation for which he can base all of his beliefs and know for a fact that they are true.