The Most Existence Of God Essay

Anselm. St. Anselm argued that a perfect being is necessary for existence. His argument is even prior to nature. St. Anselm thought it was impossible for anyone to reason about God or God’s existence without already believing in him. St. Anselm started the Ontological Argument based upon the nature of being. The Ontological Argument states that God is “the greatest being conceivable”. Anselm also said that if we imagine two objects both identical, but one exists and the other does not, then the one that exist is more perfect. Perfection cannot be perfect.

I am going to reconstruct the argument of the Anselm about the existence of god.in the text Anselm try to explain the about the existence of the greatest conceivable being in the understanding and in the reality. He gives a definition to god “you are something than which nothing greater can be conceived”(Anselm).

Most people have not witnessed or experienced God and therefore are confused about its existence. In Western theology, three theories have emerged to demonstrate the existence of God. These theories are the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, and the teleological argument. St. Anselm of eleventh century, and Descartes of seventeenth century, have used the ontological argument for proving the existence of God. The God, for them, is supreme, "needing nothing outside himself, but needful for the being and well-being of all things." (Pg. 305).

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

1. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the argument for the existence of God based on religious experience. (18) 2. ‘The argument merely indicates the probability of God and this is of little value to a religious believer.’ Discuss. (12)

This argument for God’s existence was developed by the twelfth century theologian and philosopher, Anselm. It is based on Anselm’s declaration that God is “that which nothing greater can be conceived.”

In Chapter 2 of Anselm's Proslogian, Anselm offers what was later to be characterized as his Ontological Argument, which is an argument for God's existence he felt was so strong that even a fool as is said in Psalms 14:1- "who has said in his heart, 'There is no God'". Anselm's argument is as follows :

In this paper, I will deliver a reconstruction of Anselm's Ontological argument for the existence of God, and its adequacy for the existence of the greatest conceivable being. I will establish this by proving that Anselm's premises are sound and that the deductive arguments follow through a valid conclusion.

Since we know that God is the greatest being in which nothing greater can be thought, than he must in fact exist in reality or he would not be the greatest being. If he existed in the mind alone, then anything that existed in reality would be greater than God. By using the definition of God, Anselm is able to prove that God must exist in

The debate of the existence of God had been active since before the first philosopher has pondered the question. Anselm’s Ontological Argument was introduced during the 11th century and had stood deductively valid until the 18th century. Then there are the arguments to aim disprove God, such as the Argument from Evil.

Anselm defined God as “that than which nothing can be thought”, and argued that this being must exist in the mind; even in the mind of the person who denies the existence of God. He suggested that, if the greatest possible being exists in the mind, it must also exist in reality. If it only exists in the mind, then an even greater being much be possible – one which exists both in the mind and in reality (Wikipedia, 2017). I can closely relate to Anselm and his beliefs about God in so many ways.

His argument, although confusing with the repetitive words, is actually simple. It is greater to exist in reality than in the mind, therefore, since God is the greatest thinkable being, and since we know he exist in our minds, he must exist in reality as well. Although his argument is later criticised by other philosophers, such as the monk Gaunilo, he explains a counter argument in chapter four of his Proslogion. In chapter 4 he explains, “How the fool said in his heart what cannot be thought”. He justifies how someone can say God does not exist by defining the difference between the heart and the understanding. There are two senses according to Anselm, the first the heart is, “a thing is thought in one sense when we think of the word signifying

St. Anselm’s first form of the argument is that God is “that than which none greater can be conceived”. This means that no one can think of anything that is greater than God. The second idea is, it is greater to exist than not to exist. Next, St. Anselm describes two kinds of existence: existence in the mind, and existence in real. Existence in the reality is very easy to believe, if you can touch, see, smell, hear, or taste something, in reality it exists. Existence in mind is harder to understand for some, because many people only believe what they see. Finally, St. Anselm defined God as the greatest being possible. A being who fails to exist is less perfect than a being that exist. Therefore, God must exist, necessarily. If the greatest thing that we can conceive does not exist than we can still conceive the greatest thing that does exist, and that would be God.

In Proslogion, Anselm states that God is "a being than which none greater can be thought" (pg 73). He believes that God is truly the highest and greater being. Even for someone who does not profess God, the atheist; they too are making reference to God without fully understanding God. He believes that God exits even if we believe or not and admit it or not. This understanding is clear, however, Anselm has some questions. He believes God to be supreme but he questions it all and wonders who is God. God exists through God 's self and not through another and it is through him that we exist. Therefore, since God is the highest being and the Creator there is nothing that exists that can separate us from God. If it did than that thing or person would be God. He struggles with God 's actions though. If God is just why does he have compassion on both the good and the evil. He wonders why we say that God is all powerful but there are things in which he cannot do. God cannot sin, be corrupted or lie (pg 76). Instead of saying that God is all powerful we need to say that he is powerless and in his powerless he has power for choosing not to do those things. God alone is everything that we need to survive. God is not the things that we attribute to him because our simple minds cannot know the creator totally. We can know of him but only that in which he reveals to us piece by piece. It seems that Anselm has faith, believes in his heart but his faith is seeking understanding to know God

In the 11th century, French monk, Anselm of Canterbury wrote the Monologion in an attempt to demonstrate the existence and attributes of God by using reason alone. In his later work, Anselm tried to solidify the claims he made in the Monologion to make his final claim for the existence of God. That second work, the Proslogion contains his most famous proof for the existence of God. Beginning with what Anselm believed to be a fundamental idea of God, which is the belief, that God is some being of which nothing greater can be conceived. It is in Anselm’s assumption of what the universal definition of God is, where his fallacy lies. A fallacy is a flaw in reasoning that weakens the argument. Anselm exhibits a pre-determined conclusion that God exists through his definition of God, which is the foundation of his argument. Anselm’s contemporaries challenged his argument for the existence of God whereby Anselm further begged the question, adding characteristics to God’s definition in order to keep his argument sound. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant have since disputed Anselm’s definition of God, a definition we cannot hold. Medieval thinkers have long stated that God is everywhere and God is nowhere, and that God possesses all names yet he cannot be named. If we cannot arrive at a definition of God or conceptualize God, then Anselm’s argument can’t only be correct within his own definition and bias, but it cannot be widely applied as a prove for the existence of God.