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The Ontological Argument

Philosophy of Religion: Can We Prove That God Exists?
Philosophical Category: Ontology

St. Anselm (1033-1109)
  • St. Anselm of Canterbury is associated with the ontological argument for God's existence, which holds that the idea of God in one's mind is evidence of a genuinely existing being.
  • Both religion and philosophy seem to share the aim of searching for the key to living well. On the other hand, many have argued that philosophy has no need of a special revelation, or even of the concept of a supreme being, whereas religion seems to require both.
  • Philosophers have always thought they could add something more to the concept of religion, mainly:
    1. A consideration of arguments for God's existence,
    2. The other is a treatment of the definition or nature of God (this is because it concerns the problems of human evil and suffering.
  • St. Anselm's ontological  argument claims to address the understanding of God; he does this by explaining that God is a "being that which nothing greater can exist". So, we realize that God's essence, or nature, implies his existence.
  • God is a perfect thing or being, nothing greater exists. Hence, since God is perfect, he must exist.

 
The Ontological Argument
  • There is no doubt that there exists a being than which nothing greater can be conceived, and, St. Anselm says, it exists both in the understanding and in reality (p 39)

  • [God is a] so truly a being that which truly exists to a point that it cannot be perceived to not to exist (p 39)

  • If a mind could conceive the existence of God, that "…creature would rise above the Creator; and this is most absurd" (p 39). So, God exists in the highest degree of all existence.

  • If one understands the concept of God, even he does not believe his existence, just the mere fact that he understands the concept of a greater being, means that God, therefore, must exist (check out the Lost Island example St. Anselm gives on page 40 under Gaunilo's Criticism)

  • St. Anselm's line of argument can be described as nonexperiential, or a priori in character.
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