René Descartes and St. Anselm: Ontological Arguments for God's Existence

A set of vocabulary flashcards detailing Descartes' and St. Anselm's philosophical proofs and ontological arguments for the existence of God.

René Descartes

A philosopher known for the philosophical statement "I think therefore…I am" and for formulating rationalist proofs for God's existence.

Descartes' First Argument

An argument for God's existence stating that our idea of God is of a perfect being, it is more perfect to exist than not to exist, and therefore God must exist.

Descartes' Second Argument

An argument stating that there must be as much reality in a cause as in an effect, meaning there must be as much formal reality in a cause of an idea as there is objective reality in an idea.

Being with Infinite Formal Reality

The entity that Descartes concludes caused our idea of God, leading to the conclusion that God exists as the creator of imperfect, thinking beings.

Ontological Arguments

Arguments for the conclusion that God exists derived from reason alone—using analytic, a priori, and necessary premises rather than observation of the world.

Anselm of Canterbury

A saint and philosopher who derived the existence of God from the concept of a being than which no greater can be conceived.

Being Than Which No Greater Can Be Conceived

St. Anselm's definition of God, used to demonstrate that if such a being existed only in the mind, a greater being existing in reality could be imagined, creating a contradiction.

St. Anselm's Mind vs. Reality Premise

The principle that a being that exists as an idea in the mind and in reality is, other things being equal, greater than a being that exists only as an idea in the mind.