Anselm's Ontological Argument

What is Anselm’s first argument?

1. God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

2. To deny God, you must have God in your mind.

3. It is greater to exist in reality and your mind rather than just in your mind.

4. If God only existed in your mind, than there could be a greater being.

5. Therefore God must exist.

What is Anselm’s second argument?

1. God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

2. It is greater to exist necessarily than contingently.

3. If God only existed contingently, than there must be a greater being.

4. Therefore God must exist necessarily.

What is Gaunilo’s Island? And what are the counters?

Gaunilo’s Island is a criticism of Anselm’s argument.

Using Anselm’s logic, Gaunilo believed you could prove the existence of nothing. E.g. a perfect island in your imagination must exist in reality if it is an island that than which no island greater can be conceived…

Plantinga replied believing that an island and God are not analogous. There is no intrinsic value to an island → there can always be twice as many cocktails, pools exc. HOWEVER, God is the MOST loving, powerful… God cannot be any more loving or powerful.

What is Kant criticism to Anselm?

Existence is not a predicate. Rather, it describes the universe not God. Therefore, existence does not make God himself any less or more great.

What are the definition criticisms to Anselm?

1. Greatness is a subjective quality.

2. We cannot define things into existence. ONLY exist things into definition.

What is the domain criticism to Anselm?

Harry Potter is real from the domain of Hogwarts. That does not mean he exists in the domain of reality.

God may exist in the domain of our minds, however, that does not mean we can conclude his existence in the domain of reality or any other domains.

What are Hume’s criticisms to Anselm’s second argument?

1. Something is only necessary if the opposite is a contradiction. For example, 2+2 equalling anything other than 4 is a contradiction. However, we can imagine God existing or not existing and the universe functioning adequately. Therefore God does not exist necessarily.

2. Hume argued that existence statements are synthetic (about the universe) and Anselm’s argument is analytical (via logic) and that analytical arguments cannot come to synthetic conclusions.

What was Karl Bath’s view on Anselm’s argument?

Anselm is not trying to prove God exists to atheists,

He is trying to better understand a God he already believes in

What is Kierkegaard’s criticism to Anselm?

Kierkegaard was a Fideist and believed that belief in God should be based on faith and not evidence. If we KNEW God existed then our belief in him would be valueless because we could not believe anything else. God values our faith in him, despite the possibility to that he may not exist. Therefore, Anselm’s argument is damaging to his own faith.