Understanding anselms proslogion argument as contemplative ascent carlos r. Anselm s ontological argument is an a priori proof of gods existence. Download the complete theology and biblical studies project topic and material chapter 15 titled critiquing the ontological argument of st. Anselm s ontological argument is certainly one of the most audacious arguments in the history of western philosophy. Charles hartshorne and the ontological argument aporia vol. Ao1 a examine the ontological argument for the existence. Anselm but how has the fool said in his heart what he could not conceive. The ontological argument in anselm s proslogion ii continues to generate a remarkable store of sophisticated commentary and criticism. Anselm 10331109 of canterbury was born in aosta, italy. This argument is the primary locus for such philosophical problems as whether existence is a property and whether or not the notion of necessary existence is intelligible. Ontological argument for gods existence one of the most fascinating arguments for the existence of an allperfect god is the ontological argument. Ontological argument, argument that proceeds from the idea of god to the reality of god. One of the famous arguments for the existence of god is the ontological argument.
This entry is a good place to start for clarification of the above notes to the argument. However, in our opinion, much of this literature ignores or misrepresents the elegant simplicity of the original argument. An ontological argument is an argument that attempts to prove the existence of god by thinking alone. In the 11th century, saint anselm, the archbishop of canterbury, proposed the first and bestknown ontological argument for the existence of god. In order to motivate the first premise of clarkes cosmological argument, rowe introduces a distinction made by anselm regarding three classes of possible beings. Explain anselms ontological argument essay example. Alvin plantinga challenged this argument and proposed an alternative, based on modal logic. A brief introduction and overview to anselm s ontological argument. This method of reasoning aims to demonstrate the truth of something by reducing to absurdity the very opposite of what you are aiming to prove.
Matthews and lynne rudder baker the ontological argument in anselm s proslogion ii continues to generate a remarkable store of sophisticated commentary and criticism. Anselm of canterbury was the originator of the ontological argument according to the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, ontological arguments are arguments, for the conclusion that god exists, from premises which are supposed to derive from some source other than observation of the world e. I make a different proposal as to the nature of the single argument mentioned by anselm in the preface of p and, consequently, as to the overall plot of anselm s work. Anselm s proof, known since the time of kant as the ontological argument for the existence of god, has played an important role in the history of philosophy and has been incorporated in various forms into the systems of descartes, leibniz, hegel, and others. Click the download now button to get the complete project work instantly. Once we have a nonmodal argument, we have clear standards of validity. Anselms argument together with gaunilos, aquinas and kants objections are conveniently summarized by kenneth einar himma in the internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Critiques of the ontological argument i the ontological argument in this form and in anselm s form is one of the most criticized in the history of philosophy i essentially everyone feels like it is cheating in some way, but people disagree greatly on exactly what is going wrong. He is most famous for his ontological argument, which is one of the most famous proofs for the existence of god in proslogium, as well as for his argument for satisfaction atonement in cur deus homo trans.
Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Anselm of canterburys ontological argument the postbarthian. Proslogion, with the replies of gaunilo and anselm pdf. Anselm 10331109 was archbishop of canterbury and wrote many influential works, including his proslogium, monologium and cur deus homo. Anselm was the founder of that kind of argumentation which, in the opinion of many, is alone entitled to be described as a priori or ontological. The ontological argument from st anselm, proslogium, trans. Anselm starts with an idea that depends on experience for their justification and then proceeds by purely logical means to. A 10 minute video microlesson that takes a quick look at anselm of canterburys cunning and controversial argument for the existence of god. I believe, as many scholars do, that descartes and anselm s arguments share several significant features and so may be thought of as alike in kind. Following on from anselm s version of the ontological argument that we explored last time, we now move on to the version put forward by rene descartes. Reprinted by permission of open court publishing company, a division of carus publishing company, peru, il. Descartes and anselm show how the supposition that god does not exist leads to a contradiction, and they then conclude that god must therefore exist. Anselm s principle is the principle that 11 if there is a god, then necessarily there is a god. But, if really, nay, since really, he both conceived, because he said in his.
Gaunilo, a monk and contemporary of anselm, thought the argument could prove that the mythical lost island of oceanea surpassing all others in natural riches must exist. Anselm ontological argument san jose state university. What everybody knows is wrong with the ontological argument but never quite says robert anderson saint anselm college peoples sense that one cannot argue for gods existence in the way anselm s ontological argument attempts to do so can be shored up with the help of aquinas wellknown distinction. His version of the ontological argument starts with what he calls anselm s principle. This argument for the existence of god has fascinated philosophers ever since anselm first stated it. Anselm is known by the motto faith seeking understanding. Moreover, anselm s argument was shown to be a valid argument, with a conclusion that follows from the premises. Saint anselm of canterbury 10331109 was a medieval philosopher, theologian, prior of bec, and archbishop of canterbury from 1093 to 1109. What everybody knows is wrong with the ontological. The first ontological argument in the western christian tradition 1 was proposed by anselm of canterbury in his 1078 work proslogion.
The form of the argument is that of a reductio ad absurdum argument. Anselm began with the concept of god as that than which nothing greater can be. See below for the abstract, table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, list of appendices, list of abbreviations and chapter one. Bovell institute for christian studies abstract oftentimes, apologetics courses and textbooks approach the history of the subject in ahistorical ways. Matthews anselm s ontological argument in proslogion 2 has been discussed and criticized so much that it is hard for us today to see its basic structure. Im doing anselm s argument for the existence of god at university this semester, and thought id share my thoughts with you. Ratio, intelligere, and cogitare in anselm s ontological ine nolan proceedings of the american catholic philosophical association. Anselm presents a philosophical argument for the existence of god. Speaks january 7, 2005 gaunilo, a monk who was a contemporary of st. Th is argument takes the form of a reductio ad absurdum.
One of the first to formulate the ontological argument was st. While there are several different versions of the argument, all purport to show that it is selfcontradictory to deny that there exists a greatest possible being. Anselm 10331109, archbishop of canterbury, presents one of the most famous arguments for gods existence. The premises of anselm s ontological argument were demonstrated to be sound when examined in the context of anselm s definition of the greatest conceivable being. St anselm s ontological argument is a deductive, priori, analytic argument which seeks to establish the existence of god by understanding the attributes of god in the sense of classic theism. This is taken from the original text, translated by jonathon barnes. Norman malcolm revived the ontological argument in 1960 when he located a second, stronger ontological argument in anselm s work.
Saint anselm of canterbury o ered several arguments for the existence of god. Anselm s ontological argument for the existence of god anselm s argument is an a priori argument. Anselm, archbishop of canterbury first set forth the ontological argument in the eleventh century. About the work although anselm s argument for gods existence presented in this article is based on predominately on reason, anselm presents the argument as clari. Foremost among our modal headaches is anselm s ontological argument. Ian logan reading the proslogion1 saint anselm college. Anselms ontological argument for the existence of god. St anselm of canterbury benedictine monk 10331109 ontological arguments the term is kants appear in his work. This volume includes the proslogion, gaunilos reply to the ontological argument, and anselm s reply to gaunilos reply. This video looks at some of the key ideas essential to understanding anselm s argument in.
Many recent authors have interpreted this argument as a modal one. Explain the ontological argument from anselms perspective. Mod 3 quiz 2 1 question anselm and gaunilo most disagree. The ontological argument alvin plantinga 1 the third theistic argument i wish to discuss is the famous ontological argument first formulated by anselm of canterbury in the eleventh century. Integrating the history of philosophy and apologetics. The ontological argument to be clear, by the ontological argument, i refer to the traditional accounts as produced by anselm and descartes. We examine the famous ontological argument in proslogium ii. The monologion begins with several arguments for the existence of god, arguments at first glance anselm s project in the monologion might seem rather fishy. Explain the ontological argument from anselm s perspective. And, as is well known, of all the versions of the ontological argument, it is anselm s argument for gods existence that stands out the most.
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