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Comparison Of Aristotle And The Cosmological Argument

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The most interesting idea throughout the texts of Aristotle and Plato would have to be on the gods and proving that there is a god. There are three main philosophical arguments to prove the existence of god. There is the Ontological Argument, the Cosmological Argument, and the Teleological Argument. There are many different objections to these arguments. CONTINUE The first one is the Ontological Argument. The Ontological Argument by Anselm is the belief that God is the highest possible being imaginable to us. Therefore, God exists as an idea in our minds. However, to be the greatest being, god would also have to exist in reality because that is more important than existing in our minds. Since it would be a contradiction for God not to exist …show more content…

If something is an idea in our mind, then it must also be real. It is a first principle and the firmest principle of all. Our minds cannot create anything in our minds that is not real. axioms common to all the special sciences. Aristotle says that it is a principle which “is necessary for anyone to have who knows any of the things that are” (Metaphysics IV). Therefore, if you believe something exists, you must also believe in the Ontological Argument because without it, you would not be able to know of anything in this …show more content…

If God does not need a cause of existence, why would the universe need one? Therefore, stating that God does not need a cause, contradicts the whole cosmological argument. If God must exist for the sake of having the universe, there must be a cause for god too. To argue the idea that you need a final cause for motion, there are many physical events at the sub-atomic quantum that have no evident cause. Besides these new scientific discoveries, why couldn’t there be more than one final cause? Why couldn’t there just have been a phenomenon that scientists have not discovered yet? These are just more questions that could be added to the opposition of the Cosmological

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Saint Anselm came up with the ontological argument that only a fool would believe that God does not exist. An ontological argument is hand in hand with a Platonic a priori where there is a strong attempt made to prove that God exists by the concept of his existence. Saint Anselm’s argument is that even someone thick minded, or has a low IQ can state that there is a God, and for this to be possible, God must exist. He backs his argument up by comparing what is imagined up in the mind and what is in reality. Reality is existence, and imagining something up is nonexistent.

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Faith is the root of many actions and thereby reactions in our society, and world today. These religious practices must go through many trials and questionings from the always cynical, ever searching individuals. Due to the questioning of God’s existence, St. Thomas Aquinas and Anselm devised three arguments as was of explanation for His existence. Ontological, cosmological and teleological arguments are put forth to hopefully one day prove God’s existence. We are a people who crave for simplicity, there is nothing simple about the devout in their faith, we will look to find simpler explanations, or Ockham’s razor, for the three arguments put forth by Aquinas and Anselm.

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Anselm’s “Ontological Argument” The general idea of the ontological argument is based on the notion that the concept of God as the greatest being implies that God exists—if not, there could be something greater, namely an existent greatest being—but this being would be God. The structure of the Ontological Argument can be outlined as follows (The argument is based on Anselm 's Proslogion 2): 1. We conceive of God as a being than which no greater can be conceived.

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Anselm’s argument is based on this known definition of the concept of God alone. Descartes’ argument for the existence of God is based on his foundation of knowledge, logic. Humans have the idea in their minds of infinite perfection. Humans also have the idea of themselves as inferior to this idea as imperfect. For humans to have the idea of infinite perfection, there must be truth in the reason for them having this idea.

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However, as far as we know, the universe is

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In relation to the Aquinas’ second proof, Anselm of Canterbury created the ontological argument as evidence for the existence of God. This philosophy suggests that when an unbeliever hears the term “God,” they immediately have an understanding what the term “God” means. Consequently, they understand what they understand (e.g. I know what I know, because I know it). Looking specifically at Abrahamic religions, God is considered to be greater than anything that can be imagined, and is supremely perfect. This Ultimate Reality cannot simply exist in thought or idea because existence in reality is greater.

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In “Why Believe” by Saint Anselm, there lies a compelling argument which utilizes a Reductio Ad Absurdum argument to prove his conclusion. Anselm begins his argument with four premises, then states his Reductio Ad Absurdum argument, and finally concludes his whole argument with “God exists.” The argument for the existence of God by Anselm begins with his definition of God which is “a being than which nothing greater can be conceived.”

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These arguments intend to determine God’s existence mostly through logic and non-aligned to experience. Anselm’s argument is founded on the belief that God exists in the mind, and thus it is probable for God to exist in reality. According to this claim, something that exists in the mind and can also possibly exist in reality is something greater than it is (Malcolm, 1960). In this case, Anselm contends that God cannot only exist in the mind, but it is possible that he also exists in reality since God is the greatest possible thing. However, there are some other philosophers, including Immanuel Kant, who object this argument, disputing facts about the existence of God.

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To the people who might argue that the premise does not clearly state that God exists, or that implications do not make a strong argument, it is a solid fact that Anselm imagined this argument with the sole purpose of proving God's existence. Because of this goal, it was likely that Anselm was inclined to “argue” based on irrational principles, particularly considering that he was a strong believer in God and that there was no one to converse with him: the debate was merely in his imagination. Moreover, since Anselm's Ontological Argument could be used “to prove that there exists somewhere a marvellous island” or any other object one could think of, the argument can be used to prove the authenticity of atheism, which is the opposite of what Anselm attempted to prove in his argument (80, Buckingham, et. al). For these reasons, that Anselm was biased and assumed the conclusion right from the beginning premise, I do not agree with the ideology drawn from his Ontological

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The ontological argument is a priori argument. A priori argument is one that does not rely on sense experience. They give necessary or certain truths about the way ideas relate to one another. These truths do not tell us about the world however we know them to be true. For example; a triangle has three sides, either it is raining or it is not.

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p. 180). This is because a being who exists only as a mental notion is not so great as a being who exists in reality. Based on these facts and steps, Anselm conclude that Good must exist in reality, as well as an idea in the mind. To vividly understand the argument, it is important to understand the

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God must exist in reality as well as in the understanding. This reading of the argument is amply confirmed by the final paragraph, and this is the way he proves that it is true: “Therefore, if that than which nothing greater could be conceived exists in the understanding alone, the very being than which nothing greater could be conceived is one than which a better can be conceived. But obviously this is impossible.

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In other words, Anselm stipulates that God must exist since we can’t think of something greater than God but Descartes says the main reason why God exists is because he is a perfect being. St. Anselm and Descartes arguments are without doubt the most important arguments to the existence of God. They formed the basis for further discussion both by those that agree to these schools of thought as well as those that saw the arguments as weak and decided to show why. Both philosophers agreed that the comprehension of the concept of God was sufficient for anyone to believe in the existence of God even though Anselm argument was skewed towards our inability to conceive a more powerful being while Descartes mainly concentrates on the perfect nature in

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The Ontological argument was part of the Philosophy of Religion and therefore needed a proof, somewhat of a logical, sound argument. This argument was in fact the most bold, daring, and bewildering argument in the history of Western philosophy. Anselm’s claim that God must exist because the concept of God exists certainly angered a few philosophers like St. Thomas Aquinas while other philosophers like Immanuel Kant tried to disprove such an argument; simply because it was absurd to them. However much absurd this argument may be, it truly was such a beautiful type of reasoning in the eyes of all philosophers. Anselm’s ontological argument started off by stating that the most perfect “thing” that one could possible think of is God and that there is nothing higher.

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I believe that Aristotle’s ideas are more significant as they closer to western beliefs than Plato’s. Similarities can be found in religion, art, government, and evolution. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believed in the idea of a god, much like many people today. He believed that God was the First thing to exist, separate from all matter and is the ultimate form. As well as is a pure minded being.

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