Ontological argument Essays

The Ontological Argument “The Ontological Argument, which was first clearly formulated in the Middle ages, proposes that one can prove the existence of God simply by analyzing the concept of God”(3). The history of the ontological argument is a long one that started with St. Anselm of Canterbury, who wanted to find a single argument for the proof that God exists. He puts forward the argument that God is defined to be ‘that-than-which-no-greater-can-be-thought’. This is an acceptable argument because

The ontological argument was devised by St Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury in 1078, and Descartes later revived it in his Meditations on First Philosophy. It is a priori argument, meaning it does not depend upon our senses, experiences, or anything else in the world in order to infer its premise and arrive at a conclusion. Unlike teleological and cosmological arguments, the argument is reliant upon logical stages that eventually attains a conclusion, which is logically necessary and self evident

An argument that has existed for about as long as history itself is over the existence of God. Many different philosophers have given their take on the issue but the focus will be on St. Anselm’s, “The Ontological Argument” and William Rowe’s, “An Analysis of the Ontological Argument.” Anselm gives his piece with the intent to prove the existence of God in both the understanding and reality, while Rowe provides his analysis on the argument provided by Anselm while ultimately denying Anselm case.

Before restating the Anselm’s argument for the existence of God, it is important to understand who Anselm was and what might have compelled him to come up with the ontological argument for the existence of God. Anselm’s background information will be helpful in evaluating the validity and reliability of his arguments. Anselm was born in Italy in c. 1033. In 1063, he entered the famous monastery. In 1093, he moved to England, having been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Anselm famously associated

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. Priori reasoning appeals to pure reason and not to the senses at all. It is knowledge derived independently of sense. On the other hand, the cosmological and

existence of God. He sought to provide demonstration of the existence of God through a philosophical argument referred to as the ontological argument for the existence of God. Anselm's approach was based on a priori, which is the use of reason alone to get to a conclusion. Anselm aimed to establish God's existence through analysis and logical deduction rather than empirical evidence. Anselm's ontological argument was explained in the following: 1. God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, infinite, eternal

Ontological arguments in favour of Existence of God: The very first sentence of Ontological arguments describing that ‘God is a being by which no greater being can be imagined it is a conceptual truth’. It is extremely wrong because it can be easily criticised. Let me take a example, suppose “x” is something that describes a physical quantity. Then surely “2x” greater than “x” and “3x” greater than “2x” and so on. That means 2 God is greater than 1 God and 3 God is greater than 2 God and so on. So

The Ontological Argument is defined as the argument that God, being described as the most great or perfect, must exist, since a God who exists is greater than a God who does not (Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100250688). It belongs to the Philosophy of Religions and not Theology; there is a difference between Philosophy of Religion and Theology, even though they both take God and religion as their subject. Theology starts with assuming that God exists

version of the ontological argument that you can. Explain either Gaunilo’s or Kant’s objection to the ontological argument. How is that objection supposed to work? Saint Anselm delivered the strongest ontological argument for God through conceptual analysis. The ontological argument is a deductive argument that is an analytical statement that can be constructed by definition(s). He argues that one thing is necessary to exist, and that thing is God. God is a necessary being. His argument is known as

amount of arguments for the existence of God for hundreds of years. Some have become much more popular due to their merit, and their ability to stay relevant through changing times. Two arguments in particular that have been discussed for a very long time are the ontological and cosmological arguments. Each were proposed in the period of the high middle ages by members of the Roman Catholic Church. They each have been used extensively by many since their introduction. However, one of the arguments is superior

The Modal Ontological Argument by Alvin Plantinga uses modal logic using possibility and necessity to show that it is rational to believe in God. However, the argument is not a proof of the existence of a being who is a maximally great being as it’s not to prove or establish a conclusion but for it to be rational to accept the central premise and the conclusion (Oppy, Graham, "Ontological Arguments"). Premise one says it is possible that God exists. Possible, meaning he is Metaphysically possible

Monday, March 19, 2018 Introduction The Ontological Argument was proposed by Saint Anselm to try and ascertain the existence of God. Anselm’s argument is based on the fact that there is a specific concept of God. It establishes the existence of God as "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" (Roth, 1970, p.270). From Saint Anselm’s argument, it is apparent that Ontological Arguments are mostly deductive and a priori. These arguments intend to determine God’s existence mostly through

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

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. 2. This being than which no greater

Ontological argument by St. Anselm in favour of God’s existence: The ontological argument of the existence of the God is entirely based upon the fact of contradicting the non-existence of God. The original statement on which St. Anselm’s ontological argument of God is based upon is that "God is that than which no greater can be conceived." The statement means that there cannot be a being which can be greater than God and there cannot be a being which can be imagined greater than a God as God is treated

now referred as St. Anselm. He sets up an imaginary argument, called the Ontological Argument, to prove God's existence. He believes that God is so superior that “nothing greater can be thought” (80, St. Anselm). The argument ultimately forces his imaginary adversary to accept God's existence. Even though many philosophers welcome this concept, detractors like Gaunilo of Marmoutiers challenged Anselm by publically showing the defect of his argument: it would still make perfect sense if the word “God”

Thomas Aquinas’ endowment began when Summa Theologica, written between 1265–1274, was published. It was the first book Thomas had written and in the book he proved God’s existence through using the Ontological argument. The Ontological argument consisted of five arguments. The first argument was, it is a conceptual truth (or, so to speak, true by definition) that God is a being than which none greater can be imagined (that is, the greatest possible being that can be imagined). Second, God exists

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

exists in theory, it does not mean that they necessarily exist in our world, and that arguments providing a definition do not prove God’s existence. I will focus on Anselm’s argument to prove this, as I believe this is the most interesting and influential definition argument with reference to the question. To begin this essay, I shall introduce the idea of what definition arguments aim to do. A definition argument is a priori, which means that

As the first half of my first year in law school is about to end, I reassessed what I have learned throughout the semester. St. Anselm and St. Thomas had two different approaches in proving God’s existence. St. Anselm had the ontological approach while St. Thomas had the cosmological one. A cosmological approach meant to prove God’s existence using the physical material universe. St. Anselm makes God the addressee in his proslogion. His work was a prayer addressed to God. According to St. Anselm