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Philosophy of Religion/Introduction to Philosophy: Responses to Anselm's argument for the Existence of God and a Rock Climb Conversation
There are various answers we can give to Anselm’s argument: (1) “We can make it better”, is one branch, another is (2) “criticize it”, the best is to (3) “learn from it”. All are philosophically reasonable approaches to this little gem and come together to give us the third (3). Some people think the ontological argument is a word trick, others think it shows God’s existence is woven into the very nature—the fundamental fabric—of elementary logic, so some ask, what is that “very nature/fundamental fabric”. Does God exist or Does God not exist? Take a look what Anselm writes,
St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1033-1109), is the originator of the ontological argument, which he describes in the Proslogium as follows:
[Even a] fool, when he hears of … a being than which nothing greater can be conceived … understands what he hears, and what he understands is in his understanding [like the painting is on what is painted].… And assuredly that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, cannot exist in the understanding alone. For suppose it exists in the understanding alone: then it can be conceived to exist in reality; which is greater.… Therefore, if that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, exists in the understanding alone, the very being, than which nothing greater can be conceived, is one, than which a greater can be conceived. But obviously this is impossible. Hence, there is no doubt that there exists a being, than which nothing greater can be conceived, and it exists both in the understanding and in reality.
Big Question: Where does the Ideal of Perfection Come From: Minds, or something deeper?
If minds, Anselm's argument fails: God is the first mind for Anselm--see definition of God, the uncreated creator of all else--and if there are no minds, there is no notion or standard of perfection, so God cannot be logically forced into existence by the notion or standard of "the greatest, most perfect being" because there is no such notion or standard before any mind exists.
Or:
The ideal, represented by minds as the notion or standard of Perfection exists without the existence of any minds. This is "Ontological priority": x cannot logically exist without y and this fact, y, does not depend on any mind. For instance, a circle cannot exist without the fact, prior to any mind, that a circle must have the same radius--just means "distance to the edge"--from its center and every point of its edge. Anything that does not do this cannot be a circle. But a square can; it is not a circle. Upshot: There is a deeper structure to reality that determines, logically, what can be, what cannot be, and what must be. This appears to be Anselm's position.
This resembles the view of Plato, the great greek philosopher, and Plato called the "forms"; eternal, unchanging facts and today, we are discussing the form of Perfect.
So we see, our bold and fun-filled exploration of reality, is far from finished.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
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