Anselm's Argument For The Existence Of God

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It was a time of curiosity during the middle ages. There were thousands of different ideas and speculations, despite what the church might have thought. specifically, there was an Italian man that goes by the name of St. Anselm. He is most famously known for his attempted proof of the existence of God, known as an ontological argument, stated on page 187 in the Living Philosophy textbook. Knowing the meaning of the word God, it can be proved by logic that a supreme being is a reality. To briefly explain his argument; Anselm wanted to prove that God actually exists, because in order to be the greatest possible being you must have to exist not only in understanding, but in reality. In order to defend Anselm’s Ontological you must first know his logical argument that makes it possible and why his reasoning does not pertain to certain “great beings,”. To explain his argument he begins with the definition of God, the highest being. (suppose that the highest being possible can only exist in understanding) He then concluded that in order to be the highest being it must not only exist in understanding, but also exist in reality. One can believe this to be true due to what’s known as necessary truth. This proves that because of its definition it cannot be otherwise. Many have disagreed with Anselm's …show more content…
He thought that if his argument was a good piece of reasoning, we would be able to prove the existence of many things that obviously do not exist. He used an example known as Gaunilo’s island. Saying that one can conceive of the greatest possible island in understanding. It may be the bluest waters, or the whitest sand, but that does not conclude that it is the Greatest island in existence. Anselm simply replied to Gaunilo by saying that his reasoning does not pertain to things like his island, but only to God, the greatest being possible. Some believe that Gaunilo’s argument fails because his island is not a
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