The Ontological Argument as presented by St Anselm of Canterbury and René Descartes

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Ontology is basically the study of existence and the nature of being, and the ontological argument, unlike the cosmological and teleological arguments, cannot fall foul of Kant’s criticism, as it doesn’t use empirical evidence, but argues from a point of pure logic. The argument has been stated and restated throughout the ages, but the two versions that we shall look at are the ones given by Anselm of Canterbury and René Descartes.

Anselm

Anselm stated his version of the argument in his religious work the Proslogion1. He argued in response to the ‘fools’2 who do not believe in God. Anselm argues that proof of the existence of God can be arrived at through a sequence of logical reasoning. He argues that God is the utmost entity that can be envisaged, and that as God can be envisaged, ergo he can exist in the psyche. Anything which can exist in the psyche could logically also exist in reality, and anything that exists in both the psyche and reality must logically be greater than anything which exists solely in the psyche. As God is the utmost entity, he must logically be the greater of the two, and must therefore exist in both the reality and the psyche. If, therefore, we can envisage God, then he must also exist in reality. Since people can envisage God, he therefore exists in reality.

Descartes

This version of the argument has received strong criticism, even from Anselm’s time3. It has been restated many times since, and in the 17th Century, it was again propounded by the prominent philosopher Descartes. He argued from a definition of God, insofar as God has in classical philosophy been defined as infinitely perfect (this idea is in fact part of Aquinas’ Fourth Way). Descartes argued that existence must be one of God’s infinite perfections, so that if God didn’t exist, then he wasn’t infinitely perfect, and therefore wasn’t God. If, however, God was infinitely perfect (which he would need to be in order to be God), then existence would be one of his predicates, so he would exist. Descartes compared this argument to a triangle, which is not a triangle unless it has three angles, the sum of which is equivalent to the sum of two right angles. Similarly if God doesn’t exist, then he isn’t God.
1Alternatively the Prosologion or Proslogium.2Psalms 14:1; 53:1.3By the French Monk Gaunilo.

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