Also he believes that if you asked someone who doesn’t believe in God what their definition of God was, then it would also be something along the lines of this. He then later goes on to say that even if you don’t believe God to exist, then he must exist through this definition. This is because if God is the greatest being, and an atheist also defines him like this, then in order to be the greatest being he must also exist in reality, as it is greater to exist in reality than just the mind. Anselm then uses an analogy of a painter and a painting to help people understand this concept further. He says that when a painter plans his work before he starts it, then he has an idea in his head of what it will end up looking like, however because he hasn’t painted it yet it doesn’t exist.
Descartes' argument in the Meditations is circular. Discuss. In trying to prove the existence of God, Descartes will, of course, have to rely on what he can clearly and distinctly perceive, because this is the only way he can know anything. However, Descartes also needs to prove that God exists for us to know what we clearly and distinctly perceive. This leads to the famous objection that he uses the existence of God to establish his doctrine of clear and distinct ideas, and that he uses his doctrine of clear and distinct ideas to establish the existence of God: his argument is circular.
Descartes ontological argument is trying to aims to explain the existence of God in itself. Descartes argument begins with his own definition of God being a ‘supremely perfect being’. He then continues to question and bring out the concept that if something is perfect then in order to fulfil its attributes it must have the attribute and full ability to exist and if God is perfect then he too must have this attributes and therefore concludes, that God must exits. In addition, Descartes extended his argument by stating that “God is the most perfect being possible, so he has all perfections.” It is understood and known that the idea of perfection links into attaining the concept of existence. As the most perfect being, God must exist.
ââExplain the biblical beliefs about the attributes of God.ââ (25 marks) When we speak of God's attributes, we are talking about those characteristics that helps us to understand who He truly is. Jeremiah 32:17 â "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you." The concept of God as omnipotent means God has the unlimited power to accomplish anything that can be accomplished.
An atheist, whom may not believe that God actually exists in reality, surely understands the concept of what God is so he then exists in his understanding. The philosopher makes attempts to prove this claim with the example of a painter. Before an artist sets paint to canvas he first envisions the creation in his mind, thus the artwork exists in his understanding. But once he actually paints the work, it then exists in his understanding and reality as well. Now think, the Mona Lisa was but an idea before it came to life.
Anselm displays his argument in two parts, the first part being based on a deductive argument; if the premise is true then the conclusion is also true, it claims that existence is greater than non-existence. The second part of the argument claims that necessity is greater than contingency. From this Anselm came to the conclusion that God must exist In Proslogion 2, Anselm claims that existence is greater than non-existence. According to Anselm “God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived” God is greater than any being a human can imagine, there is nothing that can be greater than God. Following that, Anselm gave an example of a painter and his painting, this example went on to prove that existence in reality is greater than existence in the mind, if the painter imagines the painting in his mind, it will not be as great as the painting that will exist in reality when he paints it.
Anselm stated that God was the greatest conceivable being - being Omnipotent nothing could best him. No other thing in existence has the attributes of God that prove his power: he is Omnipotent, Omniscience and Omnibenevolent. If something possess all of these attributes, then it is far greater than anything else that can be conceived. In effect, God is all powerful because if he wasn’t he wouldn’t be God. If God is all powerful, then he would assume the most powerful state.
This train of thought cleverly warrants the evocation of faith, or belief without physical proof or empirical knowledge. Appropriately so, Anselm opens the chapter of Proslogion discussing Divine existence with a meditative prayer in which, he modestly supplicates such highly pertinent concepts including wisdom and faith in order to better understand the existence and character of God. With such faith and understanding, Anselm boldly asserts his beliefs about God’s nature, existence, and attributes before even finishing his central argument in an attempt to comprehend what he genuinely believes to be true about his higher power. While my own personal convictions are comparatively nowhere near as bold as that of Saint Anselm, his approach epitomizes what I believe to be an authentic and selfless demonstration of faith. Ideally, I believe that unconditional faith of this
In William L. Rowe’s essay The Ontological Argument Rowe carefully details an argument that, upon first read, appears to convincingly prove that God does not exist. His argument has, however, been even more carefully torn apart and examined by some of the worlds greatest philosophers and is often criticized. In my essay I will prove that Rowe’s argument although seemingly perfect comes nowhere near disproving the existence of a God. Quote #1 “…Anselm insists that anyone who hears of God, thinks about God, or even denies the existence of God is, nevertheless, committed to the view that God exists in the understanding.” I will use this quote to support the idea of God. This quote does not prove his existence but it does prove that
Anselm’s Ontological Argument The ontological argument is an argument, which is used to distinguish two types of justifications, and is independent of experience. Ontology comes from two Greek words “ontos” meaning being and “logos” meaning theory, therefore ontology is the theory of the universe and all there is in it.. Anselm begins his argument by defining God as ‘Something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought’, he continues by saying that this definition of God is understood by all even the fool. Anselm understands God as being the greatest conceivable being. In the understanding everyone or anyone believes that there is a being “than which none greater can be thought”, no one could conceive of something greater than the greatest possible being. If God does not exist, though, then something can be imagined that is greater that God, namely a God that does exist.