Anselm of Canterbury
The medieval saint and philosopher Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) is famous for developing the first ontological argument in his book Proslogion (1078). Anselm was deeply inspired by Plato. He believed in a spiritual (or metaphysical) reality that was every bit as real as the physical reality we experience through the 5 senses, but separate from it. God exists in this metaphysical reality.
Anselm is a key scholar for issues in the Ontological Argument. |
the most luminous and penetrating intellect between St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas - Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
Anselm's First Ontological Argument
Anselm wrote the Proslogion ("Discourse") around 1078. Chapters 2 and 3 contain his ontological argument. The book is in the style of a prayer or 'meditation' rather than a typical philosophical argument, which has led philosophers like Peter Vardy to wonder if Anselm was really setting out to 'prove' God's existence at all.
Proslogion begins like this:
Proslogion begins like this:
Come then, Lord my God, teach my heart where and how to seek You. Where and how
to find You - Anselm
In Proslogion 2, Anselm addresses a character from Psalm 14: the 'Fool' who "says in his heart, there is no God". The 'Fool' in Anselm's argument is an atheist and Anselm starts by assuming that the 'Fool' is correct - that God exists only in the imagination but isn't truly real. He then follows the logical consequences of this belief and shows that atheism leads to contradictions.
Anselm believed that every word in the Bible was true. Therefore, if the Bible said it was 'foolish' to think God didn't exist, Anselm wanted to understand why it was foolish. He described his own attitude as "faith seeking understanding" (fides quaerens intellectum).
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Anselm's argument is a reductio ad absurdum - showing that an idea is wrong by following it through to its absurd conclusions. It can be set out like this:
P1 God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived (or thought or imagined)
P2 God exists only in the mind (in intellectu) but not in reality (in re)
P3 It is greater to exist both in the mind and in reality than in the mind alone
C1 If God exists only in the mind, we can imagine something greater than God
C2 This contradicts the very definition of God (P1), so God does not exist only in the mind
C3 Therefore God exists
P2 God exists only in the mind (in intellectu) but not in reality (in re)
P3 It is greater to exist both in the mind and in reality than in the mind alone
C1 If God exists only in the mind, we can imagine something greater than God
C2 This contradicts the very definition of God (P1), so God does not exist only in the mind
C3 Therefore God exists
Anselm has an unusual definition of God:
THAT THAN WHICH NOTHING GREATER CAN BE CONCEIVED - ANSELM
Anselm isn't just saying that God is "the greatest". He is saying that God is the most perfect thing that anyone can imagine - that it is impossible to imagine anything that could be more perfect than God.
Most believers accept this definition, although it is an odd one. It's not a definition of God that comes from the Bible, although there are Bible verses that seem to say something similar when they explain that God is unlike anything else on earth, at the absolute limit of human understanding:.
To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? - Isaiah 40: 18
Anselm goes on to explain that things that exist only in the mind are inferior to things that are real. He uses the example of a painter planning a new painting. The painting that exists in his imagination might be very fine, but it only becomes valuable or beautiful once he has painted it - once it exists in reality.
Certainly, you wouldn't call someone "a painter" if they'd never actually painted a single picture, but had only imagined them.
This means that a God who only existed in your mind WOULDN'T be the greatest thing you could conceive. A God who existed in reality would be greater. Since God is the greatest thing you can conceive, God must exist in reality and not just in the mind.
Anselm's argument was immediately criticised by a monk named Gaunillo of Marmoutiers who wrote a reply called Pro Insipiente ("On Behalf of the Fool"). Gaunillo demonstrates what seems to be wrong with Anselm's argument by creating his own parody argument involving "the most perfect island". Anselm wrote a jolly reply to Gaunillo, pointing out that the monk had misunderstood him: Anselm argues that God alone possesses Necessary Existence so only God can be "that than which nothing greater can be conceived".
Anselm's Second Ontological Argument
In Proslogion 3, Anselm sets out the argument again, slightly differently.
P1 God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived..
P2 A being that necessarily exists in reality is greater than a being that does not necessarily exist.
P3 If God exists as an idea in the mind but does not necessarily exist in reality, then we can imagine something that is greater than God.
C1 But we cannot imagine something that is greater than God.
C2 If God exists in the mind as an idea, then God necessarily exists in reality.
P4 God exists in the mind as an idea.
C3 Therefore, God necessarily exists in reality
P2 A being that necessarily exists in reality is greater than a being that does not necessarily exist.
P3 If God exists as an idea in the mind but does not necessarily exist in reality, then we can imagine something that is greater than God.
C1 But we cannot imagine something that is greater than God.
C2 If God exists in the mind as an idea, then God necessarily exists in reality.
P4 God exists in the mind as an idea.
C3 Therefore, God necessarily exists in reality
For centuries, readers assumed that Anselm was just repeating himself or expanding on his conclusions. However, in the 20th century, Charles Hartshorne and Norman Malcolm both re-read Anselm's arguments are realised that the second argument is making a different point from the first one: the second argument is not just about existence, it's about Necessary Existence (aseity).
Norman Malcolm set out a new version of the ontological argument, based on the idea of Necessary Existence. This was developed by Alvin Plantinga into what is called the Modal Ontological Argument.