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Anselm, a famous medieval religious philosopher has, like many before, and after him, tried to come up with a proof that God does in fact exist. His proof is a controversial one because it requires that you have somewhat of a religious background to accept it. It was, however, widely accepted and used by other religious philosophers during his time, and after it to either support, accent, or strengthen their own arguments.
Anselm was a man if strong faith, and yet, he adored reason. His argument plays on a catch twenty two of our reason, he almost uses our reason to defeat it. It is very interesting how he sets his argument up, and it is well respected for the "trap" that he was able to set up.
To begin his argument, Anselm must first establish that God is the equivalent to "something that which nothing greater can be thought." Since the idea of God is an idea of perfection, the common explanation for God at the time of Anselm was just that. Since perfection can not be improved upon, then nothing greater can be imagined. From here, he takes a look at the passage in the bible that says, "the Fool has said in his heart, there is no God." He begins to contemplate if and why this statement is true. He decides that it is true, and he comes to the conclusion that they must be a fool because that very statement contradicts itself. He argues that in saying the word "God" you are acknowledging that you have an idea in your mind of something than which nothing greater can be thought.
From here he states that because we are able to conceive of such a perfect being, then one must exist. If one did not exist then that would mean that it wasn’t perfect, and therefore there is something out there that is greater. The idea of a being that nothing greater can be thought of had to be put there by something, and that something is the real being, which is God. He argues that we couldn’t have just come up with it since we as humans are flawed and are incapable of perceiving perfection unless it has been shown to us by something that is perfect.
For example, we can’t know what a circle looks like without the idea of a perfect circle. This is the area with which most people argue. The most common argument is that anyone can imagine anything, and that does not mean that it does in fact exist. For example a person can imagine a purple polka dotted five eyed monster, but no matter how often people think of it, it will not come into existence.
His proof has been accepted, and has been denied. It has been called one of the greatest, and one of the worst proofs for the existence of God. None the less, it has made an impact on philosophy from the day it was published, all the way up to present time.
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