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Anselm's Argument For The Existence Of God

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Anselm was a Greek philosopher who was born in 1033 in Aosta, Italy. He was a Benedictine abbot in France who went into self-imposed exile to protest King William II of England and he was also a disciple of Augustine and he promoted a lot of Augustine’s teachings and beliefs. Anselm held the office of archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109, because in 1109 Anselm died. After his death in 1109 he was canonized as a saint, and his feast day is on April 21. Anselm believed that it was not possible to think of absolutely nothing. He also believed that God is the greatest possible being, God exists in the understanding (mind), and that a being that exists in reality and understanding is greater than understanding by its self. Anselm also believed that God had a necessary existence instead of a contingent existence. I do not agree with Anselm when …show more content…

God’s existence is not dependent on anything else because God existed before anybody else did. Humans would not exist if God did not exist. I also agree that a being that exists in the understanding and in reality is greater than just existing in only the understanding or reality because if a being does not exist in both places then it does not seem real. For example, if we did not have the bible and churches it would be hard for a lot of people to believe that God is real because we would only know the stories that has been shared by others that over the years could get misconstrued so, his existence would only be in the understanding, and that is why a being who exists in reality and the understanding is greater. I agree with mostly all of Anselm beliefs except for his belief that you cannot think of “nothing” at any time because you are always thinking of something. But overall, I think that Anselm is a great

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