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The Ontological Argument

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The Ontological Argument “The Ontological Argument, which was first clearly formulated in the Middle ages, proposes that one can prove the existence of God simply by analyzing the concept of God”(3). The history of the ontological argument is a long one that started with St. Anselm of Canterbury, who wanted to find a single argument for the proof that God exists. He puts forward the argument that God is defined to be ‘that-than-which-no-greater-can-be-thought’. This is an acceptable argument because many believed that “God is a perfect being and no other creatures are superior to God” (6). Attributes of Omniscience, knowing everything; Omnipotence, being able to do anything possible; and omnibenevolence, being morally perfect. “Anselm says that once this definition of God is accepted, we can prove that such a God exists merely by analyzing the concept of God alone” (6). Because anyone one can understand the phrase: ‘that-than-which-no-greater-can-be-thought’, even a fool will agree that God exists within the mind. Concepts of omnipotence, omniscience, and amnibelevolence are complex philosophical concepts, these of which are said to be formed in …show more content…

I assuredly find in myself the idea of God – of a supremely perfect being – no less than the idea of a figure or a number; and I clearly and distinctly understand that everlasting existence belongs to his nature, no less than I can see what I prove of some figure, or number, belongs to the nature of that figure, or number. So even if my meditations on previous days were not entirely true, yet I ought to hold the existence of God with at least the same degree of certainty as I have so far held mathematical

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