Anselm of canterbury and jorge luis borges springerlink. Anselmo daosta aosta, 10331034 canterbury, 21 aprile 1109 to be capable of being corrupted, or of lying, is not power, but impotence. Anselm means when he writes there is only one way god can be. Anselm defined god as a being than which no greater can be conceived, and which exists 2, and argued that this being must exist in the mind, even in the mind of the person who denies the existence of god. Anselm begins with a stipulative definition of god as a being than which no greater being can be conceived. He was recognized in modern times as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of god based on the idea of. The first ontological argument in the western christian tradition 1 was proposed by anselm of canterbury in his 1078 work proslogion.
God can do nothing by virtue of impotence, and nothi. At bec, anselm made his first great intellectual contribution. The third paper, by john rushby 18, deals with anselms argument. On the logic of the ontological argument stanford university. Saint anselm of canterbury offered several arguments for the existence of god. Anselms ontological argument for the existence of god. He is most famous for his ontological argument, which is one of the most famous proofs for the existence of god in proslogium, as well as for his argument for satisfaction atonement in cur deus homo trans. The origins of the ontological argument are usually seen in the writings of st anselm of canterbury. An ontological argument proves gods existence using a syllogism based on ontology.
Anselm canterbury cathedral, norman staircase, library of congress, detroit publishing topics worth investigating 1. The relevance of kants objection to anselms ontological argument. Anselm, descartes, critics, and a contemporary defense luke arredondo ht 503 medieval theology 27 april 20 arredondo 1. Anselm 10331109 was archbishop of canterbury and wrote many influential works, including his proslogium, monologium and cur deus homo.
Saint anselm of canterbury archbishop and philosopher. Criticisms of anselms ontological argument for the being of god. Saint anselm of canterbury o ered several arguments for the existence of god. Many recent authors have interpreted this argument as a modal one.
Anselm of canterburys ontological argument the postbarthian. The ontological argument of gods existence may be traced back to st. Pdf this paper presents the special issue on formal approaches to the ontological argument and briefly. As clearly as possible, restate anselms ontological argument. Saint anselm of canterbury, italianborn theologian and philosopher, known as the father of scholasticism, a philosophical school of thought that dominated the middle ages. Anselm s argument in proslogion 2 was a reflection or prayer rather than a formal piece of. He set out his famous ontological argument in his proslogion. Unlike metaphysical arguments that demonstrate the. Anselms philosophy, and criticisms of anselms ontological argument for the being of god. Ontological arguments stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Wikipedias reprint from the scholarly 1911 encyclopedia britannica on anselm s life and works anselm, the ontological argument a short selection of anselm s argument from proslogium 2 in the online reading for philosophical inquiry on this site. Ontological arguments are arguments, for the conclusion that god exists, from premises which are supposed to derive from some source other than observation of the worlde. The form of the argument is that of a reductio ad absurdum argument. Anselm s ontological argument for the existence of god anselm s argument is an a priori argument.
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