On the logic of the ontological argument stanford university. Semen frank 18771950 was one of the first and most ardent advocates of the ontological argument in the twentieth century. Anselm claims that we can prove the existence of god, without any evidence from experience, simply by understanding the concept of god. The form of the argument is that of a reductio ad absurdum argument. In arguments by equipollent propositions, the substitution of equivalent expressions for one another, anselm forms a set of unbreakable links between premise and conclusion because each expression in the progression of the argument is the equivalent of that for which it is substituted. Wikipedias reprint from the scholarly 1911 encyclopedia britannica on anselms life and works anselm, the ontological argument a short selection of anselms argument from proslogium 2 in the online reading for philosophical inquiry on this site. Combines pdf files, views them in a browser and downloads. To be unconditionally conclusive, the argument must be formulated as follows. Saint anselm of canterbury offered several arguments for the existence of god. We examine the famous ontological argument in proslogium ii.
Our pdf merger allows you to quickly combine multiple pdf files into one single pdf document, in just a few clicks. Many arguments fall under the category of the ontological, and. Generalization in his critique of the ontological argument. The one fatal flaw in anselms argument peter millican. Leibniz stresses the incompleteness of previous versions of the ontological argument. Norman malcolm revived the ontological argument in 1960 when he located. About the work although anselms argument for gods existence presented in this article is based on predominately on reason, anselm presents the argument as clari. The one fatal flaw in anselms argument 439 gods existence, and another under which it is validand indeed soundbut fails to prove the existence of god. And, as is well known, of all the versions of the ontological argument, it is anselms argument for gods existence that stands out the most. Anselms ontological argument for the existence of god. Anselms text anselms ontological argument is presented in his proslogion, starting with chapter ii, though where the argument ends is more controversial.
One of the famous arguments for the existence of god is the ontological argument. An analysis of plantingas response to the ontological argument. Anselms ontological argument for the existence of god anselms argument is an a priori argument. An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of god that uses ontology. Few people, i should think, have been brought to belief in god.