Ontological Argument for God Existence

Anselm who was one of the Christian philosophers in the eleven century wanted to prove the existence of God by using the Ontological Argument, which explains that the imaginable God must exist and if one believes that a concept of God is the greatest existence above all then it must exist. The greatest existence means a being that “no other imaginable being is above it”, hence God exists in reality. Therefore when something exists in what we know is there and what we understand, it becomes greater than everything else. Making assumptions that God exists in the understanding alone, he becomes greater for there is a high possibility of him existing authentically.

The argument concludes that God is great and all-powerful. God is the greatest speculatively. If wholeness includes the concept of existence because if something is not perfect, it means that the thing is not whole and one cannot imagine God as being incomplete.

Now Anselm provides evidence of the real existence of “a being that no other imaginable being is above it”. He maintains that God is a necessary being and apart from being unique he is also perfect. Anselm needed to prove how necessary the being of God is. He also needed to provide evidence on existence since everything has grounds to prove their non-existence. We cannot think that “a being that no other imaginable is above it” does not exist because of irrelevance. Therefore, it exists without the possibility of thinking of its non-existence; God is an inevitable existence. Anselm used deductive reasoning to get to his conclusion. The deductive logic made him an easy target for disapprovals.

Gaunilo, who was also a logician, criticized Anselm’s argument. Anselm insists that we cannot prove existence since some people think it may not be true. Even though understanding it exists, we cannot make it certain that God exists in reality. He proves his repudiation by giving an example of the Lost Land and the fertile land. It is possible to understand the existence of an island but we cannot confidently say that it was real or not. When superiority of the land does prove, we acknowledge the fact of its existence. The fact of the land’s inexistence in understanding is wrong because it does not exist in reality. This proves Anselm’s Argument.

On the other hand, Anselm’s argument insists that if we understand the foreseeable existence, it already exists by understanding. There is the existence of “a being that no other imaginable being is above it” without beginning. If something can be thought of as existing, even non-existence has been from the beginning. Alternatively, if I think something is non-existence, it means I consider something. However, if I do not think of that one, I could not think of its inexistence. Therefore, God’s existence is not being swayed.

Subsequent to Anselm’s argument being there for 1000 years, many philosophers still prepare new interpretations and analyses about his demonstration. God is “a being that no other imaginable being is above it”. Some people think God is not there, but I believe his perfection and indispensable existence. Therefore, if we understand God is greater and cannot be conceived, no one should doubly think that God is not there. Everything concludes that God therefore continues to live both by what we understand and in what we know is certain.