preview

The Argument Of The Existence Of God

Decent Essays

The arguments trying to “prove” the existence of God are by far some of the most controversial philosophical arguments out there. When some of the people who created these philosophies it was illegal or even punishable by death to even question his existence, let alone try to come up with a logical explanation to “prove” he is real. The two main arguments used today are the ontological argument and the cosmological argument. Neither one of these arguments are correct nor incorrect; moreover, the argument of God is extremely controversial and will continue on long after our lifetimes. The ontological argument goes back to Plato and Neoplatonist 's but generally comes prevalent with philosopher and theologian St. Anselm. In one of his writings he proposed the argument in the second and bird chapters. Anselm was not directly trying to prove the existence of God, but how God became prevalent to himself through the art of mediation. He defined God as a "being than which no greater can be conceived” (Anselm, 54). He argued that even a fool could understand this concept and with that, he suggested that in understanding the concept in itself means that the thing must exist in the mind. The concept must exist either only in our mind, or in both our mind and in reality. If a concept only exists in the mind a greater being, one that is in the mind and in reality must exist. Therefore, if we cannot conceive a thought of a greater being, that being must exist in the mind and reality.

Get Access