An a priori argument for the existence of God that reasons from the very concept of God, as the greatest conceivable being, to the conclusion that such a being must exist, on the grounds that a being that exists is greater than one that does not. Anselm of Canterbury set out the original version in the Proslogion (1078); Descartes offered an independent version in the Fifth Meditation (1641) built on the idea that existence is a perfection contained in the concept of a supremely perfect being; Kant's reply that existence is not a real predicate remains the classical objection, and Alvin Plantinga and Kurt Godel later gave the argument modal restatements.
Facts
Origin YearAnselm's Proslogion; Descartes gave an independent version in the Fifth Meditation, 1641. Classification
Position Kind Connections
Associated With
Descartes' Fifth Meditation gives an independent formulation built on existence as a perfection.
Source Ontological Arguments (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
In Branch
Sources
1. Ontological Arguments (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Ontological Arguments, on Anselms formulation
The first, and best-known, ontological argument was proposed by Anselm of Canterbury in the eleventh century CE.
Ontological Arguments
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 world, e.g., from reason alone.
- Associated With: Rene Descartes
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