ontological argument

existence of

God

first

The first ontological argument in Western Christian tradition was proposed by Saint Anselm of Canterbury in his 1078 work, Proslogion (Latin: Proslogium, lit. ‘Discourse [on the Existence of God]’), in which he defines God as “a being than which no greater can be conceived,” and argues that such a being must exist in the mind, even in that of the person who denies the existence of God.

random

Everything is only a dream. Émile Zola, Le Rêve [The Dream] (1888).

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Ontological Arguments (plato.standford.edu) 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. In other words, ontological arguments are arguments from what are typically alleged to be none but analytic, a priori and necessary premises to the conclusion that God exists.

tagged

Despite his lack of recognition in this field in his own time, Anselm is now famed as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and of the satisfaction theory of atonement.

tags

philosophy

Wikipedia

Ontological argument (Wikipedia) An ontological argument is a philosophical argument, made from an ontological basis, that is advanced in support of the existence of God. Such arguments tend to refer to the state of being or existing. More specifically, ontological arguments are commonly conceived a priori in regard to the organization of the universe, whereby, if such organizational structure is true, God must exist.