Debating Anselm's Ontological Argument: From Kant to Contemporary Scholars Abigail Joy Sommer College

Although faith is a major component of Christianity, Christians and Atheists alike can see the benefit of trying to prove the existence of God from a philosophical viewpoint. The accuracy of the transmission of New Testament text can easily be proven by studying ancient history, writings, and codicology, however proving the existence of God has led to less decisive results. Among the main arguments are the Ontological argument, the teleological argument, and the cosmological argument. For the purposes of time, this paper will focus solely on the Ontological Argument. Anselm’s Ontological Argument for the existence of God has been questioned because of his claim that existence is a great-making property, however it remains one of the most influential and arguments for the existence of God to this day.

In order to understand Saint Anselm’s argument, one must first examine the way in which he differentiates existence in the understanding as opposed to existence in reality. In chapter two of his argument he writes that it is “…one thing for a thing to stand in relation to our understanding; it is another thing for us to understand that it really exists” (D4, Anselm). He then goes on to use the example of how a painting only exists...