The Ontoligical Argument Essay Research Paper Many — страница 2

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what “great” really means, we don t have any reason to think that something existing in reality is greater than something existing only in the mind. I suspect that Anselm might be indirectly suggesting that to exist in reality is to exist more than to exist only in thought. But then again, something either exists or it doesn’t. I understand what people mean when they explain that something exists more or more completely, but what would it be like for something to “exist more really” than something else? I don t see that being possible. St. Thomas Aquinas argued that knowledge is never a priori, and therefore Anselm s argument does not give us any knowledge about God or his essence and existance. This is true, of course, and it thus refutes Anselm s intention–to come

closer to God–of the entire argument, but it does not get rid of the fact that the existence of God is logically necessary. People like Anselem have tried to prove the existence of God throughout the ages. Some of their arguments are good, while others are not as convincing. All of the ontological arguments are either invalid or open to the door to many questions which would be hard to address. In general, then, the problem with ontological arguments is that their conclusions cannot involve expressions with ontological commitment unless those commitments were introduced by expressions used in the premises; they are therefore most likely to be question-begging or invlaid. I believe that if a god existed, there would be evidence of its existence. Its influence would be revealed

in prayers answered everywhere. Its knowledge would be revealed through prophets and books which actually had something intelligent to say.