René Descartes, from The Philosophy of Descartes in Extracts from His Writings. Green is for the argument and Red is against it. This provides some prima facie warrant for thinking that it is possible that a maximally … A perfect being is perfect in every way. His extension and expansion of St Anselm's ontological argument is still held in high regard today by philosophers of all branches. Although a version of the ontological argument appears explicitly in the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher Xenophanes and variations appear in writings by Parmenides, Plato, and the Neoplatonists, the mainstream view is that the ontological argument was first clearly stated and developed by Anselm of Canterbury. Get access risk-free for 30 days, Study.com has thousands of articles about every An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God that uses ontology.Many arguments fall under the category of the ontological, and they tend to involve arguments about the state of being or existing. Therefore, if the universe is the product of an existent creator, we could conceive of a greater being—one which does not exist. But the one being philosophers seem most interested in discussing is God. He invited his reader to conceive an island “more excellent” than any other island. Christianity - Christianity - The ontological argument: The ontological argument, which proceeds not from the world to its Creator but from the idea of God to the reality of God, was first clearly formulated by St. Anselm (1033/34–1109) in his Proslogion (1077–78). [52] Although this criticism is directed against a cosmological argument, similar to that of Samuel Clarke in his first Boyle Lecture, it has been applied to ontological arguments as well.[54]. Deals with the argument as laid down by Anselm and developed by Descartes. Criticisms of the Ontological Argument Starter Briefly outline Anslems’ first argument Anselm v Gaunilo Students research Gaunilo’s criticism of Anslem and outline both the criticism and response by Anselm. Most philosophers today think that Descarte’s ontological arguments are troubling. He states that by taking the subject of God with all its predicates and then asserting that God exists, “I add no new predicate to the conception of God”. This being either exists in mind, reality or both, a. First, he argues that such necessary propositions are necessarily true only if such a being exists: If a triangle exists, it must have three angles. 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