Rethinking Anselm’s Arguments: A Vindication of his Proof of the Existence of God

Description

This book re-examines Anselm’s famous arguments for the existence of God in his Proslogion, and in his Reply. It demonstrates how he validly deduces from plausible premises that God so truly exists that He could not be thought not to exist. Most commentators, ancient and modern, wrongly located his argument in a passage which is not about God at all. It becomes evident that, consequently, much contemporary criticism is based on misreading and misunderstanding his text. It reconstructs his reasoning through three distinct but logically connected stages. It shows that, even if Anselm’s crucial premises are sceptically interpreted, his conclusions still follow. Properly understood, this argument is not vulnerable to the standard criticisms, including Gaunilo’s ‘Lost island’ counter-example. Contents......Page 7 Preface......Page 11 1.1 Why Another Book on Anselm’s Arguments?......Page 13 1.2 Where is ‘Anselm’s Argument’?......Page 16 1.3 The Two Main Divisions......Page 19 1.4 The Layout of this Book......Page 21 Chapter 2 The Text of Proslogion 2–4......Page 24 Chapter 3 The Structure of Anselm’s Argument for the Existence of God......Page 30 3.1 The Two Styles of Discourse......Page 31 3.2 The Quest......Page 33 3.3 The Formula......Page 34 3.4 The Alleged Definition......Page 39 3.5 The Three-Stage Structure......Page 47 3.6 The Extended Quest......Page 55 4.1 The ‘Title’ of P2......Page 57 4.2 The Opening Prayer......Page 60 4.3 The Formula’s Logical Form......Page 64 4.4 The Initial Belief......Page 69 4.5 Translating “esse”......Page 71 4.6 Being in the Fool’s Understanding......Page 78 4.7 How Thought Signifies......Page 87 4.8 The Ambiguity in Thinking of Something......Page 94 4.9 A New Beginning......Page 96 4.10 Being in Anselm’s Understanding......Page 102 5.1 Being Greater......Page 111 5.2 Being in Reality......Page 126 5.3 Kant’s Thesis......Page 140 5.4 Existing Necessarily......Page 144 5.5 An Alternative Premise......Page 151 6.1 Gaps in the Argument......Page 155 6.2 Inferring Existence from Being in Reality......Page 156 6.3 Deducing the Premise of Stage Two......Page 159 7.1 The First Premise......Page 172 7.2 The Second Premise......Page 179 7.3 Something whose Non-existence is Unthinkable......Page 183 7.4 The Alleged Missing Premise......Page 198 7.5 Intensifying Existence......Page 207 7.6 Deducing Anselm’s Actual Conclusion......Page 211 7.7 Universalizing the Conclusion......Page 218 7.8 The Argument with the Alternative Premise......Page 220 8.1 A Two-fold Strategy......Page 230 8.2 The Theological Argument......Page 232 8.3 The Metaphysical Argument......Page 239 8.4 The Uniqueness Argument......Page 246 8.5 The Identification of God......Page 253 8.6 The Allegation of Begging the Question......Page 263 8.7 The Allegation of Circularity......Page 266 8.8 A Sceptical Hypothesis......Page 273 8.9 The Two Interpretations......Page 280 8.10 Existing Most Truly and Maximally......Page 288 9.1 The Two Fools......Page 293 9.2 The Dialectical Setting......Page 295 9.3 The Disappearance of the Fool......Page 299 9.4 How it is Possible to Think the Unthinkable......Page 304 9.5 Gaunilo’s Lost Island......Page 312 9.6 ‘Tidying up’ the Lost Island......Page 319 9.7 Comparing the Arguments......Page 324 9.8 Sinking the Lost Island......Page 328 10.1 The First Leg of the Dilemma in Reply 1......Page 337 10.2 Possibilities and Necessities......Page 341 10.3 The Second Leg of the Dilemma in Reply 1......Page 350 10.4 The Argument in Reply 5......Page 354 10.5 The Argument in Reply 9......Page 356 10.6 Anselm’s Causal Argument......Page 369 10.7 Thinking of Something-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought......Page 379 11.1.1 The Concept of Being in the Understanding......Page 382 11.1.2 The Concept of Being in Reality......Page 385 11.1.3 Why it is Good to be in Reality......Page 389 11.1.4 Reasoning about Properties......Page 391 11.1.5 Being Thought to be in Reality......Page 394 11.1.6 Assessing Stage One......Page 395 11.2.1 The Concept of Existing Intensely......Page 399 11.2.2 Assessing Stage Two......Page 403 11.3.1 The Theological Argument......Page 405 11.3.2 The Metaphysical Argument......Page 406 11.3.3 Everything Other than God......Page 407 11.3.4 Assessing Stage Three......Page 410 11.4 Being Able to Exist or Not to Exist......Page 411 11.5 What can be Thought......Page 414 12.1 Anselm’s Audience?......Page 417 12.2 The Circle of Faith......Page 422 12.3 What Kind of Proof?......Page 429 12.4 Anselm’s Proof and the Ontological Argument......Page 439 12.5 Anselm’s Cosmological Argument......Page 447 13.1 God is ‘per se ipsum’......Page 460 13.2 God is the Creator and the Supreme Good......Page 465 13.3 God is Whatever it is Better to be than Not to be......Page 472 13.4 Some Puzzles about God’s Attributes......Page 475 13.5 The Anguish of Anselm’s Quest......Page 485 13.6 God is Greater than can be Thought......Page 488 13.7 The Quest to Experience God Resumes......Page 496 13.8 Entering into Joy......Page 504 Appendix: The Inferences in Anselm’s 3-Stage Argument......Page 511 References......Page 539 Index......Page 544