Anselm & Descartes: Philosophical Arguments on the Existence of God

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This essay delves into the philosophical arguments for the existence of God, primarily focusing on the viewpoints of St. Anselm and Rene Descartes. Anselm's ontological argument, centered on the concept of God as the greatest conceivable being, is presented alongside Descartes' arguments from his Third Meditation, emphasizing the idea of an infinite substance and the perfection inherent in creation. The essay explores Descartes' assertion that the idea of perfection originates from a perfect being, thus proving God's existence. Counterarguments from philosophers like Hobos and Kant are also acknowledged, highlighting the Western philosophical perspective on the matter. The essay further touches upon Descartes' skepticism and the evil genius hypothesis, contrasting it with Edmund Gettier's arguments on the nature of knowledge. Ultimately, the essay concludes that despite the disputable nature of God's existence, the arguments presented by Anselm and Descartes offer a compelling case for belief, supported by the concept of creation by an infinite being.
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Evidence of God's Being
Topic: the topic is about the existence of God. There is a 50% chance that any proposition is
true. Is it true that he does exist? According to Anderson C Anthony, there are various risks of
writing about the existence of God. Here is a famous argument about the existence of God
from St. Anslem. There are many versions to this argument also called the Ontological
argument. The argument revolve around these five points
1. God is greater than anything that can be thought.
2. A God that has traceability of existence is greater than that which does not exist
3. If God doesn’t exist, he is greater than that which can’t be thought
4. From the arguments in 1 and 3 above, the rule Modus tollens infer that God does
exist.
5. God exists according to the arguments
According to Anselm, the argument that God is that than which nothing greater can be ideally
conceived is an analytic proposition. Anselm saw it that way.
When the argument that God does not exists arose, some philosophical arguments were also
advanced and to counter such. Rene Descartes arguments came from his third meditation. He
saw it that he is a substance and so he came from somewhere. He said in his arguments that
he does not have an idea of an infinite substance seeing that he is a finite being unless it were
given by some infinite substance. It cannot withstand the argument that perhaps the argument
is, materially wrong and false. Rene also said that the idea of a supremely perfect being and
infinite is the greatest degree of truth, unless we imagine that such a being cannot exist in any
realm.
Descartes has several arguments on Gods existence. He first finds himself within the idea of
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perfection. The creation of man was a conceived idea from a perfect being seeking perfection
in creation. Something just as real as the creator must have come from a perfect being and
therefore God exists. The perfect thing is concluded to be God.
He states that some propositions are settled by observation. Descartes was Descartes even
when he didn’t have the idea of perfection in him. He settles the argument in both synthetic
and analytical proposition of perfectionism showing that only God is perfect. The synthetic
claims says that the effects can never be as real as their causes.
Number 5 is the conclusion: he suggests that the reality was created by something or
someone existing independently and that God truly exists.
Hobos and Kant argue against the proposition by Descartes, after all, many of us have
studied specifically Western philosophy and our very thinking has acquired such a western
"taste" as to the existence of God. How many times have we heard: but you prove, rationally
justify that God is! And if by and large such evidence is unlikely to lead a person to God, it
does not mean that they are absolutely useless. After all, for someone, they can be the first
step on the path to Gods existence.
The first argument about meditation presents other overlapping arguments where
many contemporary philosophers use in the generation of skeptical conclusion that are
unheard of the external world. The Cartesian skeptics use Descartes argument. They
challenge the reliability of the senses we have and later argue that we cannot claim to know
anything about the external world. The principle works when Descartes introduces the
knowledge principle. Descartes says that we all have a reason to doubt soothing that is not
familiar to us. We do not know whether the thing is true. He says that his goal is his own
knowledge and is the same as the reasonable belief. He does not think that reasonable belief
is as same as the principle of knowledge. There is some truth in what he says.
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In this process, Descartes has to generate skepticism in his argument. He argues that by
experience we came to have knowledge of the external world. I am typing this literature
because I can type on my computer, I can see it, I can feel it and also hear it type. He
introduced the much acclaimed evil genius hypothesis. In his assumption, the evil genius
which he sometimes calls the demons has kept on deceiving him all his life. It fools him all
his life that he has been in the physical world which is much like the one we experience. He
compares the evil genius to the movie the matrix. In this article, the existence of anything or
structure requires a continuous expenditure of energy; When its internal stock is depleted or
its inflow is extinguished from outside, the structure is destroyed (René, 78).
Edmund Gettiers has a contrasting argument on the nature of knowledge. He uses the rule of
inference to show that knowledge is not a justified true belief. Although the notion of belief
and truth in knowledge has been lurking in many discussions, many may have a better. The
existence of God is not disputed with evidence.
Conclusion
The existence of God can be disputed, however, with many philosophers like Anselm and
Descartes having a good argument as to why God exists, the proposition outweighs the
nonbelief. He said in his arguments that he does not have an idea of an infinite substance
seeing that he is a finite being unless it were given by some infinite substance. It cannot
withstand the argument that perhaps the argument is, materially wrong and false. Examples of
creation of man by an infinite being as described by Descartes only cements the argument.
The creation of man was a conceived idea from a perfect being seeking perfection in creation.
Something just as real as the creator must have come from a perfect being and therefore God
exists. The perfect thing is concluded to be God.
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Works Cited
Akbari, Reza, and Khaled Zand Salimi. "Gutting’s critical View to the Truth-Independent
Justification Models on Believe in God." (2016).
ANDERSON, C. ANTHONY. "Gödel’s ‘proof’for the existence of God." Mathematicians
and their Gods: Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs (2015).pp 32
Chan, Man Ho. "The fine-tuned universe and the existence of God." (2017).pp 45-49
Collins, Robin. "A scientific argument for the existence of God." Philosophy of Religion: An
Anthology (2014): 210.
Descartes, René. Meditations on first philosophy: in which the existence of God and the
distinction between mind and body are demonstrated. Stonewell Press, 2014.pp 56-61
Ewing, Alfred Cyril. "Value and reality: the philosophical case for theism." (2016).pp 103-
112
Lin, Felix. "The contribution to belief in the existence of God by FJ Belinfante’s argument
from the consciousness-base theory in Quantum mechanics." Philosophy (2015).pp
47-49
Mills, Jon. "The existence of God." Inventing God. Routledge, 2016. 44-46.
Paton, Herbert James. The Modern Predicament: a study in the philosophy of religion.
Routledge, 2014.pp 63-67
Swinburne, Richard. "Why Believe That There Is a God?." Religious Inquiries 5.10 (2016):
5-18.
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