Anselm's Ontological Argument

As a theologian and philosopher, Saint Anselm strove to prove the existence of God in reality. The bulk of his argument is found in Chapter II of Proslogium. Anselm begins by defining God as “a being than which nothing greater can be conceived”. He continues by stating that “even a fool” has the capacity to understand this definition of God and that whatever is understood exists in the understanding. Anselm now draws his first intermediate …

…to exist. Necessary things are greater than contingent things because they cannot fail to exist. Therefore Anselm’s premise should be understood as saying that if something exists only in the understanding, and is a possible being, it is a contingent being. But being a contingent being, it could have been greater than it was as a necessary being. By explaining the premise in the way listed above, Kant’s objection is no longer relevant.