13. The Ontological Argument

**If you're new to this series, click here first. 

Some notes:  This argument was created by Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) who tried to create a single argument to show people that and what God is.  It is highly controversial and is often dismissed, yet many serious thinkers throughout the last thousand years have defended it.  While far from conclusive or refutable, it is worth including in this series.  Thank you to Peter Kreeft and Father Ronald Tacelli who break down this proof in The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics.

1. "It is greater for a thing to exist in the mind and in reality than in the mind alone.
2. God means 'that than which a greater cannot be thought'.
3. Suppose that God exists in the mind but not in reality.
4. Then a greater than God could be thought (namely,a being that has all the qualities our thought of God has plus real existence).
5. But this is impossible, for God is 'that than which a greater cannot be thought'.
6. Therefore God exists in the mind and in reality." (pg. 75)

Some questions:
Suppose I deny that God exists in the mind?
Than the proof falls apart.  Yet for it to fall apart you have to deny the existence of any sort of god, which very few are willing to do.

Is it really greater for something to exist in the mind and in reality than in the mind alone?
Yes- imaginary things lack real being.  They lack independence and the ability to do good or harm.  Imaginary things are "wholly dependent on your thought" (Handbook, pg. 75).