Section A: 3.3 Proofs of God


Past Exam Question

The existence of God is something about which I cannot be certain. Outline what you think Anselm and Aquinas would each say in response to the above statement.



Both Anselm and Aquinas believed it was possible to prove God’s existence through the application of reason and logic. St Anselm was an 11th century Christian theologian who believed he could prove God’s existence by looking very carefully at the idea of God. St Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Christian philosopher and we encounter his ideas in other areas of the course.




Ontological argument


Anselm begins by asking; what do we mean by God? For Anselm the term ‘God’ refers to that than which nothing greater can be conceived – this essentially means that God is the most perfect being that can be imagined.

Secondly, Anselm affirms that existence in reality is greater than existence in understanding. Things that exist in the imagination only are lesser. Therefore, perfection requires existence.

For Anselm, accepting both of these premises leads us to one logical conclusion – God, the most perfect being, must exist – existence is a requirement for perfection. If God did not exist, then he wouldn’t be perfect. This is because actual existence is more perfect than existence in understanding.

From our perspective this argument may be implausible – but there is a definite logic to it. However, if you don’t agree with the terms Anselm uses to define both ‘God’ and ‘perfection’, then his argument falls apart.


Five proofs


Aquinas derived, through reason, five proofs for the existence of God. They are as follows:

Prime mover – nothing can move itself. No moving thing contains in itself the complete explanation of its movement. There must exist, therefore according to this argument, a being distinct from the world who gave it motion.

First cause – a thing must exist before it can act: nothing can make itself. When anything new come into existence it must have been brought into existence by something else. The first cause therefore of all things in nature must necessarily be uncaused. It was not brought into existence; thus, it must have existence of itself, it must be self-existent.

Necessary being – according to Aquinas’ argument there are no circumstances under which God might never have existed or might cease to exist. He did not come into being, he will not cease to be. He was from all eternity and will be for all eternity. He is the reason for his own existence and the existence of everything else. Nothing caused him, nothing made him. He just is. 

Perfect standard – There are things in life people call good, noble, true. People say that some things are less good, or on the other hand, that some things are better than others. This leads to the conclusion that there are degrees of goodness. Now if there are degrees, there must be a highest degree - the best, truest, noblest and consequently also the greatest being. There must be something that is the cause of being, of goodness, of every perfection in all things. That something is God.

Intelligent design – We can see that the universe works and is ordered. Therefore we can conclude that it was designed by an intelligent designer. Aquinas calls this intelligent designer God.

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