ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT:
the so-called "PROOF" for the EXISTENCE of GOD which is
distinguished by its claim to be an A PRIORI argument. It is associated with ANSELM of
CANTERBURY who argued that God is the BEING "than which nothing greater can be
conceived." Since existence is greater than non-existence, the greatest conceivable
being must of necessity exist. Therefore God exists necessarily. In a second form of the
argument, Anselm argues that God cannot be conceived as not existing because existence is
logically appropriate to the idea of God as PERFECTION. Therefore either the idea of God
is self-contradictory, or if it is consistent, then God exists necessarily.
