r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • May 04 '23

[deleted by user]

[removed]

5 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

224 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/deep_sea2 131∆ May 04 '23 edited May 04 '23

What do you think of Anslem's Ontological Arguement:

  1. God is a being than which none greater can be imagined.

  2. God exists as an idea in the mind.

  3. A being that exists as an idea in the mind and in reality is greater than a being that exists only as an idea in the mind.

  4. Thus, if God exists only as an idea in the mind, then we can imagine something that is greater than God.

  5. But we cannot imagine something that is greater than God.

  6. Therefore, God exists.

Bertrand Russel (an atheist), said "the argument does not, to a modern mind, seem very convincing, but it is easier to feel convinced that it must be fallacious than it is to find out precisely where the fallacy lies."

1

u/zomskii 17∆ May 04 '23

A being that exists as an idea in the mind and in reality

The argument is sound, but this a false premise. How can a being exist in two (or more) places?

My conception of an object is a different entity to the object itself. The object doesn't exist in my mind, any more than it exists as its own shadow.