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Words: | Submitted: Tue Jun 20 2006
... only to dismiss his existence. Therefore everyone must have the 'conception' of God in their mind, regardless of whether they believe in Him or not. This 'conception' is very important, and so Anselm then goes on a step further saying 'that which exists in reality is greater than that which exists purely in the mind.' To illustrate this, imagine being given £1000. Wouldn't it be better to receive the money in reality? What Anselm is trying to say is that something that exists in the mind lacks the 'essence' of that actual object in reality; this means that it does not have aseity. But since God is 'that than which no greater can be conceived' He must exist in reality or he would be lacking 'existence' which Anselm is claiming to be a predicate that makes things better than just imaging them. Hence, God must exist in reality, or ...
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