A Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof That God Exists

Richard Campbell, AM, MA BD (Sydney), DPhil (Oxford), FACE, is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at The Australian National University. He has published books on the concepts of truth and emergence, and on Anselm’s proof: From Belief to Understanding (ANU, 1976) and Rethinking Anselm’s Arguments (Brill, 2018).

Preface





1 Introducing Anselm’s Original Proof


 1 Anselm’s Objectives in Writing the Proslogion


 2 Anselm’s Quest


 3 Faith Seeking Understanding


 4 The Standard Misinterpretation of How Anselm Proves that God Exists


 5 The Invalidity of the Standard Misinterpretation of Anselm’s Proof


 6 The Three-Stage Structure of Anselm’s Proof





2 Introducing a Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof


 1 Inferring That Something Is in Reality from Its Being in the Understanding


 2 Discovering That Anselm’s Proof Is a Cosmological Argument


 3 Objections to Interpreting Anselm’s Stage Three as a Metaphysical Argument


 4 A Three-Stage Cosmological Proof of the Existence of God


 5 Inferring That Something Is So Good That Nothing Greater Can Be Thought


 6 A Note to the Reader





3 The Quintessential Features of Anselm’s Original Proof


 1 The Provenance of Anselm’s Indefinite Description


 2 The Universality of Anselm’s Indefinite Description


 3 A Definition of “greater than”


 4 That It Is Possible That Something Is Such That a Greater Cannot Be Thought


 5 Justifying Anselm’s Introduction of That-Than-Which-a-Greater- Cannot-Be-Thought


 6 Being Possible


 7 The Relation of Thinking to Understanding


 8 The Logic of Conceivability





4 A Cosmological Reformulation of Stage One of Anselm’s Proof


 1 The Development of Modern Cosmology


 2 The Inflationary Model


 3 The Question of Whether the Universe Had a Beginning


 4 The Emergence of Things in the Universe


 5 Inferring the First Premise of a Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof


 6 Existing Contingently


 7 What Exists Contingently Is Greater When It Exists than When It Does Not


 8 Deducing Anselm’s Stage One Conclusions


 9 Deducing a Stronger Version of Anselm’s Stage One Conclusion


 10 Comparing Anselm’s Stage One Argument with This Cosmological Reformulation





5 Three Arguments Vindicating Anselm’s Inferring Reality from Thought


 1 The Argument Based on Beginning to Exist


 2 Some Reflections on This Argument


 3 The Constructive Dilemma Based on Existing Contingently


 4 Some Reflections on Existing with a Beginning





6 A Cosmological Reformulation of Stage Two of Anselm’s Proof


 1 Discerning the Premise of Anselm’s Original Stage Two


 2 Deriving the Premise of Stage Two from the Reformulated Stage One Conclusion


 3 Deducing the Interim Conclusion of Stage Two


 4 Deducing Anselm’s Actual Stage Two Conclusion





7 Sinking the Lost Island: Anselm’s Alternative Stage Two Argument


 1 Gaunilo’s Misunderstanding of Anselm’s Stage One Argument


 2 Introducing Gaunilo’s Lost Island


 3 Assessing Gaunilo’s Parody


 4 Amending Gaunilo’s Inferences to Mimic Anselm’s


 5 Anselm’s First Reason for Rejecting Gaunilo’s Parody


 6 Amending Gaunilo’s Description of the Lost Island


 7 Anselm’s Second Reason for Rejecting Gaunilo’s Parody


 8 Anselm’s Third Reason for Rejecting Gaunilo’s Parody


 9 What Could Not Be Thought to Have a Beginning or an End


 10 Generalizing Anselm’s Refutation of Gaunilo’s Parody





8 Anselm’s Theological Stage Three Argument


 1 The Two-Argument Interpretation of Anselm’s Original Stage Three


 2 The Provenance of the Second Reason in Anselm’s Original Stage Three


 3 The Role of the First Reason in Anselm’s Original Stage Three Argument


 4 Deriving the Second Reason in Anselm’s Original Stage Three Argument


 5 Showing That Stage Three Is Where Anselm Proves That God Exists


 6 Deducing Anselm’s Two Conclusions as Proven Truths


 7 That God Exists Maximally


 8 Anselm’s Reiteration of His Conclusions





9 Anselm’s Cosmological Argument That Only God Could Not Be Thought Not to Exist


 1 Anselm’s Criteria Which Determine What Can Be Thought Not to Exist


 2 Anselm’s Defence of His Use of “Cannot Be Thought”


 3 Anselm’s Argument That All But One Can Be Thought Not to Exist


 4 Anselm’s Struggles to Understand Eternity


 5 Justifying Anselm’s Uniqueness Premise


 6 Identifying That Which Is Eternal





10 A Cosmological Reformulation of Stage Three of Anselm’s Proof


 1 Reviewing the Cosmological Reformulation of Stages One and Two


 2 Proving That Something Exists Supremely


 3 Deducing an Analogue of Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise


 4 Validating Anselm’s Cosmological Argument in Reply IV


 5 Introducing a Dilemma to Justify Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise


 6 Deducing Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise on Theological Grounds


 7 Deducing Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise on Cosmological Grounds


 8 Justifying Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise in the Strongest Possible Way


 9 Deducing Anselm’s Stage Three Conclusions


 10 An Alleged Counter-Example to Anselm’s Stage Three Premise


 11 Comparing the Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof with the Original





11 Anselm’s unum argumentum and the Identity of God


 1 Introducing the Criteria Which Anselm’s unum argumentum Must Satisfy


 2 Interpreting Anselm’s unum argumentum as a Syllogism


 3 Identifying the God Whose Existence Is Proven in Proslogion III


 4 Discerning the Overall Plot of the Proslogion


 5 Interpreting Anselm’s unum argumentum as a Phrase


 6 Interpreting Anselm’s unum argumentum as a Proposition


 7 Identifying Anselm’s unum argumentum


 8 Confirming the Identification of Anselm’s unum argumentum


 9 Referring to God





12 The Contemporary Relevance of Anselm’s Metaphysical Views


 1 Two Conceptions of Existing


 2 The Denial That Existing Has Degrees of Intensity


 3 The Rise of Physicalism


 4 Anselm’s Understanding of Abilities


 5 Anselm’s Account of Understanding


 6 Anselm’s Views on Existing Contingently


 7 The Significance of Kant’s Refutation of the Ontological Argument


 8 A Proposal That Everything Exists Contingently


 9 Existing Necessarily





13 Some Concluding Reflections


 1 Considering Some Implications of Anselm’s Proof


 2 How Something Described in Terms of Thought Can Be Proven to Exist


 3 Anselm’s Understanding of “Faith”


 4 Anselm’s Journey from Belief to Understanding


 5 The Limits of Understanding


 6 Understanding Spacetime as Permeated by an Eternal God





Appendix A: Validating Anselm’s Claim That It Is Greater to Be in Reality than Not





Appendix B: The Deduction of the Three Stages of the Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof


Bibliography


Index