♦ Ace of Diamonds
the ontological and a priori family
The Ontological Argument
St Anselm of Canterbury
Proslogion

DemonstrativeConcludes that something exists.
- Argument form
- Reductio ad absurdum
- Concludes to
- God as such (that than which nothing greater can be conceived, existing in reality)
- Premise ground
- Conceptual (that than which nothing greater can be conceived; to exist in reality is greater)
- Modal strength
- Actual (existence in reality; necessity is the Proslogion 3 argument, 9♦)
- What it licenses
- Period
- Medieval (1077–78)
- Tradition
- Augustinian (Anselmian)
Further reading
- Source text, public domain
Proslogionpatrologiaecurs55unkngoog.pdf - A scholarly account
Read an exposition of the argument - A principal objection
Read the objection in full
This formulation is ours, composed from the primary source and compressed to fit the card; the argument admits of other statements. Objections have been made to every argument in the deck; where one is linked above, it is chosen by us, not written by us.
ergocards.com/ontological
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