Res Philosophica

Volume 90, Issue 1, January 2013

Philosophy of Religion

Lynne Rudder Baker
Pages 23-32

Updating Anselm Again

I set out four general facts about things that we can refer to and talk about, whether they exist or not. Then, I set out an argument for the existence of God. My argument, like Anselm’s original (11th c.) argument, is a reductio ad absurdum: It shows that the assumption that God does not exist leads to a contradiction. The argument is short and in (almost-)ordinary language. Each line of the argument, other than the reductio premise, is justified by one of the general facts. Finally, I consider some traditional objections to Anselm’s argument, and show how my updated version avoids them.