Although Anselm’s Ontological Argument was critiqued by Gaunilo, his argument still remains convincing. Gaunilo critiqued Anselm’s argument by replacing the concept of God with the concept of an island. He explained that we can imagine the most excellent island, the ‘greatest conceivable’ island. Therefore he said, by Anselm’s logic, we can go on to say that for this island to exist in our minds, it must be inferior because it only exists in our minds. So, it must exist in reality. However, there is no such island in reality. Gaunilo states that we cannot bring an object into existence by defining it as superior.
However, this was seen as a weak, invalid argument to Anselm. Anselm said that Gaunilo’s argument is illogical because God has a different kind of existence. Anselm’s first argument was that an island can always be made greater (for example: another tree or beach), but God cannot be made any better because he already has those characteristics included. Anselm’s second argument was that an island is no the greatest thing conceivable, there are many things that are greater than an island. Anselm stated that the argument only applies to God because he is “that than which nothing greater can be conceived”.
There is one flaw in Anselm’s argument. As Anselm was a Christian he would have believed that God is transcendent and beyond human understanding. Therefore, it is contradictory to say that God is “that than which nothing greater can be conceived” because God isn’t conceivable. By imaging this perfect God, we are putting a limit on him no longer making him God. If he isn’t God then he isn’t the greatest thing that can be conceived. At this point Anselm’s argument is slightly unconvincing.
Weighing up the arguments, I think that overall Anselm’s argument is still convincing despite the fact there is an argument that makes it unconvincing. The general overall argument is convincing because it is logical to think that God is the greatest thing that can be thought of and to agree with our statement, “that than which nothing greater can be conceived” he must exist in reality.
