For centuries there has been argument over the hypothesis that God is “that which nothing greater can be thought”. Since Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, this has been known as “the ontological argument,” and it seems that all major thinkers have had to give it some consideration.[1] It originates with St. Anselm, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury. In his book Proslogion, whose original title is the classic definition of theology, fides quærens intellectum,[2] he ends the first chapter with these words, “For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe even this: that unless I believe, I shall not understand.”[3]
In chapter 2, Anselm continues:
Therefore, O Lord, You who give understanding to faith, grant me to understand … that You exist, as we believe, and that You are what we believe [You to be]. Indeed, we believe You to be something than which nothing greater can be thought [credimus te esse aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit]. Or is there, then, no such nature [as You], for the Fool has said in his heart that God does not exist?[4] But surely when this very same Fool hears my words “something than which nothing greater can be thought,” he understands what he hears. And what he understands is in his understanding, even if he does not understand [i.e., judge] it to exist. […] But surely that than which a…
