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The argument was created by a churchman for churchmen, it wasn't intended or used as a popular argument, but it's worth understanding that c. 1000 CE this argum
by nemo 3y ago
The argument was created by a churchman for churchmen, it wasn't intended or used as a popular argument, but it's worth understanding that c. 1000 CE this argument seemed compelling to literate folks who were introduced to it. If people had thought it was ludicrous nonsense they actually were free to say this, this is a philosophical argument, not doctrine, and the Church didn't have too much to do with supporting/opposing such things other than opposing philosophical arguments seen as heretical.
- bombcar 3y agoAnd even Aquinas, who did not think Anselm's argument worked, thought it worthy enough to engage.
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoAt the time, in Europe, atheism was simply not a permitted intellectual path to take. It was basically inconceivable. So nobody truly needed to "prove" God, and the argument "works" for some thinkers because its presupposition and ends confirm what they already "know" to be true.