Anselm's Cosmological Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Anselm's Cosmological Argument - Essay Example The above proof is crucial in that ultimately Anselm has to prove that God is the first cause of all things and of itself. Without the above conclusion, there would be some things that God must not have caused.   If there is more than one cause, then a) all things are the one being through which they all exist, or b) all things exist separately each by virtue of itself or they cause one another to exist. The next part of the proof is where Anselm goes back to each of the three parts of statement #5 and disproves each of the three subparts in order to prove in the end that there is only one being that caused the existence of everything: Using the notion of â€Å"master† and â€Å"slave,† it is impossible for one being to confer existence on the one being that had originally conferred existence on the former. Moreover, all things â€Å"do not at all exist mutually,† which means that it would be impossible that each one would cause one another, and so there must not be more than one being. Based on statement #6, #7, and #8, and employing elimination in #5, Anselm arrives at the conclusion that there must be only one thing that causes the existence of all things including itself. After Anselm has concluded that there must only be one being that caused the existence of all things including itself, his final task, through the last two paragraphs, was to prove that this one cause was the greatest of all beings: Such an ability to cause itself and others is, therefore, the attribute of the greatest being, while all other things cannot cause themselves. The last part of the proof is the part where Anselm tries to prove that this one being which is the greatest of all is God.