Sein als ereignis : zu einigen Voraussetzungen des Gottesbeweises bei Anselm von Canterbury

Abstract

In recent discussions on Anselm's ontological argument, the assumption is made, that Anselm holds 'existence' to be a first order predicate. However, there is no explicit statement in Anselm's texts that confirms this interpretation. In Thomas Aquinas and his predecessors, the logic of subject and predicate is applied on Anselm's argument. Anselm himself has no logic of 'existence'. The exact meaning and function of the expression 'existence' is therefore to be investigated by an interpretation of its actual use in the argument itself. I propose, that Anselm views existence to be an event, and that the term 'maius' can best be interpreted as a relation between different kinds of events.