Chapter 3

If you're confused at this point there's a good possibility that you're over thinking it, and if you're thinking that it's so simple that it can't possibly be a sound argument you're doing what's natural. The very satisfying criticisms will come soon enough, but now it's time for the next little section.

It should start clearing up for you if you read the text a few times over and reading the explanations, he methodical and really boring once you get the hang of where he's coming from. So here he's comin' from the same place just a slightly different angle, it's almost the exact same argument that ended the last section.Anselm is just sorta tweaking what he last said. He ended the last section with the claim that since something that exists in the understanding that can be described as "that than which nothing greater can be thought" it must exist in reality or else it will cease to be "that than which nothing greater can be thought" and become "that than which something greater can be thought" because something that exists is greater than something that does not exist, and this implies a contradiction, so "that than which nothing greater can be thought", or God, necessarily exists.

He continues with his unbelievably dull argument by proposing that "that than which nothing greater can be thought" cannot be thought not to exist. He proves this by virtue of the fact that since it is "that than which nothing greater can be thought" if it can be thought not to exist then it becomes less than that than which nothing greater can be thought and becomes that than which something greater can be thought. This is a contradiction, and thus it is impossible to think that God does not exist. This really just means if you think of a "that than which nothing greater can be thought" a necessary component of that idea is eternal and necessary existence, and thus it cannot be thought not to exist because the thought of something that may not exist is lesser than the thought of something that necessarily exists.

This aspect of the argument is a little more analytic than the original premise of this argument, which takes on the task of necessitating existence of something outside the human mind because of the human mind. This part is more passable given the first part just because it deals with the mind in itself and thoughts rather than stretching the minds habits to necessitating the reality of something.