A Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof That God Exists

Contents
	Preface
	Chapter 1
Introducing Anselm’s Original Proof
		1 Anselm’s Objectives in Writing the Proslogion
		2 Anselm’s Quest
		3 Faith Seeking Understanding
		4 The Standard Misinterpretation of How Anselm Proves that
God Exists
		5 The Invalidity of the Standard Misinterpretation of Anselm’s Proof
		6 The Three-Stage Structure of Anselm’s Proof
	Chapter 2 Introducing a Cosmological Reformulation
of Anselm’s Proof
		1 Inferring That Something Is in Reality from Its Being
in the Understanding
		2 Discovering That Anselm’s Proof Is a Cosmological Argument
		3 Objections to Interpreting Anselm’s Stage Three as a
Metaphysical Argument
		4 A Three-Stage Cosmological Proof of the Existence of God
		5 Inferring That Something Is So Good That Nothing Greater
Could Be Thought
		6 A Note to the Reader
	Chapter 3 The Quintessential Features of Anselm’s
Original Proof
		1 The Provenance of Anselm’s Indefinite Description
		2 The Universality of Anselm’s Indefinite Description
		3 A Definition of “greater than”
		4 That It Is Possible That Something Is Such That a Greater Cannot
Be Thought
		5 Justifying Anselm’s Introduction of That-Than-Which-a-Greater-Cannot-Be-Thought
		6 Being Possible
		7 The Relation of Thinking to Understanding
		8 The Logic of Conceivability
	Chapter 4 A Cosmological Reformulation of Stage One
of Anselm’s Proof
		1 The Development of Modern Cosmology
		2 The Inflationary Model
		3 The Question of Whether the Universe Had a Beginning
		4 The Emergence of Things in the Universe
		5 Inferring the First Premise of a Cosmological Reformulation of
Anselm’s Proof
		6 Existing Contingently
		7 What Exists Contingently Is Greater When It Exists than When
It Does Not
		8 Deducing Anselm’s Stage One Conclusions
		9 Deducing a Stronger Version of Anselm’s Stage One Conclusion
		10 Comparing Anselm’s Stage One Argument with This
Cosmological Reformulation
	Chapter 5 Three Arguments Vindicating Anselm’s Inferring
Reality from Thought
		1 The Argument Based on Beginning to Exist
		2 Some Reflections on This Argument
		3 The Constructive Dilemma Based on Existing Contingently
		4 Some Reflections on Existing with a Beginning
	Chapter 6 A Cosmological Reformulation of Stage Two
of Anselm’s Proof
		1 Discerning the Premise of Anselm’s Original Stage Two
		2 Deriving the Premise of Stage Two from the Reformulated Stage
One Conclusion
		3 Deducing the Interim Conclusion of Stage Two
		4 Deducing Anselm’s Actual Stage Two Conclusion
	Chapter 7 Sinking the Lost Island: Anselm’s Alternative Stage
Two Argument
		1 Gaunilo’s Misunderstanding of Anselm’s Stage One Argument
		2 Introducing Gaunilo’s Lost Island
		3 Assessing Gaunilo’s Parody
		4 Amending Gaunilo’s Inferences to Mimic Anselm’s
		5 Anselm’s First Reason for Rejecting Gaunilo’s Parody
		6 Amending Gaunilo’s Description of the Lost Island
		7 Anselm’s Second Reason for Rejecting Gaunilo’s Parody
		8 Anselm’s Third Reason for Rejecting Gaunilo’s Parody
		9 What Could Not Be Thought to Have a Beginning or an End
		10 Generalizing Anselm’s Refutation of Gaunilo’s Parody
	Chapter 8
Anselm’s Theological Stage Three Argument
		1 The Two-Argument Interpretation of Anselm’s Original Stage Three
		2 The Provenance of the Second Reason in Anselm’s Original
Stage Three
		3 The Role of the First Reason in Anselm’s Original
Stage Three Argument
		4 Deriving the Second Reason in Anselm’s Original Stage
Three Argument
		5 Showing That Stage Three Is Where Anselm Proves That God Exists
		6 Deducing Anselm’s Two Conclusions as Proven Truths
		7 That God Exists Maximally
		8 Anselm’s Reiteration of His Conclusions
	Chapter 9 Anselm’s Cosmological Argument That Only God
Could Not Be Thought Not to Exist
		1 Anselm’s Criteria Which Determine What Can Be Thought Not
to Exist
		2 Anselm’s Defence of His Use of “Cannot Be Thought”
		3 Anselm’s Argument That All But One Can Be Thought Not to Exist
		4 Anselm’s Struggles to Understand Eternity
		5 Justifying Anselm’s Uniqueness Premise
		6 Identifying That Which Is Eternal
	Chapter 10 A Cosmological Reformulation of Stage Three
of Anselm’s Proof
		1 Reviewing the Cosmological Reformulation of Stages One and Two
		2 Proving That Something Exists Supremely
		3 Deducing an Analogue of Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise
		4 Validating Anselm’s Cosmological Argument in Reply IV
		5 Introducing a Dilemma to Justify Anselm’s Crucial Stage
Three Premise
		6 Deducing Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise on
Theological Grounds
		7 Deducing Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise on
Cosmological Grounds
		8 Justifying Anselm’s Crucial Stage Three Premise in the Strongest
Possible Way
		9 Deducing Anselm’s Stage Three Conclusions
		10 An Alleged Counter-Example to Anselm’s Stage Three Premise
		11 Comparing the Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof
with the Original
	Chapter 11 Anselm’s unum argumentum and the Identity
of God
		1 Introducing the Criteria Which Anselm’s unum argumentum
Must Satisfy
		2 Interpreting Anselm’s unum argumentum as a Syllogism
		3 Identifying the God Whose Existence Is Proven in Proslogion III
		4 Discerning the Overall Plot of the Proslogion
		5 Interpreting Anselm’s unum argumentum as a Phrase
		6 Interpreting Anselm’s unum argumentum as a Proposition
		7 Identifying Anselm’s unum argumentum
		8 Confirming the Identification of Anselm’s unum argumentum
		9 Referring to God
	Chapter 12 The Contemporary Relevance of Anselm’s
Metaphysical Views
		1 Two Conceptions of Existing
		2 The Denial That Existing Has Degrees of Intensity
		3 The Rise of Physicalism
		4 Anselm’s Understanding of Abilities
		5 Anselm’s Account of Understanding
		6 Anselm’s Views on Existing Contingently
		7 The Significance of Kant’s Refutation of the Ontological Argument
		8 A Proposal That Everything Exists Contingently
		9 Existing Necessarily
	Chapter 13
Some Concluding Reflections
		1 Considering Some Implications of Anselm’s Proof
		2 How Something Described in Terms of Thought Can Be Proven
to Exist
		3 Anselm’s Understanding of “Faith”
		4 Anselm’s Journey from Belief to Understanding
		5 The Limits of Understanding
		6 Understanding Spacetime as Permeated by an Eternal God
	Appendix A Validating Anselm’s Claim That It Is Greater to Be
in Reality than Not
	Appendix B The Deduction of the Three Stages of the
Cosmological Reformulation of Anselm’s Proof
	Bibliography
	Index