Anselm's Sleight-of-Hand: A Brief Deconstruction of Anselm's Ontological Argument

Abstract

In this brief essay, I argue that Anselm's ontological argument for the existence of God achieves its effect through the verbal equivalent of a magician's "sleight-of-hand." More technically, the argument commits the informal fallacy of equivocation. I provide a brief analysis of the argument's text to demonstrate this.

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Richard Oxenberg
Emory University (PhD)

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