Aquinas

            Many debates are centered around the topic of the existence of God. People have given what they believe are rational proofs for definite existence, as well as non- existence. When all is said and done, there is no definite proof either way, and we are left to look at the arguments and make a leap of faith. Whether we make it toward science, or toward God is our final decision. Two philosophical and religious figures set out to develop arguments on the existence of God, that have become. These two people were St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Anselm used a combination of faith and reason to delve into the existence and understanding of God. St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, states five proofs to explain the existence of God stressing both logic and reason, while de-emphasizing faith.
             The root of St.Anselms' argument for the existence of God is his faith, Christianity, and the idea of creation out of nothing. St. Anselm begins his ontological argument for the existence of God with ;Aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari posit. St. Anslem begins with this statement which means something which nothing greater can be thought. Anslem makes a decision to take his faith and then seeks to understand it. The end that Anselm was trying to prove was that God exists in reality because if God existed in reality he would automatically exist in the mind. Anselm said that he couldn't have an idea of a being unless the being had already existed: this idea had existed to Anselm through his faith. Anselm went on to propose a proposition that if God exists in reality and in solo intellectu, he would undoubtedly be proven to exist. This would set up a perfect argument for Anselm. Furthermore, if premise a stood for solo intellectu and premise B stood for reality, premise A would be less than A plus B because that which exists in mind and reality is greater than just in mind. This is necessary being the possibility of which is impossible.