ABSTRACT
The ontological argument holds that the word 'God' does in fact connote existence among other things, and so holds that the proposition that God exists is true by definition. Anselm, in Proslogion, argues that concept of God is the concept of a being greater than which nothing can be conceived. Rene Descartes' argument goes as follows. God is, by definition, perfect, that is, possesses every perfection there is to possess. Existence is a perfection. The reason why one can define 'God' to be omniscient but not to be existent is that there is an intimate connection between the features of things, or their characteristics or attributes, and the interconnected notions of description, classification and definition, whereas there can be no similar connection between existence and these notions. The orthodox view about the meaning of 'exists', and the difference between it and words for characteristics or attributes, is this.
