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What is Anselm's four-dimensionalist approach to God's timelessness?

User Zuul
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Final answer:

Anselm's ontological argument defines God as the greatest conceivable being, implying that God must exist in reality to be truly the greatest. The four-dimensionalist view of God's timelessness can be inferred from the argument, positing that God exists in a manner that transcends time.

Step-by-step explanation:

Anselm's ontological argument proposes that the conception of God is that of a supreme being, referred to as 'something than which nothing greater can be thought.'

This line of reasoning posits that the greatest conceivable being (GCB) must exist in reality because if the GCB existed only in the mind, it would not be the greatest conceivable being, as a being that exists both in reality and in the mind would be greater.

Anselm's argument details a distinction between necessary and contingent beings, with God being a necessary being, meaning that His existence is not dependent on anything else and is thus self-evident or a priori, similar to the conclusions reached in mathematical proofs.

The four-dimensionalist approach to God's timelessness, although not specifically articulated by Anselm, can be inferred from the argument's implications.

As God contains the changeable universe within Himself, yet His abstract elements such as goodness and wisdom remain eternally solid, this suggests a view in which God is outside of the temporal dimensions that govern our universe, thus being timeless.

God's interaction with a temporal universe yet remaining unchanged suggests a reality where God is present in all moments of time simultaneously - a hallmark of four-dimensionalism, where time is another dimension like the spatial dimensions.

User Andrew Church
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