000			02221cam a2200289 a 4500
001			4559201
003			AU-EpEBC
005			20120419152250.0
008			080422s2008 nyuabf b 001 0 eng
015			_aGBA866503 _2bnb
016	7		_a014614824 _2Uk
020			_a9780977743360 (hbk.)
020			_a0977743365 (hbk.)
040			_aOCoLC _beng _cOCoLC _dNEMB
082	0	4	_a212.1/WIT
998			_bEW
100	1		_aWitham, Larry, _d1952-
245	1	4	_aThe proof of God : _bthe debate that shaped modern belief / _cLarry Witham.
260			_aNew York : _bAtlas : _bDistributed to the trade by W.W. Norton, _cc2008.
300			_a217 p., [16] p. of plates ; _billus. (some col.), map ; hbk ; _c16 cm.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [199]-209) and index.
520			_aAnselm, Ockham, and Descartes: three thinkers locked in one of Western philosophy's greatest debates. In 1078, Anselm of Bec wrote the most famous proof in Western religious tradition--what we know now as the "ontological argument" for God's existence. Stating that the "idea" and "reality" of God were the same, Anselm provoked enormous controversy through a radical approach: rather than appealing to the Bible, church authority, or the physical senses, he employed the faculties of his mind, crafting a method of logic that paved the way for modern thought. Larry Witham traces our modern-day conceptions of faith and reason back to Anselm's formidable claim. In attempting to "prove God," Anselm unleashed a medieval debate that culminated in William of Ockham, whose notorious "razor" denied all such proofs, limiting knowledge to "things" only. Scrupulously managing fact and theory, Witham tells the story of this intellectual quest across the Middle Ages and how it inspired the West's "first modern philosopher," Rene Descartes. By turns history, biography, and philosophical inquiry, The Proof of God follows one of the seminal arguments of Western belief from its inception to the present. - Publisher
600	0	0	_aAnselm, _cSaint, Archbishop of Canterbury, _d1033-1109 _xCriticism and interpretation.
650		0	_aGod _xProof _xHistory of doctrines.
650		0	_aReligion _xPhilosophy _xHistory.
942			_2ddc
999			_c12437 _d12437