Development
Although the ontological argument may have been implicit in the works of Greek philosophers such as Plato and the Neoplatonists, the mainstream view is that the ontological argument was first clearly stated and developed by Anselm of Canterbury. Some scholars argued that the Islamic philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sina) developed a special kind of ontological argument before Anselm, but other scholars have doubted this position. Daniel Dombrowski marked three major stages in the development of the argument: Anselm's initial explicit formulation; the eighteenth century criticisms of Kant and Hume; and the identification of a second ontological argument in Anselm's Proslogion by twentieth century philosophers.
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