ed “it does not therefore follow that he understands what the word signifies exists actually, but only that it exists mentally.” Another way of interpreting this is by thinking of Aquinas rejecting the idea, as Anselm posited in Premise 2, that there is such concept of a “a being than which none greater can be imagined”. After all, although one can rehearse the phrase in one’s mind a thousand times, there is not a sufficient amount of meaning in the words themselves to illustrate what this sequence of words really means. In some ways this is unsurprising; after all, God is unlike any other reality known to us. While we can easily understand concepts of finite things, the concept of an infinitely great being dwarfs finite human understanding. It is possible, without a doubt, to try to associate the phrase “a being than which none greater can be imagined” with more familiar finite concepts, but by definition these selfsame finite concepts are so far from being an adequate description of God as God is not a finite concept , so it is fair to say they don’t help us to get a detailed idea of God.
Still, the success of the ontological argument isn’t dependent on a possession of a complete and utter understanding of the concept of Being than which None Greater Can Be Conceived. For example, while we don’t possess a complete understanding (which itself is an ambiguous term) of the concept of a natural number that which nothing greater can be comceived, we understand it well enough to understand that this number cannot exist. Thus a more complete understanding of the concept of a maximally great being is not required, based on Anselm’s view, to make the argument in question. After all, if the concept itself is coherent, than even a minimal understanding of it is enough to make the argument. Thus, while Aquinas has, in a similar manner to Gaunilo, highlighted the importance of correctly understanding the concepts involved, it doesn’t fundamentally detract from the argument itself.
At the same time, the idea of a being that exists in reality is greater than a being that exists merely in the mind, thus a great-making quality, is also a key premise. After all, it entails two things: firstly,
