Ontological argument of god's existence in Russian philosophy

The ontological proof of God’s existence, first proposed by Anselm of Canterbury and developed in further philosophy, has constantly attracted the attention of various philosophers. The main subject of discussion was whether it is possible to prove the existence of God from the concept of God. Russian philosophers in the 19th century proposed a different approach to this argument. The most compelling evidence of the existence of anything is always direct experience. The proof of God’s being can also be built on the basis of experience - only not external, but internal, proceeding from self-knowledge. Bishop Michael (Gribanovsky) comes to this conclusion, who even sees Kant’s merit in pointing out errors in the traditional proof. S. L. Frank continued the train of thought of Bishop Michael and noted that for the first time such a method of proving God, based on an analysis of man’s inner experience was proposed by Plotinus. The article provides a brief analysis of Plotinus’s reasoning, as a result of which he comes to the conclusion about the existence of the divine world, comprehended only by the intellect, as well as the similar reasoning by S. L. Frank.