Criticisms
Gaunilo's objection to the ontological argument has been criticised on several grounds. One concerns the very idea of a perfect island, which, presumably, has an abundance of lush trees and pristine beaches. The more of these that an island has, the criticism continues, the better the island is.
But there is no intrinsically maximum number of trees or beaches that an island could possibly have: for any one conceivable island, there is another, even greater, with one more palm tree and one more beach. Ergo, there is no island than which no greater can be conceived, because, the critique insists, more trees and more beaches are better, and the island thereby is argued to move without end toward infinity. Therefore concept of the perfect island is incoherent, and therefore there is and can be no such thing. Of course, Gaunilo was not so foolish as to claim that a higher tree density or total would be "greater", just that its existence would be greater. However, the criticism attempts to burden the island with boundless trees and beaches nonetheless.
Alvin Plantinga tendered a reply to Gaunilo's remonstrance by arguing that the concept of "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" is not applicable to an island, or any other object, in the special way that it is applicable to God. Plantinga defends Anselm's proof by averring that it applies exclusively to Him, a viewpoint that Anselm himself had stated but failed to elaborate. A necessary being is both existent and the greatest conceivable and greatest possible being. Only God, as Anselm defines him, meets all of those criteria and can, therefore, be dubbed a necessary being.
Another criticism of Gaunilo's argument points out that, whereas God is that thing than which no greater can be conceived, Gaunilo's is that island than which no greater can be conceived. Thus, while no island may exceed it in greatness, it is perfectly reasonable to suppose that some non-island could. "Consequently," wrote William L. Rowe in his summary of the polemic, "if we follow Anselm's reasoning exactly, it does not appear that we can derive an absurdity from the supposition that the island than which none greater is possible does not exist."
Gaunilo's criticism of St Anselm's argument may be seen as either making it absurd or not, but it does succeed in raising doubt about the logical structure of Anselm's proof.
Read more about this topic: Gaunilo Of Marmoutiers
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