Philosopher
Anselm of Canterbury
1033–1109
Also known as Saint Anselm, Anselm of Aosta, Anselm
Benedictine abbot and Archbishop of Canterbury, famous for the ontological argument, which defines God as "that than which a greater cannot be thought".
For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand.
Anselm was born in 1033 near Aosta, on the frontier of Burgundy and Lombardy. In 1059 he came to Normandy, drawn by the abbey school at Bec under the scholar Lanfranc, and entered the abbey the next year; he became its prior in 1063 and abbot in 1078. At Bec he wrote the Monologion, the Proslogion and a series of philosophical dialogues on truth, freedom and the fall of the devil.
In 1093 he became Archbishop of Canterbury, a post that brought him into conflict with two kings over royal authority in the Church and twice sent him into exile, yet he went on writing, including Why God Became Man. He died in 1109. His proof of God’s existence develops an argument of Augustine, whose thinking on will, freedom and grace he systematised, and the ontological argument has been debated ever since: Aquinas, for one, denied it had any force as a proof.
Key ideas
- Faith seeking understanding
- Anselm’s motto, fides quaerens intellectum. He did not aim to replace faith with proof, but, already believing, to understand what he believed by reasoning about it.
- The ontological argument
- God is “that than which a greater cannot be thought”. Even someone who denies God understands this idea; and what exists in reality as well as in the understanding is greater than what exists only in the understanding. So God must exist in reality.
- A generator of divine attributes
- The same formula yields God’s attributes. God must have whatever it is better to have than to lack, so he is omnipotent, just, merciful and timelessly eternal; the “power” to lie is a weakness, not a power, so omnipotence rules it out.
- Freedom as keeping the will upright
- Freedom of choice is the ability to keep rightness of will for its own sake, not the ability to sin. Having turned from justice, fallen humans cannot will it again without grace.
Influences
Influenced by
Anselm of Canterbury1033–1109
Influenced
Influenced by
Anselm of Canterbury1033–1109
Influenced
Where these links come from
- Anselm of Canterbury drew on Augustine. Source: Thomas Williams, Anselm of Canterbury, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Bonaventure drew on Anselm of Canterbury. Source: Tim Noone, R. E. Houser and Joshua Benson, Bonaventure, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Thomas Aquinas argued against Anselm of Canterbury. Source: Robert Pasnau, Thomas Aquinas, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- John Duns Scotus drew on Anselm of Canterbury. Source: Thomas Williams, John Duns Scotus, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Monologion, 1075
- Proslogion, 1077
- Read free at Wikisource (translated by Sidney Norton Deane)
- Why God Became Man (Cur Deus Homo)
Sources
- Thomas Williams, Anselm of Canterbury, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Christian Tornau, Augustine of Hippo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Robert Pasnau, Thomas Aquinas, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy