Thinker · TH-0061
Anselm
Anselm was a Benedictine monk born in Aosta who became abbot of Bec in Normandy and then Archbishop of Canterbury. Often counted among the…
Also known as Anselm of Canterbury, Anselm of Aosta, Anselm of Bec
1033 – 1109 · Aosta, Bec (Normandy), Canterbury
Traditions: Medieval Christian
Schools: Scholasticism
Anselm was a Benedictine monk born in Aosta who became abbot of Bec in Normandy and then Archbishop of Canterbury. Often counted among the founders of scholasticism, he described his method as faith seeking understanding. In the Proslogion he set out the ontological argument: God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived, and such a being must exist in reality, not only in the understanding. The argument has been debated ever since, beginning with the monk Gaunilo.
Key ideas
- God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.
- Such a being cannot exist only in the understanding, since existing in reality is greater.
- Faith seeks understanding: reason works within and toward what is believed.
- Truth is a kind of rightness (rectitudo) perceptible by the mind.
Major works
- Monologion (c. 1076)
- Proslogion (c. 1077–1078)
- De veritate (On Truth)
- Cur Deus homo (Why God Became Man, c. 1098)