Tag: Anselm

How to argue graciously: Anselm of Canterbury and Gaunilo of Marmoutiers

I recently read the Proslogion of Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, written in 1077-78, together with the written criticism of Anselm’s argument by Gaunilo, a monk of Marmoutiers, and Anselm’s subsequent reply. In Gaunilo and Anselm’s correspondence over the Proslogion we see a wonderful example of how to argue graciously — an example which has a

Is God ‘that-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought’?

According to Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109, the existence of God is proven from his being ‘that-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought.’ He sets forth this proof in his work, the Proslogion, written in 1077-78.[1] I recently had the joy of reading it in Anselm, Brian Davies, and G. R. Evans, The Major Works, Oxford World’s Classics