Work record

Proslogion

Anselm of Canterbury

Also known as: Proslogium · Proslogion · Faith Seeking Understanding

1077–1078 · Medieval · Philosophy · Latin

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Abstract

Written: 1077–1078
Setting: Late eleventh century; Abbey of Bec, Normandy
Author: Anselm of Canterbury; trans. Sidney Norton Deane
Country: Duchy of Normandy
Language: Latin
Genre: Philosophical meditation
Form: Prayer and argument in a preface and 26 short chapters
Recommended: Grades 10–12 (Short but abstract; chapters 2–4 reward slow reading and discussion.)

Background. Having finished one long treatise built from many linked proofs, a Norman prior wanted something simpler: one line of reasoning able to show both that God is and what God is like. The idea came to him, he says, after long struggle, and he wrote it down as a prayer.

Prayer. The opening chapter urges the soul to leave its busy thoughts and seek the face of God, confessing that understanding grows from trust rather than the reverse.

Proof. Next comes the famous reasoning. Whoever hears the phrase 'something than which nothing greater can be thought' grasps it, even an unbeliever. Yet what is only imagined is less than what is also real; so that supreme being must be real, and cannot even coherently be denied.

Attributes. Later chapters draw out what such a being must be: just and merciful at once, all-powerful, eternal and boundlessly great, beyond even what can be thought. The book closes in longing for heavenly joy.

Legacy. A fellow monk's 'perfect island' objection began a debate that drew in Aquinas, Descartes, Kant and many since. Critics still ask whether any definition can guarantee that its object exists. This library presents the whole book in Deane's 1903 translation, without Gaunilo's reply.

Key figures

Anselm: Prior of Bec and author
The fool: The denier of God from Psalm 14 whom the argument addresses
Gaunilo: Monk who soon wrote a reply in the fool's defence

Summary

The Proslogion is a short Latin work in twenty-six chapters, written by Anselm at the abbey of Bec in 1077 and 1078. In the preface Anselm explains that after writing the Monologion, a long chain of arguments about God, he looked for a single argument that would by itself prove that God exists and is the supreme good. He first called the book Faith Seeking Understanding. The work is written as a prayer addressed to God. Chapter 1 is a moving meditation in which Anselm asks God to teach him to seek and to show himself, and says that he does not seek to understand in order to believe, but believes in order to understand. Chapters 2 to 4 contain the famous argument later called the ontological argument. God is a being than which nothing greater can be conceived. Even the fool of the Psalms, who says in his heart there is no God, understands this idea, so it exists in his understanding. But a being that existed in reality as well as in the mind would be greater than one that existed only in the mind; therefore the being than which nothing greater can be conceived must exist in reality. Indeed, God cannot even be conceived not to exist. The remaining chapters explore what follows: that God is everything it is better to be than not to be, just, merciful, all-powerful, unchanging and eternal, and greater than can be conceived. The book ends with a meditation on the joy of heaven. A monk named Gaunilo soon replied with a defence of the fool, arguing that the same reasoning could prove the existence of a perfect island; Anselm answered him. The argument has been debated ever since, rejected by Thomas Aquinas and Kant and defended in various forms by Descartes, Leibniz and modern philosophers.

Plot or Argument

Preface
Anselm explains his search for a single argument and the book's original title, Faith Seeking Understanding.
Chapter 1: A prayer for understanding
An exhortation to the mind to seek God, and Anselm's statement that he believes in order to understand.
Chapters 2–4: The argument
God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived; such a being must exist in reality and cannot be conceived not to exist; the fool's denial is explained.
Chapters 5–23: The divine attributes
God's justice and mercy, power, eternity and simplicity, and how he is greater than can be conceived.
Chapters 24–26: Joy
A meditation on the goodness of God and the fullness of joy promised to the blessed.

Lessons

Faith seeking understanding
Anselm starts from belief and uses reason to understand it more deeply. The book shows that prayer and rigorous argument can go together.
- What does Anselm mean by believing in order to understand?
- Does starting from faith make an argument less rational?
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How the argument works
From the idea of a greatest conceivable being, Anselm argues that such a being must exist, since existing in reality is greater than existing only in thought. Following each step carefully is a training in logic.
- Restate the argument of chapter 2 in your own words.
- Which premise seems weakest to you, and why?
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Critics and replies
Gaunilo, Aquinas and Kant raised objections that philosophers still discuss. Studying the debate teaches how to test an argument and answer objections fairly.
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- Why might Anselm say God is unlike an island?
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For the Christian reader
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- Why does Anselm frame his argument as a prayer?
- How might thinking hard about God be a form of worship?
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Context

In the eleventh century, monasteries such as Bec in Normandy were centres of learning. Teachers revived the study of logic, and Anselm, a student of Lanfranc, applied careful reasoning to Christian belief, preparing the way for the scholastic theology of the universities.

Composition

Anselm wrote the Proslogion at Bec in 1077–1078, soon after the Monologion, while he was prior of the abbey. The monk Gaunilo of Marmoutiers wrote a reply on behalf of the fool, and Anselm asked that both the reply and his answer be copied with the book.

Reception

The argument was little used for a century and a half, then was criticized by Thomas Aquinas. It was revived by Descartes and Leibniz, named the ontological argument after Kant attacked it, and remains a central topic in the philosophy of religion.

Faith / Religion Doubt Meaning Science / Knowledge Identity Self

Comparisons

On First Principles (De Principiis)
Origen also sought to understand the faith through reason, though by building a speculative system rather than a single argument.
Confessions
Augustine's Confessions, which Anselm knew well, likewise addresses God in prayer while reasoning about him.
Summa Theologica
Thomas Aquinas rejected Anselm's argument and offered his own five ways to prove God's existence.
Meditations on First Philosophy
Descartes revived an argument from the idea of a perfect being in his fifth meditation.

Quotes

Frequently cited

“For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand.”

— Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion, Chapter I, trans. Sidney Norton Deane (1903).Quote card

Henry V, Act 4, Scene 7
Praised be God, and not our strength, for it When Montjoy concedes the field, Henry's first words give the victory to God.
Sophist, Speech and false statement, c. 263a
Theaetetus, with whom I am now speaking, is flying Set beside 'Theaetetus sits', this is the dialogue's test case of a sentence that is about something real and yet false.
On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Ch. 36
Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought Augustine's rule that love of God and neighbour is the goal and test of interpretation.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Source
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding IN FOUR BOOKS By John Locke image Quam bellum est velle confiteri potius nescire quod nescias quam ista effutientem nauseare atque ipsum sibi displicere Cic de Natur Deor l LONDON Printed by Eliz Holt for Thomas Basset at the George in Fleet Street near St Dunstan s Church MDCXC CONTENTS THE EPISTLE TO THE READER ESSAY CONCERNING HUMANE UNDERSTANDING BOOK I NEITHER PRINCIPLES NOR IDEAS ARE INNATE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II NO INNATE SPECULATIVE PRINCIPLES CHAPTER I...
The Travels of Marco Polo, Book II, Chapter XXX
It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black stones existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like firewood. Marco describes coal, then little used in Europe, and the daily hot baths it makes possible in Cathay.

Frequently cited

“we believe that thou art a being than which nothing greater can be conceived”

— Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion, Chapter II, trans. Sidney Norton Deane (1903).Quote card

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Chapter XXXI, Aunt Miranda's Apology
God made you in the first place, and you've done considerable yourself to help Him along; but she gave you the wherewithal to work with, and that ain't to be despised Rebecca says Miranda was the making of her; Jane divides the credit.
Five Children and It, Full Text
real It was It was square with stone walls four feet thick and great beams for ceiling A low door at the corner led to a flight of steps up and down The children went down they found themselves in a great arched gatehouse the enormous doors were shut and barred There was a window in a little room at the bottom of the round turret up which the stair wound rather larger than the other windows and looking through it they saw that the drawbridge was up and the portcullis down the moat looked very wide and deep Oppos...
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part 12
To be a philosophical Sceptic is, in a man of letters, the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian Philo's ambiguous closing recommendation, which readers have taken as sincere fideism or as irony.
My First Summer in the Sierra, Chapter V
These blessed mountains are so compactly filled with God’s beauty, no petty personal hope or experience has room to be. Sketching on North Dome above Yosemite Valley.
On War, Source
Produced by Charles Keller and David Widger On War by General Carl von Clausewitz TRANSLATED BY COLONEL J J GRAHAM was st edition of this translation was the London reprinting NEW AND REVISED EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY COLONEL F N MAUDE C B LATE R E EIGHTH IMPRESSION IN THREE VOLUMES Contents INTRODUCTION PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION NOTICE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE AUTHOR BRIEF MEMOIR OF GENERAL CLAUSEWITZ BOOK I ON THE NATURE OF WAR CHAPTER I What is War CHAPTER II Ends and Means in War CHAPTER II...

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

The prayer of chapter 1 and the line about believing in order to understand.
The definition of God at the start of chapter 2.
The step from existing in the understanding to existing in reality.
Chapter 3's claim that God cannot be conceived not to exist.

Key terms and names

Ontological argument: An argument for God's existence from the concept of God alone, a name given after Kant.
The fool: The person of Psalm 14 who 'hath said in his heart, There is no God'.
Faith seeking understanding: Anselm's motto: using reason to understand what one already believes.
A priori: Known by reasoning alone, without depending on experience.
Gaunilo: Monk of Marmoutiers who first answered the argument with his perfect island.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension How does Anselm define God in chapter 2?
Comprehension Why does Anselm say even the fool has God in his understanding?
Interpretation Is existing in reality really 'greater' than existing only in the mind?
Interpretation How might Anselm answer Gaunilo's perfect island?
Interpretation Why does Anselm say in chapter 15 that God is greater than can be conceived, and how does that fit the argument of chapter 2?
Big Question Can reasoning alone prove that anything exists?

Faith Connections

Psalm 14:1 (Scripture)
'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God': the verse Anselm sets out to answer.
Isaiah 7:9 (Scripture)
In the Latin version, 'unless you believe, you will not understand', echoed in chapter 1.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I.2 (Great Conversation)
Aquinas's reply to Anselm and his own proofs from the world.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived; a being that exists in reality is greater than one that exists only in the mind; therefore God exists in reality.

Rhetorical device: reductio ad absurdum. If the greatest conceivable being existed only in the mind, a greater one could be conceived, which is a contradiction.

Debate: Resolved: that Anselm's ontological argument succeeds in proving God's existence.

Memory Work

For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand.
Chapter I, trans. Sidney Norton Deane (1903). Anselm's famous motto of faith and reason.

we believe that thou art a being than which nothing greater can be conceived
Chapter II, trans. Sidney Norton Deane (1903). The definition at the heart of the ontological argument.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Present Anselm's argument in chapters 2–3 and evaluate the strongest objection to it.

Comparison with Meditations on First Philosophy: Compare Anselm's argument with Descartes's argument from the idea of a perfect being.

Creative Prompts

Essay
Write a dialogue between Anselm and Gaunilo in which each states his position as strongly as possible.
Classroom
Diagram the argument of chapters 2 and 3 as numbered premises and a conclusion, then vote on which premise is most open to doubt.
Essay
Explain why Anselm writes his proof in the form of a prayer and what that adds to the argument.