Rel 198

Anselm of Canterbury, PROSLOGION   (ca. 1100 CE) 

[Reading notes: 

Anselm stands at the end of the early middle ages (ca. 500-1000 CE) -- the "dark ages."  He stands at the beginning of the first great intellectual renaissance in Europe in the late or "high" middle ages (ca. 1000-1400).  So his thought mixes the submissive piety and sense of fallenness that had predominated for centuries, with an expansion of intellectual explorations that had long existed but which were now about to grow much stronger.  These chapters from the Proslogion are some of the most famous in the history of Christian theology. 

In the first chapter, Anselm addresses God as a great mystery, to be found nowhere in particular yet existing everywhere.  Anselm wants to know where to look to find God. (This question will come up again in relation to the film we will watch, "The Color of Paradise")  This sets him up to go on to his definition of "God" in  his ch. 2. 

Take quick note of the relation between faith (belief) and reason (understanding) at the end of ch. 1.  Anselm is very careful to subordinate reason to faith.

In chapter 2 he defines God in the most basic and general way possible.  Do you agree that this definition of God is correct?  If not what is wrong with it? (The underlining in this chapter and the next has been added here to highlight central points.)

In chapter 3 he argues that given the definition, God cannot be thought not to exist.  From this he seems to arrive at the conclusion that God must necessarily exist -- cannot not exist.  Decide whether you find his reasoning convincing.  

CHAPTER I.  A Rousing of the Mind to the Contemplation of God

Come now, insignificant man, fly for a moment from your affairs, escape for a little while from the tumult of your thoughts.  Put aside now your weighty cares and leave your wearisome toils.  Abandon yourself for a little to God and rest for a little in Him.  Enter into the inner chamber of your soul, shut out everything save God and what can be of help in your quest for Him and having locked the door seek Him out [Matt. vi. 6].  Speak now, my whole heart, speak now to God:  ‘I seek Your countenance, O Lord, Your countenance I seek' [Ps. xxvi. 8].

 Come, then, Lord my God, teach my heart where and how to seek You, where and how to find You.  Lord, if You are not present here, where shall I look for You in your absence?  On the other hand, if You are everywhere why then, since You are present, do I not see You?  But surely You dwell in ‘light inaccessible' [I Tim. vi. 16].  And where is this inaccessible light, or how can I approach the inaccessible light?  Or who shall lead me and take me into it that I may see You in it?  Again, by what signs, under what aspect, shall I seek You?  Never have I seen You, Lord my God, I do not know Your face.  What shall he do, most high Lord, what shall this exile do, far away from You as he is?  What shall Your servant do, tormented by love of You and yet cast off ‘far from Your face' [Ps. i. 13]?  He yearns to see You and Your countenance is too far away from him.  He desires to come close to You, and Your dwelling place is inaccessible; he longs to find You and does not know where You are; he is eager to seek You out and he does not know Your countenance.  Lord, You are my God and my Lord, and never have I seen You.  You have created me and re-created me and You have given me all the good things I possess, and still I do not know You.  In fine, I was made in order to see You, and I have not yet accomplished what I was made for.
. . . . 
 I acknowledge, Lord, and I give thanks that You have created Your image in me, so that I may remember You, think of You, love You.  But this image is so effaced and worn away by vice, so darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do what it was made to do unless You renew it and reform it.  I do not try, Lord, to attain Your lofty heights, because my understanding is in no way equal to it.  But I do desire to understand Your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves.  For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand.  For I believe this also, that ‘unless I believe, I shall not understand' [Is. vii. 9].

CHAPTER II.  That God Truly Exists

Well then, Lord, You who give understanding to faith, grant me that I may understand, as much as You see fit, that You exist as we believe You to exist, and that You are what we believe You to be.  Now we believe that You are something than which nothing greater can be thought.  Or can it be that a thing of such a nature does not exist, since ‘the Fool has said in his heart, there is no God' [Ps. xiii. I, lii. I]?  But surely, when this same Fool hears what I am speaking about, namely, ‘something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought', he understands what he hears, and what he understands is in his mind, even if he does not understand that it actually exists.  For it is one thing for an object to exist in the mind, and another thing to understand that an object actually exists.  Thus, when a painter plans beforehand what he is going to execute, he has [the picture] in his mind, but he does not yet think that it actually exists because he has not yet executed it.  However, when he has actually painted it, then he both has it in his mind and understands that it exists because he has now made it.  Even the fool, then, is forced to agree that something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought exists in the mind, since he understands this when he hears it, and whatever is understood is in the mind.  And surely that-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought cannot exist in the mind alone.  For if it exists solely in the mind even, it can be thought to exist in reality also, which is greater.  If then that-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought exists in the mind alone, this same that-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought is that-than-which-a-greater-can-be-thought.  But this is obviously impossible.  Therefore there is absolutely no doubt that something-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought exists both in the mind and in reality.

CHAPTER III.  That God Cannot Be Thought Not to Exist

And certainly this being so truly exists that it cannot be even thought not to exist.  For something can be thought to exist that cannot be thought not to exist, and this is greater than that which can be thought not to exist.  Hence, if that-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought can be thought not to exist, then that-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought is not the same as that-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought, which is absurd. Something-than-which-a-greater-cannot-be-thought exists so truly then, that it cannot be even thought not to exist.

 And You, Lord our God, are this being.  You exist so truly, Lord my God, that You cannot even be thought not to exist.  And this is as it should be, for if some intelligence could think of something better than You, the creature would be above its creator and would judge its creator—and that is completely absurd.  In fact, everything else there is, except You alone, can be thought of as not existing.  You alone, then, of all things most truly exist and therefore of all things possess existence to the highest degree; for anything else does not exist as truly, and so possesses existence to a lesser degree.  Why then did ‘the Fool say in his heart, there is no God' [Ps. xiii. I, lii. I] when it is so evident to any rational mind that You of all things exist to the highest degree?  Why indeed, unless because he was stupid and a fool?

CHAPTER IV.  How "the Fool Said in his Heart" What Cannot Be Thought

How indeed has he ‘said in his heart' what he could not think; or how could he not think what he ‘said in his heart', since to say in one's heart' and to ‘think' are the same?  But if he really (indeed, since he really) both thought because he ‘said in his heart' and did not ‘say in his heart' because he could not think, there is not only one sense in which something is ‘said in one's heart' or thought.  For in one sense a thing is thought when the word signifying it is thought; in another sense when the very object which the thing is, is understood.  In the first sense, then, God can be thought not to exist, but not at all in the second sense.  No one, indeed, understanding what God is can [truly] think that God does not exist, even though he may say these words in his heart either without any [objective] signification or with some peculiar signification.  For God is that- than- which- nothing- greater- can- be- thought.  Whoever really understands this understands clearly that this same being so exists that not even in thought can it not exist.  Thus whoever understands that God exists in such a way cannot think of Him as not existing.

I give thanks, good Lord, I give thanks to You, since what I believed before through Your free gift I now so understand through Your illumination, that if I did not want to believe that You existed, I should nevertheless be unable not to understand it.