Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

16

ANSELM OF CANTERBURY, St.

in a debate on his theistic argument
based on reason. Her chief works include
Intention (1957), An Introduction to
Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (1959), Three
Philosophers (1961, with P. T. Geach, on
Aristotle, Aquinas, and Frege), Causality
and Determination (1971), Times, Begin-
nings and Causes (1975), The Collected
Philosophical Papers of G. E. M. Anscombe
(3 vols.): (1) From Parmenides to
Wittgenstein, (2) Metaphysics and the
Philosophy of Mind, (3) Ethics, Religion
and Politics (1981), and Human Life,
Action and Ethics: Essays (2005).

ANSELM OF CANTERBURY, St. (1033–
1109). He is most famous for his onto-
logical argument for the existence of
God based on the idea that God is that
than which nothing greater can be
thought or conceived (aliquid quo nihil
maius cogitari potest). Subsequent philo-
sophy of God that gives a central role to
God’s unsurpassable excellence is often
termed “Anselmian.”
Anselm articulated and defended a
view of the atonement in which human
sin creates a debt to God that cannot be
repaid except through the incarnation
and vicarious suffering of the perfect
God-Man, Jesus Christ. As both God and
man, Jesus is able to offer to God (the
Father) a perfect sacrifice to atone for the
sins of the world. Anselm was appointed
as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093.
He is the author of Proslogion, Monologion,

De Grammatico, On Truth, and Why the

God-Man?

ANTHROPOCENTRISM. From the

Greek anthropos + kentron, “human

being” + “center.” The view that humans

are the central and most important form

of life in the universe. The term “anthro-

pocentrism” is sometimes used pejora-

tively. Humanism is a more positive term

for those who believe humans are of

foundational ethical importance.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM. From the

Greek anthropos + morphe, “human

being” + “form.” In the form of a human

being; the taking on of human character-

istics by a nonhuman entity. The claim

that a viewpoint is anthropomorphic

implies that the attribution of human

properties is in some sense problematic

or, at best, metaphorical. Anthropomor-

phism is discussed in relation to the

philosophy of God (is it anthropomor-

phic to think of God as a person?) and of

nonhuman animals (is it a mere human

projection to think some nonhuman

animals are persons?).

ANTI-REALISM. Also called non-realism.

A strong version in Christian theology

holds that “God” is not a term that is

referential to a being that may or may not

exist. These anti-realists treat religious