The Philosophy Book

81

Yes, I suppose so—

an ice cream in my

hand is better than

one that’s just in

my imagination.

But would you agree

that something that exists in

reality as well as in the mind is

greater than something that

exists in the mind alone?

So if “that than which

nothing greater can be thought”

exists only in the mind, it is less great

than if it existed also in reality.

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
René Descartes 116–23 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

Do you agree that if

God existed he would be the

greatest thing that there could be—

“that than which nothing greater

can be thought?”

Yes.

Yes, in my mind—

but not in reality.

That’s true.

The being that

really exists would

be greater.

That doesn’t

even make sense.

And do you agree that “that

than which nothing greater can be

thought” exists in your mind?

So now you are saying

that there is something greater

than “that than which nothing

greater exists?”

Exactly. And the only

way around this contradiction

is to admit that God (“that than which

nothing greater exists”) does exist—

both in thought and reality.

St. Anselm

St. Anselm of Canterbury was

born in Aosta in Italy in 1033.

He left home in his twenties to

study at the monastery of Bec,

in France, under an eminent

logician, grammarian, and

Biblical commentator named

Lanfranc. Anselm became a

monk of Bec in 1060, then

prior, and eventually abbot in

1078. He traveled to England,
      and in 1093 was made
      Archbishop of Canterbury,
      despite his protestations of
      ill-health and lack of political
      skills. This position put him in
      conflict with the Anglo-Norman
      kings William II and Henry I,
      as he tried to uphold the
      Church against royal power.
      These disputes led to two
      periods of exile from England
      for Anselm, during which he
      visited the pope to plead the
      case for the English Church
      and his own removal from
      office. Ultimately reconciled
      with King Henry I, Anselm
      died in Canterbury aged 76.

Key works

1075–76 Monologion

1077–78 Proslogion

1095–98 Why did God

become Man?

1080–86 On the Fall of

the Devil

Anselm’s Ontological

Argument was written

in 1077–78, but acquired

its title from the German

philosopher Kant in 1781.

Anselm The Fool