Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More Information

Cambridge University Press 0521002052 - The Cambridge Companion to Anselm Edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow Frontmatter More information

the cambridge companion to ANSELM

Each volume of this series of companions to major philosophers contains specially commissioned essays by an inter- national team of scholars, together with a substantial bibliography, and will serve as a reference work for students and non-specialists.One aim of the series is to dispel the intim- idation such readers often feel when faced with the work of a difficult and challenging thinker. Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109), Benedictine monk and the second Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, is regarded as one of the most important philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages.The essays in this volume explore all of his major ideas, both philosophical and theological, including his teachings on faith and reason, God’s existence and nature, logic, freedom, truth, ethics, and key Christian doctrines.There is also discussion of his life, the sources of his thought, and his influence on other thinkers. New readers will find this the most convenient, accessible guide to Anselm currently available.Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Anselm.

brian davies is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham Uni- versity, New York.He is the author of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (3rd edn., 2003), Thinking about God (1985), The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (1992), and Aquinas (2002). brian leftow is Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at Oxford University.He is the author of Time and Eternity (1991), and over fifty papers in philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and the history of medieval philosophy.

other volumes in the series of cambridge companions ABELARD Edited by jeffrey e. brower and kevin guilfoy ADORNO Edited by thomas huhn AQUINAS Edited by norman kretzmann and eleonore stump HANNAH ARENDT Edited by dana villa ARISTOTLE Edited by jonathan barnes AUGUSTINE Edited by eleonore stump and norman kretzmann BACON Edited by markku peltonen SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Edited by claudia card BRENTANO Edited by dale jacquette CRITICAL THEORY Edited by fred rush DARWIN Edited by jonathan hodge and gregory radick DESCARTES Edited by john cottingham DUNS SCOTUS Edited by thomas williams EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY Edited by a. a. long FEMINISM IN PHILOSOPHY Edited by miranda fricker and jennifer hornsby FOUCAULT Edited by gary gutting FREUD Edited by jerome neu GADAMER Edited by robert j. dostal GALILEO Edited by peter machamer GERMAN IDEALISM Edited by karl ameriks GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY Edited by david sedley HABERMAS Edited by stephen k. white HEGEL Edited by frederick beiser HEIDEGGER Edited by charles guignon HOBBES Edited by tom sorell HUME Edited by david fate norton HUSSERL Edited by barry smith and david woodruff smith WILLIAM JAMES Edited by ruth anna putnam KANT Edited by paul guyer

KIERKEGAARD Edited by alastair hannay and gordon marino LEIBNIZ Edited by nicholas jolley LEVINAS Edited by simon critchley and robert bernasconi LOCKE Edited by vere chappell MALEBRANCHE Edited by steven nadler MARX Edited by terrell carver MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY Edited by daniel h. frank and oliver leaman

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY Edited by a. s. mCgrade MERLEAU-PONTY Edited by taylor carman and mark hansen MILL Edited by john skorupski NEWTON Edited by i. bernard cohen and george e. smith NIETZSCHE Edited by bernd magnus and kathleen higgins OCKHAM Edited by paul vincent spade PASCAL Edited by nicholas hammond PEIRCE Edited by cheryl misak PLATO Edited by richard kraut PLOTINUS Edited by lloyd p. gerson QUINE Edited by roger f. gibson RAWLS Edited by samuel freeman THOMAS REID Edited by terence cuneo and rene van woudenberc ROUSSEAU Edited by patrick riley BERTRAND RUSSELL Edited by nicholas grifﬁn SARTRE Edited by christina howells SCHOPENHAUER Edited by christopher janaway THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT Edited by alexander broadie SPINOZA Edited by don garrett STOICS Edited by brad inwood WITTGENSTEIN Edited by hans sluga and david stern

The Cambridge Companion to ANSELM

Edited by Brian Davies Fordham University

Brian Leftow University of Oxford

published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, cb2 2ru,UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011–4211,USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org

C Cambridge University Press 2004

This book is in copyright.Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2004

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

Typeface Trump Medieval 10/13 pt. System LATEX 2ε [tb]

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data The Cambridge companion to Anselm / edited by Brian Davies and Brian Leftow. p.cm.(Cambridgecompanions to philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0 521 80746 8 (hardback) – isbn 0 521 00205 2 (paperback) 1.Anselm, Saint, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1033–1109. 1.Davies, Brian, 1951– ii.Leftow, Brian, 1956– iii.Series. b765.a84c36 2004 189.4 –dc22 2004047305cip

isbn 0 521 80746 8 hardback isbn 0 521 00205 2 paperback

contents

List of contributors page ix Chronology xii List of abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 brian davies and brian leftow 1 Anselm’s life, works, and immediate influence 5 g. r. evans 2 Anselm on faith and reason 32 marilyn mccord adams 3 Anselm, Augustine, and Platonism 61 gareth matthews 4 Anselm’s philosophy of language 84 peter king 5 Anselm on modality 111 simo knuuttila 6 Anselm’s perfect-being theology 132 brian leftow 7 Anselm and the ontological argument 157 brian davies 8 Anselm’s account of freedom 179 sandra visser and thomas williams

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viii Contents

9 Anselm on truth 204 sandra visser and thomas williams 10 Anselm on ethics 222 jeffrey e. brower 11 Anselm on the Trinity 257 william e. mann 12 Anselm on atonement 279 david brown

Bibliography 303 Index 313

contributors

marilyn mccord adams is Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford.She is the author of William Ockham (2 vols., University of Notre Dame Press, 1987), and Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (Cornell University Press, 1999).She is also the author of many articles on medieval philosophy and theology, on philosophy of religion, and philosophical theology. jeffrey e. brower is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University.He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Abelard and author of several publications on medieval philosophy and philosophy of religion. david brown is Van Mildert Professor of Divinity in the Univer- sity of Durham.His most recent writings include the two-volumed work Tradition and Imagination (Oxford University Press, 1999) and Discipleship and Imagination (Oxford University Press, 2000).He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002. brian davies is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University. With G.R.Evans he is joint editor of Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works (Oxford University Press, 1998).His books include Thinking about God (Geoffrey Chapman, 1985), The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 1992), An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (3rd edn., Oxford University Press, 2003), and Aquinas (Continuum, 2002). g. r. evans is Professor of Medieval Theology and Intellectual His- tory in the University of Cambridge.With Brian Davies she is joint editor of Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works (Oxford Univer- sity Press, 1998).Her many books include Anselm and Talking about

x List of contributors

God (Oxford University Press, 1978) and Anselm (Geoffrey Chap- man, 1989).She is editor of the Anselm Concordance and of The Medieval Theologians (Blackwell, 2001). peter king is Professor of Philosophy and Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto.He has translated works by Buriden and Augustine, and is the author of several articles on medieval philosophy. simo knuuttila is Research Professor in the Academy of Finland and Professor of Theological Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion at the University of Helsinki.He is the editor of The New Synthese Historical Library and the author of many books and and articles on the history of logic, semantics, the philosophy of mind, and philosophical theology. brian leftow is the Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford.He is the author of God and Necessity (Oxford University Press, forthcoming), Aquinas on Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, forthcoming), Time and Eternity (Cornell University Press, 1991), and over fifty papers in medieval philosophy, philosophy of religion, and metaphysics. william e. mann is Marsh Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the University of Vermont.He has written extensively on topics in medieval philosophy and the philosophy of religion.He is the editor of The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion (2004).He is a contributor to the Cambridge Companions to Augus- tine, Duns Scotus, and Abelard. gareth b. matthews is Professor of Philosophy at the Univer- sity of Massachusetts, Amherst.He is the author of Thought’s Ego in Augustine and Descartes (Cornell University Press, 1992) and Socratic Perplexity and the Nature of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1999).He is editor of The Augustinian Tradition (University of California Press, 1999) and Augustine: on the Trinity – Books 8–15 (Cambridge University Press, 2002). sandra visser is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Valparaiso University.Her research interests include metaphysics, philosophy of language, and ethics.

List of contributors xi

thomas williams is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa.He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus and a contributor to the Cambridge Companions to Augustine, Abelard, and Medieval Philosophy.His other publications include Anselm: Monologion and Proslogion (Hackett, 1995) and Anselm: Three Philosophical Dialogues (Hackett, 2002).

chronology

1033 Born in Aosta, Italy 1056–59 Leaves home and travels through Burgundy and France 1059 Arrives at the Abbey of Bec, Normandy; studies under Lanfranc 1060 Becomes a monk at Bec 1060–63 Probably working on De Grammatico 1063 Becomes Prior of Bec 1070–75 Produces his first Prayers and Meditations 1075–76 Writes the Monologion 1077–78 Writes the Proslogion 1078 Becomes Abbot of Bec 1080–86 Writes De Veritate, De Libertate Arbitrii, and De Casu Diaboli 1093 Becomes Archbishop of Canterbury 1094 Completes Epistola de Incarnatione Verbi 1095–98 Writes Cur Deus Homo 1097–1100 Away from England in France and Italy because of conflict with King William II 1100 Returns to England 1101 Completes De Processione Spiritus Sancti 1103–1106 Away from England again because of conflict with King Henry I; visits Bec, Chartres, Lyons, Rouen, and Jumieges` 1107–1108 Completes the De Concordia 1109 Dies at Canterbury on 21 April

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abbreviations

Commendatio Commendatio Operis ad Urbanum Papam De Casu Diab. De Casu Diaboli De Conc. De Concordia Praescientiae et Praedestinationis et Gratiae Dei cum Libero Arbitrio De Conc. Virg. De Conceptu Virginali et de Originali Peccato De Gramm. De Grammatico De Inc. Verbi Epistola de Incarnatione Verbi De Lib. Arb. De Libertate Arbitrii De Proc. De Processione Spiritus Sancti De Ver. De Veritate Mon. Monologion Phil. Frag. Philosophica Fragmenta Prosl. Proslogion Resp. and Gaun. Responsio ad Gaunilon

While some of the contributors to the present volume have chosen to cite texts of Anselm by referring directly to Anselm’s writings, others have given details alluding to the critical edition of Anselm (Opera Omnia) edited by F.S.Schmitt (listed in the bibliography).In their references “S” = “Schmitt.”

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