Anselm of Canterbury: biography of this philosopher and theologian

The Middle Ages was not as dark a time as many believe, being the living proof of this the fact that many great thinkers of Western history can place them in this period.

Among the greatest medieval philosophers is the figure of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, theologian and scholastic philosopher known for having raised what centuries later would be called the argument ontological.

Next we will see a summary of the life of this thinker through a biography of Saint Anselm, and we will also delve into his particular way of defending the existence of God.

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Short Biography of Anselm of Canterbury

Saint Anselm of Canterbury, also known as Anselm of Aosta after his birthplace, and Anselm of Bec for the monastery in which he became prior, he was a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict, doctor of the Church, Scholastic theologian and philosopher known to have served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109, quite a turbulent moment in the history of England.

We know the life of this thinker thanks to the work of Eadmero, one of his direct disciples. Although it is logical to think that his student describes the life of his teacher with exaggerations and various interpretations, all of them with the clearly intended to exalt a candidate for sainthood, it is believed to be a reliable portrait of how Anselm of Canterbury must have been, great defender of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in addition to being considered the father of scholasticism and being known for his argument ontological.

Early years and youth

Saint Anselm was born one day in the year 1033 in Aosta, at that time Lombardy, which is why in Italy he is better known as San Anselmo d'Aosta. His family was of noble Piedmontese lineage, being the son of Gondulf, a Lombard nobleman, and Ermenberga, related to Otto I of Savoy.

As with many of the biographies of medieval saints, the parents of Saint Anselm are said to have been two antagonistic figures. His father was prodigal and dissipated, while his mother was deeply religious. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it should be said that it would not represent an exceptional case considering that this behavior was common among medieval men and women.

The early childhood of the saint passed with complete normality, although from a very young age he showed religious concerns, strengthened by constant contact with his mother who would have brought him closer to his religious values ​​and practices. Likewise, it was not strange that the sons of nobles took an interest in monastic life to make their family famous.

This religious interest grew stronger and, at the age of fifteen, the saint asked to enter the Benedictine monasticism. Although in his years as a teenager he is described as a pious and studious person, it seems that by the end of This same stage of youth there are several conflicts with his father, which is why he would end up abandoning the home.

Entry into religious life

After that he would carry out several preliminary studies on rhetoric and Latin in Burgundy, Avranches and finally Bec, a place where he had ended up attracted by the fame of Lanfranco and the Benedictine Order. This is somewhat ironic, since despite entering at the age of 27 in 1060, he was initially reluctant given the renown of that monk, whom Anselmo considered rather an obstacle to starting his career ecclesiastical.

It is during his stay in the monastery of Bec that he composed two of his best known works: "The Monologion" and the "Proslogion". The Monologion consists of a theological-philosophical meditation on the reasons of faith, where he presents his proofs of the existence of God following the Augustinian tradition. In the Proslogion he expounds what has been called the ontological argument, constituting one of the most original contributions of Saint Anselm to medieval philosophy.

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Moving to Canterbury and later years

In 1063 he succeeded his mentor Lanfranco in the priory of Bec, becoming his new abbot, although this would not be the last place where he would exercise this position. Several years later, in 1078, he would go to England, specifically to the city of Canterbury where he would be elected as abbot in 1078 and, later, in 1093 he would become the archbishop of the same abbey, although he was reluctant to be chosen for the position.

The fame of Saint Anselm is mainly due to his stay in England, which is why he is known worldwide as Saint Anselm of Canterbury. It is in Great Britain that the saint proves to be, in addition to a prolific philosopher and theologian, also a political apologist, defending the creed against the potential religious schisms that were looming in England at the end of the s. XI.

Taking advantage of his position as archbishop, he faced on more than one occasion the English monarchs William II and his successor Henry I, who opposed him on multiple occasions wanting to reduce the influence of the Church in Great Britain. These conflicts made San Anselmo have to leave Canterbury on more than one occasion, but this did not prevent him from serving as archbishop of the city until his death in 1109 at the age of 76.

The philosophy of San Anselmo

Saint Anselm of Canterbury is considered one of the most important philosophers of the Augustinian tradition and, as theologian that he was, his philosophy shows his religious and spiritual concerns. In fact, his philosophical work is focused on understanding faith, using it as an argument to justify belief. existence of God, based on the fact that there was only one truth that was revealed by God and that is the object of faith.

Reason, Anselm of Canterbury explains, can add understanding to faith and thus strengthen it, but reasoning alone has no autonomy or capacity to reach the truth on its ownAlthough it is useful to clarify the belief, an attitude that can well be summarized in the expression "credo, ut intelligam". Reason is placed in strict dependence on faith.

It is not possible to comment on the Anselmian philosophy without mentioning the Monologion, being the work in which Saint Anselm exposes various arguments in which he tries to demonstrate the existence of God, accompanying him with reflections of character theological. This text was of great interest among his fellow Benedictines, who asked him to gather in a single argument the force evidence that the arguments presented in the Monologion offered together and, in response to this, Saint Anselm wrote the Proslogion.

It is in this second work that San Anselmo exposes the ontological argument, that is, an a priori deductive argument in favor of the existence of God. This argument, presented in chapter II of the Proslogion, was not only intended to satisfy the request that its fellow Benedictines had done, but also endow the believer with a solid logical reason that would confirm undoubtedly his faith.

We owe the name of ontological argument to Emmanuel Kant, who thus baptized him by delving into the life and work of Anselm. San Anselmo exposes this argument in the form of a prayer, although its logical structure can be described in the following points:

a) We conceive of God as that greater and better of which nothing can be thought, an idea of ​​God that everyone understands.

b) But that which is greater and better than which nothing can be thought has to exist outside of our mind, since we attribute to it perfection (better than all things) and therefore must exist out of necessity, since existence is a quality of perfection.

c) This perfect being would be more real than anything that could be thought of simply by existing. Consequently, God has to exist not only in the mind as an idea, but also extramentally as part of reality.

Saint Anselm indicates that the definition of God can be understood and accepted by anyone. He focuses his analysis on that very idea and its implications, indicating that it is absurd to mentally conceive of a perfect being and deny him the greatest perfection: existence. Thus, he concludes by stating that the necessary existence of God as a requirement of reason to avoid reaching such absurdity.

Because the ontological argument is one of the most interesting arguments in the history of philosophy, it has also been one of the most controversial. There have been philosophers who have considered it valid, including René Descartes and Friedrich Hegel, introducing it into their philosophical systems. Others, on the other hand, reject it, as is the case of Saint Thomas, David Hume or Kant himself, denying its probative force.