Proslogion - including Gaunilo Objections and Anselm`s RepliesAuthor :
Paperback
Published : Monday 15 April 2013
Description
Written for his brother Benedictine monks around 1077, Anselmâ?Ts Proslogion is perhapsA the best-known partially-read book of the Middle Ages. Many readers are familiar onlyA with Anselmâ?Ts well-known argument for Godâ?Ts existence in Chapters 2â?"4, which is oftenA called the â?oontological argument,â?? a misleading appellation coined centuries later byA Immanuel Kant. In this argument Anselm begins with the thought of â?osomething thanA which nothing greater is able to be thought,â?? and subsequently he leads the reader to seeA that such a reality necessarily exists and cannot be thought not to be. This argument â?"A which is, to be sure, crucial to the work constitutes â?" but a small portion of the whole.A Preceding it is a profound but oft-overlooked opening chapter in which AnselmA contemplates his all-too-human condition and disposes the reader to receive aptly hisA argument for Godâ?Ts existence in the next three chapters. And following this argument areA 20 chapters in which Anselm artfully unfolds the depth and breadth of Godâ?Ts trueA existence as that than which nothing greater is able to be thought, showing God to beA (among other things) able-to-sense, pity-hearted, just, good, and uncircumscribed.A Indeed, if the reader is willing to give himself over to the work as whole, he will beA compelled, under Anselmâ?Ts deft guidance, to â?oendeavor to straighten up his mindA toward contemplating God,â?? which is how Anselm describes his own role in the work inA his prefatory remarks. This edition provides a faithful yet readable English rendering of the wholeA Proslogion, the objections raised to Anselmâ?Ts argument by his contemporary Gaunilo, andA Anselmâ?Ts replies to those objections. (After responding to Gaunilo, Anselm himselfA requested that these objections and replies be included in subsequent editions of theA Proslogion.) This edition also includes an introduction that contextualizes theA ProslogionA within the monastic, pre-Scholastic age in which it first made its appearance. InA addition, by means of notes and commentary, this edition articulates how toA contextualize Anselmâ?Ts famous argument in theA ProslogionA as a whole and in light of hisA replies to Gaunilo, how to appreciate the artistry whereby Anselm knit theA ProslogionA together into a coherent and concise unity, and how the work may be taught effectivelyA to interested students. These features set this affordable English edition of theA ProslogionA apart from those currently available, which too often fail to capture accurately the beautyA of Anselmâ?Ts prose, which often treat the work through the lens of either laterA Scholasticism or contemporary analytic philosophy of religion, and which take little noteA of the craftsmanship whereby Anselm constructed this masterfully integrated work thatA is remembered too often for too few of its 24 chapters. Matthew Walz has taught in the interdisciplinary program at Thomas Aquinas College inA California, and since 2008 he has been a professor in the Philosophy Department of theA University of Dallas.
You may also like ...
by
Paperback
15 Apr 2013
Philosophy
€8.19
Extended stock – Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Hardback
31 Mar 2022
Medieval Western philosophy
€83.07
Extended stock – Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Hardback
26 Mar 2024
New Testaments
€22.80
Extended stock – Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Hardback
15 Nov 2021
Literature: history and criticism
€44.46
Extended stock – Dispatch 5-7 days
Reviews