Quotation
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“God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.”
Anselm of Canterbury · Scholasticism · Medieval · 1077–1078
What does it mean?
Anselm defines God as that than which nothing greater can be conceived, then argues that such a being must exist in reality and not only in the understanding, or else a greater could be conceived. The usual reading calls this the ontological argument in its medieval form. A rival reading, Gaunilo's almost at once, says the same machinery would prove a perfect island, so the definition manufactures existence rather than discovering it. The formula is a prayer addressed to God in the Proslogion, not a puzzle he first detached from worship.
Did Anselm of Canterbury really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Standard English of the formula in the Proslogion, chapter two. Anselm wrote it as a prayerful argument, addressing God. The Latin is secure. This is a translation, not his own English.
Where it comes from
Proslogion, chapter 2
Approximate date: 1077–1078.
How to use it
A committee in a Manchester housing association writes a definition of affordable into a policy and then speaks as if the flats already existed. Anselm's definition is built so that existence falls out of it, which is the feature to watch in any definition that seems to settle a factual question by wording alone. The meeting still has to count the rooms, because a definition is not a building survey.
A mindset reading
The machinery can be studied without mocking the person who prayed it, and it can be rejected without a sneer. Gaunilo, Aquinas, and Kant refuse versions of the argument for different reasons. A slogan that says medieval thinkers were simply confused is less exact than any of those refusals, and less exact than the formula itself.
Understand the philosophy
This is the ontological argument in Anselm's form, and the key term is greater, not larger in size but more perfect in being, so that existence in reality is said to exceed existence in the understanding alone. Aquinas will deny that God's existence is self-evident to us, and Kant will deny that existence is a real predicate that adds greatness. The Latin formula is securely Anselm's.
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FAQ
What does it mean?
Anselm defines God as that than which nothing greater can be conceived, then argues that such a being must exist in reality and not only in the understanding, or else a greater could be conceived. The usual reading calls this the ontological argument in its medieval form. A rival reading, Gaunilo's almost at once, says the same machinery would prove a perfect island, so the definition manufactures existence rather than discovering it. The formula is a prayer addressed to God in the Proslogion, not a puzzle he first detached from worship.
Did Anselm of Canterbury really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Standard English of the formula in the Proslogion, chapter two. Anselm wrote it as a prayerful argument, addressing God. The Latin is secure. This is a translation, not his own English.
Which work is it in?
Proslogion, chapter 2 Approximate date: 1077–1078.