John Scottus Eriugena and Anselm of Canterbury
John Scottus Eriugena and Anselm of Canterbury
Stephen Gersh
INTRODUCTION
by John Marenbon
John Scottus Eriugena came from Ireland, as his name indicates
(‘Scottus’ meant ‘Irishman’ in the Latin of this period, and ‘Eriugena’,
a neologism invented by John himself, is a flowery way of saying the
same thing). He worked on the Continent, however, under the patronage
of Charles the Bald. The first mention of him, in a letter of 851 or 852
about the predestination controversy, is as ‘an Irishman at the royal
court’. After the disastrous reception of his own contribution to this
dispute, On Predestination (discussed in Chapter 5), it seems to have
been Charles’s protection which saved Eriugena from punishment and
ensured he could continue his work. Glosses survive by Eriugena on
Martianus Capella’s On the Marriage of Mercury and Philology, a late
antique handbook of the seven liberal arts widely studied in the ninth
century, and it is likely that these represent some of his teaching at the
palace school in the late 840s.1 Already his comments show some of
the characteristic themes of his thought. For instance, a reference by
Martianus to the myth of Orpheus, who tries to rescue his wife,
Eurydice, from the underworld, is glossed in terms of the relation
between the beauty of sound (represented by Orpheus) and the art of
music ‘in its profoundest reasons’ (represented by Eurydice), which
the musician must seek by descending into the depths of his discipline.
Eriugena’s intellectual horizon was greatly enlarged in the 850s when
Charles commissioned him to translate from Greek the writings which
had been issued as (and were taken to be) by Dionysius, the learned
pagan converted by St Paul, though they were in fact the work of a
fifth-century Christian deeply influenced by the Neoplatonism of
Proclus. The manuscript of pseudo-Dionysius had been sent as a present
by the Byzantine emperor to Charles’s father, Louis the Pious. An
obscure translation had been made at the time by Hilduin, Abbot of St
Denis. Eriugena had taught himself Greek much better and succeeded,
not merely in producing a comprehensible translation which would be
used for the next three centuries, but also in absorbing the ideas he
found in the text. He went on to translate various other Greek Christian
texts, by Gregory of Nyssa and the seventh-century Maximus the
Confessor. All these influences, along with his wide reading of the Latin
fathers (especially Ambrose and Augustine) and his enthusiasm for
logic (especially as found in the pseudo-Augustinian Ten Categories),
are combined in his masterpiece Periphyseon (About Nature’; it is also
sometimes known as De divisione naturae, ‘On the division of nature’),
written in the 860s. The Periphyseon has been seen by some as
continuing a tradition of Greek Neoplatonic thought, and by some as
anticipating nineteenth-century German Idealist philosophy; whilst
other scholars have concentrated on placing the work within the context
of Carolingian thought.2 Yet other approaches, too, are possible (as
Stephen Gersh’s discussion below will illustrate)—a diversity of
interpretation encouraged by a text of remarkable breadth and audacity,
where bold strokes of the imagination sometimes stand in for rigour
of argument and suggestiveness of imagery for clarity of thought.
The Periphyseon begins by setting out a fourfold division of universal
nature—discussed below in greater depth by Stephen Gersh—into: (1)
that which is not created and creates, (2) that which is created and
creates, (3) that which is created and does not create, and (4) that
which is not created and does not create. God, as creator, constitutes
(1); the primordial causes—which are both like Platonic Ideas and the
Stoic seminal reasons Eriugena learnt about in Augustine’s Literal
Commentary on Genesis—make up (2); (3) is the created world of
men, animals and things and (4), like (1), is identified with God, but
God as the Final Cause to which all things return. The underlying
course of universal history, seen as the progress from (1) to (4), is
described in the five books of the work, which takes the form of a
dialogue between master and pupil. Book I is mainly devoted to showing
that God does not belong to any of Aristotle’s ten categories. Drawing
on pseudo-Dionysius’ negative theology, Eriugena argues that God does
not even belong to the first category, that of ousia (substance or essence)
as Augustine had held. The remaining four books are structured round
an exegesis of the story of creation and fall in Genesis, in which Eriugena
discovers not only an account of divisions (2) and (3) but also that of
the return of all things at the end of time to the uncreated and uncreating
God of (4). Unusual positions abound: that (following Maximus) sexual
differentiation arose only as a consequence of the fall; that the nothing
from which God created all things is God himself who, being beyond
all description, is nothing rather than something; that (continuing the
line of thought from On Predestination, but hedging it around with
qualifications and even contradictions) there will be no Hell, at least in
the ordinary sense.
Eriugena also composed a commentary on pseudo-Dionysius’
Celestial Hierarchy, a homily on the prologue to John’s Gospel and
the beginning of a commentary on that Gospel. The homily provides a
short and beautifully written summary of some of the main themes of
his later work.
Anselm was born at Aosta in Italy in 1033. He became a monk of
Bec in Normandy in 1059, where he was taught by Lanfranc, whom
he went on to succeed as Abbot (in 1078) and as Archbishop of
Canterbury (in 1093). He died in 1109, after a stormy tenure of the
archbishopric in which he tried to assert the power and independence
of the Church. Anselm did not begin to write his theological and
philosophical works until he was over 40. From then up almost until
his death he produced a series of writings distinguished by an
extraordinary elegance of thought and clarity of purpose. Unlike almost
every other medieval thinker, Anselm makes no parade of philosophical
or theological authorities, although he clearly knew as well as anyone
of his time the logical texts of Aristotle, Porphyry and Boethius then
available, and he had studied deeply Augustine’s more philosophical
writings.3
Anselm’s two earliest monographs, the Monologion (1076) and the
Proslogion (1077–8), are both concerned to provide rational arguments
for the existence and attributes of God, although he assumes that his
readers will be Christians who already accept by faith the truth of the
assertions which he is setting out to prove. The Monologion uses a
variety of arguments designed to show that there exists a triune God.
The Proslogion uses a single line of argument and does not attempt to
argue for triunity, but restricts itself to the not specifically Christian
divine attributes such as omniscience, omnipotence, perfect goodness
and eternity. The piece is built around the notion of that-than-whichnothing-
greater-can-be-thought: what, for simplicity’s sake, may be
called the notion of a ‘maximal being’. Most of the work is devoted to
showing that, in the case of each presumed divine attribute, it must
belong to a maximal being because, without it, the being would not be
maximal. But this would merely show that, if it existed, a maximal
being would be omnipotent, omniscient and so on. By far the greatest
attention, in Anselm’s time and ever since, has been given to the
argument placed at the beginning (often called Anselm’s ‘ontological
proof’) to demonstrate that a maximal being does actually exist. Anselm
advances two premisses: (1) that a maximal being does at least exist in
thought, and (2) that to exist in reality and thought is greater than to
exist in thought alone. He considers (1) to be proven by the fact that
even someone who denies the existence of a maximal being (such as
the fool of Psalm 14, who denies that God exists) has the mental concept
of such a being; and he takes (2) for granted. He then argues that it
must be false to claim that a maximal being A exists in thought and
not in reality, because such a being would be less great than a being B
exactly like it except that it existed in thought and also in reality, and
so A would not be a maximal being. Therefore, given that a maximal
being exists in thought, it must exist in reality too. The classic objection
to this argument, that existence is not a predicate, is not very powerful,
since Anselm’s argument is based on the contrast between ways of
existing, in thought and in reality. His premiss (2) may not be
convincing, but it is not obviously false or meaningless. Modern reworkings
of the ontological proof usually adapt premiss (1) to read:
‘“God exists” is possibly true’, and, in order to make a plausible
argument, they need to add another claim (3), that if a maximal being
exists, it must exist in such a way that it cannot not exist: it must exist
necessarily. (3) is found in the next chapter of the Proslogion, but as a
further argument rather than as an additional premiss to the proof
that a maximal being exists. It remains a matter for dispute among
philosophers whether any version of the ontological argument,
strengthened in this way, is sound.4
Besides writing a detailed reply to the criticisms raised by Gaunilo, a
monk of Marmoutier, to his ontological proof, Anselm went on to
write, among others, works On Truth, On Free Will and on the
compatibility of grace and divine prescience with human freedom. His
Cur Deus homo (Why God became man, 1094–8) is especially
ambitious: basing himself on Scripture, but only on that part of it
accepted by Jews and Muslims as well as Christians, Anselm tries to
show that God needed to become incarnate if he was to remain just
but also maintain the benevolent purpose of his creation. Two works
of Anselm also survive which are more purely philosophical in content:
De grammatico, an intricate logical discussion, following on from
Aristotle’s Categories and Boethius’ commentary, of the semantics of
denominative words such as grammaticus (‘literate’), and the
‘Philosophical fragments’, which examine modal notions and sketch
out a philosophy of action.5
QUESTIONS OF METHOD
Like any other object of critical analysis, the literary production of those
writers of the ninth to eleventh centuries who are usually styled
‘philosophers’ is approachable from various perspectives. One such
viewpoint, dominant in medieval philosophical scholarship until quite
recently, has been that of orthodox Thomism. However, the notion that
pre-thirteenth-century intellectual figures should primarily be valued for
their tentative movements towards certain doctrines of high scholasticism
is nowadays losing its appeal. There is obviously neither the socio-political
pressure nor the metaphysical conviction to sustain it.
John Marenbon’s survey, published in 1983 ([6.33]), makes the prescholastics
speak, at least to a degree, in an idiom intelligible to a late
twentieth-century audience. That he should emphasize their
preoccupation with problems of language is therefore perfectly
understandable. This is documented by their elaboration of the doctrine
in Aristotle’s On Interpretation about words, thoughts, and things
([6.33] 21–2, 32–3, 101–2) and by their rediscovery of the distinction
between sense and reference of terms ([6.33] 102–3, 106 ff.).6 One
only needs to adopt a more comprehensive notion of the linguistic—
including the structural element and the overlap with the semiotic—in
order to see such preoccupation in greater relief. However, that he
should limit their claim to be called ‘philosophers’ is perhaps too drastic.
A careful reading of Early Medieval Philosophy reveals its author’s
personal conviction about the nature of philosophy. For him, it is
primarily methodological in a sense opposed to ontological realism
and system building ([6.33] 6, 10, 15–16, 81). The methodology consists
of arguments from premisses to conclusions (pp. 4, 58), the premisses
being generally open to doubt but ideally self-evident either to
observation or reason rather than textually given, the conclusions being
unknown in advance (pp. 4, 12). Philosophy also employs terms which
are literal rather than metaphorical and univocal rather than equivocal
in its discussions (pp. 5–6, 9–10). Since these criteria define a discipline
recognizable to Bertrand Russell but not to early medieval writers,
Marenbon is left with relatively few illustrations of genuine philosophy
before the twelfth century. Although the traditions of logic and of logic’s
application to theology represented by certain passages in Augustine
and Boethius are to be excepted (pp. 10, 47–8), a substantial portion
of the late antique and early medieval literature fails to meet one or
more criteria. The Latin translation of Plato’s Timaeus is too
metaphorical (pp. 5–6), the Latin Platonic material of late antiquity
too much concerned with system building and metaphorical expression
(pp. 9–10, 15–16). Likewise, Eriugena’s thought involves too much
system building (p. 81), too many premisses derived from texts (p. 58),
and too much equivocal language (pp. 65–9), Anselm of Canterbury’s
too many conclusions known in advance (pp. 95–7).
Despite the persuasiveness of this discussion, a different approach
to the philosophical writing of the ninth to eleventh centuries is possible.
This would involve equal attention to the linguistic component but—
since history shows this term to imply not universality but family
resemblance—fewer prior assumptions about the meaning of
‘philosophy’. What follows is an attempt to investigate samples of
Carolingian and post-Carolingian philosophical literature from such a
viewpoint. I shall suggest that these materials, in their concern for
systematic construction, pre-existing textual data, and the polysemy
of etymology and metaphor, exhibit not intellectual weaknesses but
intellectual strengths.
ERIUGENA
In some respects, Western medieval philosophy can be viewed as
beginning with the brilliant and controversial ninth-century thinker
John Scottus Eriugena.7 Marenbon values him for his ability to reason
abstractly yet criticizes his tendency to system building. However, it is
Eriugena’s notion of structure which perhaps makes him closer to
modern writers than to other medieval ones.
Few would deny that a particular concept of ‘structure’ is one of the
intellectual paradigms of our era.8 This involves a priority of relation
to related terms, such relations being either of opposite to opposite
where one opposite exists through or is understood through the other,
or else of whole to part where the whole exists through or is understood
through the part, or vice versa.9 Originating in linguistics, where it
determined both the phonological and semantic spheres—for example
as the Saussurian concept of ‘value’,10 the theory regarding presence
(+) or absence (-) of distinctive features elaborated by Trubetzkoy and
Jakobson,11 and the Hjelmslevian notion of ‘form’12 —it has passed
into the currency of historical, anthropological, literary, psychoanalytic,
and other studies. Although avoiding the term ‘structure’ itself, Eriugena
builds his metaphysical system with identical components. Priority of
relation is underlined by his discussion of the Aristotelian categorical
doctrine in Periphyseon I where the category of ‘relation’ (relatio, ad
aliquid) or of ‘condition’ (habitus) is found to be present in all the
other categories.13 Contrast of opposite with opposite is a recurrent
theme of Eriugena’s writing, as instanced by the negative and affirmative
predicates applied to God (I. 458A–462D, II. 599B–600A, III. 684D–
685A, etc.) and the five dichotomies constituting nature (II 529C–545B);
contrast of whole with parts is only slightly less frequent, an instance
being God’s status with regard to created things of which man’s is the
microcosmic reflection (IV. 759A–B. Cf. II. 523D–524D). Strict
relatedness is clearly the writer’s underlying assumption in such cases,
since each binary term is said to be dependent ontologically and
epistemologically on its counterpart (V. 953C–954A, V. 965A–B).
Eriugena exploits the notion of structure in developing his own
variant of the classical Platonic Theory of Forms. The expression of
this doctrine, acquired through intermediary Greek and Latin patristic
sources, combines ontological and semiotic criteria.
From the ontological viewpoint,14 there exists a set of transcendent
i.e. atemporal and non-spatial principles. These are termed ‘reasons’
(rationes) in Latin, and ‘Ideas’ (ideai), ‘prototypes’ (pr)totypa),
‘predestinations’ (proorismata), or ‘divine volitions’ (theia thel%mata)
in Greek.15 They possess a metaphysically intermediate status since
they depend upon a prior cause: God (the technical term for such
dependence being ‘participation’ (participatio)), while subsequent terms,
created objects, depend on them.16 According to Eriugenian textual
exegesis, when the Bible describes God as making heaven and earth ‘in
the beginning’, it means that the first principle establishes the reasons
or Ideas of intellectual or sensible creatures within its Word.17 Examples
of the transcendent principles are Goodness, Being, Life, Wisdom, Truth,
Intellect, Reason, Power, Justice, Salvation, Magnitude, Omnipotence,
Eternity, and Peace (II. 616C–617A).
From the semiotic viewpoint,18 Eriugena proposes an analysis of the
term ‘nature’ (natura) using a combination of traditional logical
principles like the square of opposition19 and the division of genus into
species versus the partition of whole into parts.20 Within nature, four
‘differences’ (differentiae) are posited: creating (A), not created (D),
created (B), and not creating (C), these combining to form four ‘species’
(species): creating and not created (1), both created and creating (2),
created and not creating (3), and neither creating nor created (4).21
The relations between 1 and 3 and between 2 and 4 are described as
‘opposition’ (oppositio), those between A2 and Al, between B3 and
B2, between C3 and C4, and between D4 and D1 as ‘similarity’
(similitudo), and those between B2 and D1, between C3 and A2,
between B3 and D4, and between C4 and Al as ‘dissimilarity’
(dissimilitudo) (I. 441A–442A, II. 523D–528B). This semiotic analysis
is applied to metaphysics when species 1 is identified with God as the
beginning of the cosmic process, species 2 with the reasons or Ideas,
species 3 with the effects of the reasons or Ideas, and species 4 with
God as end of the cosmic process.22
By endorsing the thesis that there is an analogy between the cosmos
and a book, Eriugena can pass easily from assumptions about the
structure of reality to assumptions about the structure of texts.23 That
he has a systematic approach to texts is suggested by the possibility of
dissolving Periphyseon into a mosaic of citations.24 Of course, he
presents no formalized theory concerning the relations between a literary
text, its reader, and antecedent texts comparable with those developed
in connection with modern fiction by Bakhtin, Kristeva and others.25
Nevertheless, the combination of quotations in his writing indicates
several interpretative strategies.
Among Eriugena’s citations,26 a considerable number come from
the Greek Fathers. Taking them in chronological order of authorship,
there are lengthy passages from Origen on the end of the world (V.
929A–930D), from Gregory of Nyssa on man as the image of God (IV.
788A–801C), from pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on the divine
names and on the celestial hierarchies,27 and from Maximus the
Confessor on the fivefold division of nature (II 529C–542B). Two Latin
Fathers contribute textual materials of importance: Augustine on
miscellaneous questions28 and Ambrose on the interpretation of Paradise
(IV. 815B–816C). Among Eriugena’s further quotations, a large group
comes from Latin secular authors. Considering these also in
chronological order of authorship, there are substantial extracts from
pseudo-Augustine on the ten categories,29 from Martianus Capella on
the measurement of the cosmos,30 and from Boethius on the nature of
number.31 The incorporation of all these antecedent texts into
Periphyseon reflects one paramount exegetical purpose. This is to make
them agree in meaning so that, when two texts are perceived to disagree
on the denotative level, agreement must be sought in some connotative
meaning;32 and when they are seen to disagree on the connotative level,
the denotative meaning of one text should be accepted, its selection
being founded on a hierarchy of socio-political value.33 The application
of this exegetical principle can be documented by many examples. Latin
Christian and Greek Christian writings are held to agree when
Augustine and pseudo-Dionysius discuss the divine ignorance beyond
knowledge (II. 597C–ZZ598A), Latin secular and Greek Christian
when ‘Plato’, Virgil and Gregory of Nyssa describe the four elements,34
Latin secular and Latin Christian when ‘Plato’ and Augustine interpret
the world soul as principle of life (III. 727C–728D), and Latin secular,
Greek Christian and Latin Christian when ‘Aristotle’, pseudo-Dionysius
and Augustine discuss the ten categories.35 Disagreement on the
denotative level overcome by shifting to the connotative level of one or
both texts is instanced among Latin Christian and Greek Christian
authors when Ambrose, Augustine, pseudo-Dionysius and Maximus
describe the indirect perception of God through theophany;36
disagreement on the connotative level overcome by concentrating on
the denotative level of one text only is illustrated among Latin Christian
and Greek Christian authors when pseudo-Dionysius and Maximus
but not Augustine discuss the threefold division of the soul into
substance, power and activity,37 and among Latin Christian and Latin
secular authors when Pliny and Martianus Capella but not Augustine
calculate the measurements of the cosmos (III. 719A, 721C. Cf. III.
724A–C).
Eriugena obviously exploits the notion of multiple meanings in texts.
That this is in the late twentieth century part of the definition of
literariness would hardly be questioned,38 and that it is nowadays also
a fundamental problem in philosophy is the legacy of Gadamer, Derrida
and others.39 But it is important to find the exact coordinates of
Eriugena’s position. Of the theoretically possible views of meaning
which are relevant here, one would connect the polysemy of individual
texts with an ultimate monosemy—metaphysical truth—and establish
a limit for hermeneutical activity and a distinction between denotation
and connotation.40 This was the attitude of medieval theologians.41
Another view would connect the polysemy of individual texts with an
ultimate polysemy—a linguistic ‘reality’—and establish no limits for
hermeneutical activity and no distinction between denotation and
connotation. Such is the position of modern deconstruction.42 A careful
study of Eriugena’s philosophical methodology reveals him supporting
neither the first nor the second viewpoint exclusively but oscillating
between the two: a most unusual approach for a Western medieval
thinker.
The evidence for Eriugena’s concept of polysemy consists primarily
of various statements about thought and language.43 Clearly the notion
that polysemy is a property to be exploited rather than a defect to be
overcome in the pursuit of philosophy requires a fusion rather than a
separation of the cognitive and the verbal. Eriugena explicitly advocates
such a fusion in several instances while commenting on Martianus
Capella and Maximus the Confessor.
Among Eriugena’s comments on the text of Martianus Capella, those
dealing with the meaning of its initial allegory are particularly relevant.
This narrative depicts the god Mercury’s search for a bride, culminating
in his choice of the mortal Philology, and then the preparations for the
marriage of Mercury and Philology, including a ritual of Philology’s
deification. Since Eriugena quite plausibly interprets Mercury and
Philology as figures of language and reason respectively, the marriage
of the two protagonists for him indirectly signifies the fusion of discourse
and thinking.44 Naturally, this represents a primary rather than exclusive
meaning of such an inherently polysemous text.45
Among Eriugena’s developments of Maximus the Confessor’s
teaching, those concerned with a threefold psychological process are
particularly important. Here, Eriugena sometimes contrasts two inner
cognitive functions: intelligence and thinking with an outer expressive
function: sensation=sign-manipulation,46 but sometimes describes
three inner cognitive and expressive functions: intelligence=noninterpretation,
reason=expression, and interior sensation=quasi signmanipulation.
47 The shift between the first and second formulations—
tantamount to replacing the traditional contrast of thought and
language with a more unusual combination of the two—results from
the contextual pressure of a Trinitarian analogy in the latter case.48
Just as God expresses himself to himself and to creation through his
Word, so does man reflect the same processes on a lower level of
being.
In order to appreciate these developments, one should pause
momentarily to recall Aristotle’s theory in On Interpretation that
spoken words are signs—symbola or s%meia—of mental affections and
that, although mental affections are identical for all mankind, spoken
words are different.49 Thanks to Boethius’ translation and commentary
on this text, the radical cleavage between thinking and language which
it advocated became a medieval commonplace.50 However, modern
linguistic theory in the tradition of Saussure’s Cours de linguistique
générale would insist that the acoustic image—the signifier, and the
concept—the signified, are inseparable components of one wholly
arbitrary linguistic sign.51
Further evidence for his concept of polysemy is provided by the
writer’s practice in connection with etymology. Here, Eriugena follows
the doctrine, established by the Stoics and transmitted to the Latin
West by Isidore of Seville, that study of the forms and derivations of
words leads to knowledge of the things which they represent.52 The
Periphyseon contains numerous examples of simple etymologies
exploited in this way. Because metoch% (‘participation’) is composed
of meta (‘after’) plus echein (‘to have’), it indicates the derivation of an
essence from a superior one (III. 632B) and because stere)ma
(‘firmament’) is composed of ster% (‘solid’) plus hama (‘together’), it
indicates the common boundary of all corporeal things (III. 694B).
Similarly the noun ousia (‘substance’) comes from the verb eimi (‘I
am’) and therefore signifies subsistence of each thing in its transcendent
causes whereas the noun phusis (‘nature’) comes from the verb phuomai
(‘I am born’) and therefore signifies the generation of each thing in
some material substratum.53 When Eriugena alternates etymologies of
a single term, the fusion of real and verbal begins to predominate over
the separation of the two.54 For example, the word theos (‘God’) is
derived both from the verb the)r) (‘I see’), so that God is the one who
sees all things in himself, and from the verb the) (‘I run’), so that he is
that which itself runs through all things. (I. 452B–C). The word angelos
(‘angel’) is connected both with the preposition engus (‘near’), meaning
that angels are the creatures immediately after God, and with the verb
engigno (‘I engender’), meaning that they are the creatures who transmit
divine illuminations.55 When Eriugena connects etymologies of different
terms, the fusion of real and verbal completes its ascendancy over the
separation of the two. Because bonitas (‘goodness’) comes from the
verb bo) (‘I call’), while bo) is synonymous with kal), from which
comes the adjective kalos (‘beautiful’), the God who is both goodness
and beauty can be understood as calling all created things from nonexistence
into existence.56
The writer’s practice in connection with metaphor provides yet more
evidence for his concept of polysemy.57 For Eriugena, ‘metaphor’
(metaphora/translatio) represents the application to something of a
name normally applied to something else (see I. 458C, 461C, 463B,
464D, 512B–D, 522A, etc.). This is a notion derived from such
textbooks as the pseudo-Ciceronian To Herennius, although Eriugena
does not specify the ground of this transference of names in the perceived
similarity between the objects concerned.58 ‘Metonymy’ (met)numia)
is defined as a more specific version of the above, involving the
application to the contained of a name normally applied to the container
(I. 480B. Cf. To Herennius IV. 32. 43). ‘Synecdoche’ (sunekdoch%) is a
more specific version of the above, involving the application to the
part of a name normally applied to the whole, or else the application
to the whole of a name normally applied to the part (II. 560A–B, III.
706B, IV. 744C. Cf. To Herennius IV. 33. 44). When Eriugena advocates
such transferences of terms either between a created thing and God59
or between one created thing and another, he remains within the
traditional theory. When he treats these transferences as simultaneously
metaphors, metonymies and synecdoches (I, 480B, III. 706B) he is
perhaps metaphysically rationalizing certain imprecisions in that
established teaching. But when he understands such transferences of
terms not as unilateral between a literal and a figurative sense but as
bilateral between two literal-figurative senses,60 he passes beyond the
traditional doctrine. In fact, the writer seems to have developed this
notion of ‘reciprocal metaphor’ (reciproca metaphora) (III. 706A)
against a twofold background. Within his theory of divine names, a
given term e.g. ‘goodness’ can be applied to the creator but is normally
applied to the creature while that same term can be applied to the
creature but is ultimately grounded in the creator.61 In connection with
his theory of the Incarnation, a certain term e.g. ‘air’ can be applied to
a higher element but is normally applied to a lower one, while another
term e.g. ‘light’ can be applied to a lower element but is normally applied
to a higher one. This example is particularly interesting since air and
light are already metaphors of human and divine respectively.62 Also in
connection with his theory of the Incarnation, a certain term relating
to salvation e.g. ‘flesh’ may be applied to the redeemed but is normally
applied to the fallen, while another term e.g. ‘spirit’ may be applied to
the fallen but is normally applied to the redeemed.63
The understanding of metaphor emerging from such texts moves
away from that implying comparison of two spheres of meaning, and
associated with the classical tradition from Aristotle to Quintilian and
beyond, towards that based on fusion of two spheres of meaning and
advocated by Richards and other modern critics.64 Such a viewpoint
has one important consequence which Eriugena intuitively grasps: that
the traditional distinction between the verbal and the real is becoming
questionable. This is because the metaphorized and metaphorizing terms
are no longer contrasted as verbal and real but as equally verbal-real.
The same viewpoint has another consequence which he explicitly states:
that the habitual distinction between ‘figurative’ and ‘literal’ language
is almost unworkable (see III. 705Aff.).
It is because of this deliberate rather than accidental role of polysemy
in his thought that we should be less ready than some have been to
accuse Eriugena of philosophical confusion. For example, Marenbon
finds serious fault in the handling of substance ([6.33] 65–70). He rightly
notes that Eriugena’s substance is primarily universal but, since he has
confused two distinct types of universal: (a) classes of things where
whatever distinguishes their members is present wholly in each one,
and (b) universal qualities where whatever is characteristic of individuals
is present to different degrees in each, concludes that this substance is a
notion vitiated by ambivalence. However, it is also reasonable to see
deliberate polysemy rather than unconscious confusion here.65 Eriugena’s
‘substance’ is simply a lexeme whose semantic properties enter into
numerous configurations, forming a simple structure where it is opposed
to non-substance (I. 461 A–464A)—the affirmative and negative
theologies. It forms a more complex structure where the opposition of
universal and particular is discovered within it and it is opposed to
accident (I. 467D–468B, 470Dff.)—the Aristotelian categories. It forms
the most complex structure where it is combined with form, opposed
to quality in combination with form, metaphorically fused with ‘dry
land’, and opposed to quality metaphorically fused with ‘water’ (III.
698Cff.), the exegesis of Genesis 1:9–10. Any structure may actualize
semantic properties logically inconsistent with those of other structures.
That inconsistencies are an ineradicable feature of natural languages
and of all literature and philosophy derived from them is a fact which
Eriugena perhaps saw more clearly than did most of his contemporaries
and successors.
It had always been assumed by nineteenth-century historians of
philosophy that Eriugena exercised little influence over later thinkers.
Although various attempts have been made to counter this negative
assessment in recent times,66 the only hitherto undiscovered influences
to be brought to light have been those on the immediately subsequent
generation. Thus, Eriugena’s studies of the Latin Fathers are known to
have influenced one set of Carolingian glosses on Augustine’s De Musica
(edited by Boeuff [6.45]) and his studies of Latin secular authors of
various glosses of the same period on the pseudo-Augustinian Ten
Categories.67 These latter glosses have been extensively discussed in
recent scholarship. From passages now published it is possible to see
that various commentators had grasped the semiotic ramifications of
Eriugena’s work. Indeed, certain glosses recall the structural
preoccupations of his thought in elaborating the notion of ‘nature’,68
and others its polysemic tendency by applying ideas concerning
homonymy, synonymy, and paronymy or etymological arguments to
metaphysics.69
If Eriugena had exercised influence over later thinkers, it would
undoubtedly have run counter to the norm of medieval intellectual
development. In general, writers of this period went back directly to
antique sources for their material, and during the tenth and eleventh
centuries this meant primarily Boethius, whom Eriugena had only
partially exploited.70 For example, Notker Labeo makes extensive use
of Boethius’ translation of Aristode’s Categories (see [6.63]), Abbo of
Fleury of the Boethian monographs on logical division and on various
kinds of syllogism (see [6.64]), Gerbert of Aurillac of Boethius’ first
commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge, etc. Gerbert is arguably the most
important member of this group.71 His treatise De rationali et ratione
uti (On ‘rational’ and ‘to use reason’) is a discussion of logical problems
surrounding the extension of the two predicates ‘rational’ and ‘using
reason’ ([6.16] 1. 299) more interesting for the ideas arising en route
to the solution than for the solution itself. Here, Gerbert reveals the
structural preoccupation of a typical Platonist in establishing three
‘semiotic’ categories:72 act without potency, act with potency, and
potency without act, which are applied to hierarchies of physical and
metaphysical principles,73 yet a desire to reduce polysemy more
characteristic of the re-emergent Aristotelianism ([6.16] 9. 304).
ANSELM OF CANTERBURY
The next major figure in the Western intellectual tradition and the
dominant thinker of the late eleventh century is Anselm of Canterbury.74
Marenbon arrives at an ambivalent judgement in his case, on one hand
denying him the title of ‘philosopher’ because his argumentation does
not arrive finally at its conclusions but assumes them from the outset,
and on the other conceding it in recognition of his contributions to the
study of the language—thought relation and of the logic of possibility
and necessity. Yet it is possible to reevaluate Anselm’s philosophical
contribution under the three headings proposed earlier: structure, text
and polysemy (see p. 125).
Anselm exploits the notion of structure in developing a variant of
the classical Platonic Theory of Forms during the early chapters of
Monologion which combines ontological and ‘semiotic’ criteria. The
ontological viewpoint is clearly indicated when he describes a set of
transcendent i.e. atemporal and non-spatial principles, each of which
is termed an ‘exemplar’ (exemplum), ‘form’ (forma), or ‘rule’ (regula)
(Monologion 9, 24. 7–20). It is either present in the divine mind or an
aspect of the divine essence,75 and is somehow the cause of lower i.e.
spatio-temporal things.76 The semiotic viewpoint is adopted implicitly
when Anselm introduces the set of transcendent principles with a
discourse based on semantic permutation.77
In the first place, there is an argument in the abstract. This is founded
on the following inventory of semantic elements: two terms—the
plurality of things having property x (a1,a2…) and the single property
x (b); two relations constitutive of terms—effect of another (R→) and
effect of itself (R←); two terms constituted by relations—the plurality
of things having property x through another (aa1, aa2…) and the single
property x through itself (bb); and three relations—greater than (R),
less than (R<), and equal to (R=). The inventory is activated gradually
as the argument proceeds through six stages:
1 There are things having property x [a1, a2…];
2 A thing having property x to greater, lesser, or equal degree than
another thing having property x has this through the property x
3 The property x is itself x [b R←];
4 Things having property x are things having property x through
another [a1, a2…R=aa1, aa2…];
5 The property x is the property x through itself [b R=bb];
6 The property x through itself is greater than things having property
x through another [bb R> aa1, aa2…].
In the second place, the argument is applied to three concrete instances:
where property x is identified with ‘good’ sensed or understood, ‘great’
sensed or understood, and ‘existent’ sensed or understood respectively.78
Important features of Anselm’s philosophical method are revealed
here. For example, it seems that there is less an alternation of premisses
and conclusions—as in formal logic—than a permutation of semantic
properties. In fact, the whole discourse can be understood in semantic
terms with the exception of the idea (point 3 above) that the property
x is itself x. This is purely ontological in character, since it makes no
sense to say that the semantic property x has the semantic property
x.79 Furthermore, it appears that the permutation of semantic properties
follows a largely symmetrical pattern, the clearest indication of a writer’s
thinking in structural terms.
It would be inappropriate to seek the relation to textual authorities
here which was apparent in Eriugena. The difference between the two
philosophers seems extreme, given that Anselm’s works—especially
Monologion and Proslogion—are attempts to construct a discourse
‘by reason alone’ (sola ratione) without explicit dependence on
sources.80 Nevertheless, Anselm’s relation to textual authorities is
different from that of his predecessor rather than non-existent.
Although numerous Latin patristic sources are mentioned in the
extant letters, the only authority cited in the treatises themselves is
Augustine. But this citation is of overwhelming interpretative
significance. In the preface to Monologion, the writer diverts potential
criticism that he is advocating novel or false teachings by stressing the
complete agreement between the doctrines of his book and those of
Augustine’s On the Trinity ([6.11] I:8. 8–14). Some modern scholars
would interpret this as the typical statement of a medieval writer
endeavouring to conceal the novelty of his thought behind a declaration
of traditionalism. However, Anselm’s remarks are more than a rhetorical
commonplace. This becomes clear on analysing the Monologion into
an assemblage of Augustinian materials reorganized according to the
structural principles described above.
Anselm’s relation to textual authorities is even indicated by the
Proslogion, which cites no source at all. This treatise contains a famous
passage where a premiss that God is ‘something than which nothing
greater can be thought’ (aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit) is
postulated as self-evident, the premiss then being used as the starting
point for an argument allegedly proceeding by the application of reason
alone to the conclusion that God exists ([6.11] I:101. 1–4, 104. 7). But
even if one were to concede the premiss to be self-evident—a dubious
point in itself—one could not consider it independent of textual
background. In fact, the premiss corresponds to a definition of God
found in Christian texts like Augustine’s On the Customs of the Catholic
Church and those of the Manicheans ([6.11] I:11. 24) and Boethius’ On
the Consolation of Philosophy ([6.11] I:10, 57–8), and in secular works
like Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods ([6.11] I:77) and Seneca’s Natural
Questions81 to name only the most obvious parallels. So Anselm’s purpose
was perhaps to recommend the faith to non-Christians by deducing it
from a premiss stated by Christian and non-Christian authors alike.
Anselm obviously does not exploit the notion of multiple meanings
in texts; indeed, the ideal of univocity would seem more consistent
with his method. Nevertheless, some of his ideas about signification,
had they been extended in a different direction, would have supported
the exploitation of polysemy.
One suggestive idea is the distinction between appellation and
signification elaborated in the treatise De grammatico. Here, he argues
that in statements like ‘the horse is white’, the adjective is ‘appellative’
(appellativum) of the white thing but ‘significative’ (significativum) of
its possession of the property ([6.11] I:159. 12–15, 161. 21). Since he
stresses that what is appellated is an existent object but what is signified
is not, the distinction seems to approximate that between reference
and sense in modern linguistic theory.82 However, any Platonist would
maintain that in the statement ‘the horse is x’, the x signifies a
transcendentally existent x-ness in which Socrates participates. This is
the viewpoint which also seems to underlie the argument about divine
attributes in Monologion 1–4.83
Another aspect of Anselm’s theory of signification conducive to the
systematic exploitation of polysemy is his notion of a ‘speaking’ (locutio)
within the divine nature. By explaining that the exemplar in the divine
mind according to which all things are created is a speaking (see p.
133), he follows traditional patristic teachings regarding the Word as
second person of the Trinity.84 However, the use of the term ‘speaking’
also requires a rational justification. Anselm therefore proposes to
distinguish three ways of speaking about an object:85
1 Speaking of things by employing sensible signs in a sensible manner
e.g. signifying a man by using the word ‘man’—such signs being
unmotivated and non-universal;86
2 Thinking by employing sensible and external signs in an insensible
and internal manner e.g. silently thinking the word ‘man’—these
signs also being unmotivated and non-universal;
3 Speaking things themselves by employing sensible signs in neither a
sensible nor an insensible manner e.g. perceiving a man either by
imagining his sensible shape or by thinking his universal essence
‘animal, rational, mortal’—such signs being motivated and universal.87
It is the third type of speaking which can be attributed to the divine
mind.88 The exemplar in the latter, according to which all things are
created, can therefore be described as a thinking process coextensive
with rather than anterior to the manipulation of signs.89 With this
argument, Anselm points towards that elimination of the distinction
between cognitive and verbal characteristic of post-Saussurian linguistic
theory albeit from a restricted theological perspective (cf. pp. 128–9).
Another suggestive idea is the application of metaphor to philosophical
method underlying the entire Monologion. Towards the end of that
text Anselm raises an important question: given that the divine nature
surpasses human understanding and is accessible only through words
whose meaning is transformed, how true are all the inferences constructed
from such words in respect of the divinity?90 He answers that there is a
certain truth in things signified ‘not properly but through some likeness’
(non proprie…sed per aliquam similitudinem). The passage should be
noted by those modern scholars who agonize over the cogency of
Anselm’s arguments about God, since he shows clearly that the ‘logic’
which they contain is intended to be not the embodiment but only the
reflection of truth.91 Apparently, logical metaphor is to logic in the
Monologion what arithmetical metaphor was to arithmetic in Eriugena’s
exposition of the divine names.
NOTES
1 See Leonardi, ‘Glosse eriugeniane a Marziano Capella in un codice leidense’, in
Roques [6.57].
2 For Eriugena and Greek Neoplatonism, see esp. Beierwaltes [6.44] and Gersh
[6.49]. Dermot Moran [6.54] explores the connections with German Idealism;
cf. also W.Beierwaltes, ‘Zur Wirkungsgeschichte Eriugenas im deutschen
Idealismus. Ein kurze, unsystematische Nachlese’, in [6.44] 313–20. Accounts
more directed to the historical context will be found in Jeauneau [6.51], Marenbon
[5–75] and Schrimpf [6.59].
3 On Anselm’s knowledge of logic, see Henry [6.69] and his editions of De
grammatico [6.14 and 6.15].
4 See Bibliography [6.75–6.82] for some modern treatments of the ontological proof.
5 On De grammatico, see the works by Henry listed in n. 3 above; on Anselm’s
theory of modality and philosophy of action, see Serene [6.73].
6 In addition, Marenbon stresses the relation between logic and language in general
explored by Fredegisus (p. 51), Gottschalk (pp. 55, 105), ninth-century writers
at St Gall (p. 105), the anonymous eleventh-century glossator of Priscian (p.
106ff), etc.
7 The most useful books providing a general introduction to Eriugena’s life and
works are Cappuyns [6.24] and Moran [6.54]. See O’Meara and Bieler [6.55],
Allard [6.38], Beierwaltes [6.42] and [6.43], Jeauneau [6.51], for essays on specific
aspects of his thought.
8 This is true not only of the original ‘structuralists’ but also of the semioticians
and even the deconstructionists who have followed them.
9 On these criteria see Lévi-Strauss, C., Structural Anthropology, English trans.,
New York, 1964, pp. 279–80 and Greimas, A.J., Structural Semantics, English
trans., Lincoln, Neb. 1983, pp. 18ff.
10 See Saussure, F. de Course in General Linguistics, English trans., New York, 1959,
pp. 114–15.
11 This theory is conveniently summarized by Barthes, R., Elements of Semiology,
English trans., London, 1984, pp. 135ff.
12 See Hjelmslev, L., Prolegomena to a Theory of Language, English trans., Madison,
Wis., 1961, p. 23.
13 Eriugena, Periphyseon I. 466A–467C. References to Eriugena’s work give the
column numbers of Floss’s edition [6.1] which are reproduced in the modern
editions and translations and so provide a standard form of reference. Because of
his interpretation of pseudo-Augustine: The Ten Categories, Eriugena allows the
separate Aristotelian categories of relation and condition to coalesce. On Eriugena’s
theory see Flasch [6.48].
14 In discussing both Eriugena’s and Anselm’s notions of structure, I shall distinguish
‘ontological’ and ‘semiotic’ components. By the former is meant any aspects of
the metaphysical system stated in the texts, by the latter those aspects corresponding
to elements in the notion of structure described earlier. Of course, neither Eriugena
nor Anselm could have made such a distinction.
15 II. 529A–C. Elsewhere, Eriugena calls these ‘primordial causes’ (causae
primordiales). See III. 622Bff.
16 II. 616B. ‘And they are said to be the principles of all things since all things
whatsoever that are sensed or understood either in the visible or invisible creation
subsist by participation in them, while they themselves are participations in the
one cause of all things: that is, the most high and holy Trinity’. Cf. III. 630A–C,
III. 644A–B, III. 646B–C, III. 682B–C.
17 II. 546A–B. ‘But on considering the interpretations of many exegetes, nothing
strikes me as more probable or likely than that in the aforesaid words of Holy
Scripture—that is, within the meaning of “heaven” and “earth”—we should
understand the primordial causes of the entire creature which the Father had
created before the foundation of all other things in his only begotten Son who is
designated by the term “beginning”, and that by the word “heaven” we should
hold the primal causes of intelligible things and celestial essences to have been
signified, but by the word “earth” those of the sensible things in which the entire
corporeal world is completed’.
18 See note 14. That Eriugena was aware of the linguistic even if not semiotic starting
point of his analysis is suggested by his reference to nature as a ‘generic term’
(general nomen) rather than as a generic entity. See Cristiani, M., ‘Nature-essence
et nature-langage. Notes sur l’emploi du terme “natura” dans le “Periphyseon”
de Jean Erigène’, Miscellanea Mediaevalia 13/2: Sprache und Erkenntnis im
Mittelalter, Berlin and New York, 1981, pp. 707–17.
19 The square of opposition was a classificatory schema applied by Greek writers of
late antiquity to (a) substance and accident and (b) the numbers 1–10. Thus, in (a)
four terms: of a subject (A), not in a subject (D), in a subject (B), not of a subject
(C) are grouped into four combined terms: of a subject but not in a subject (1),
both in a subject and of a subject (2), in a subject but not of a subject (3), neither
of a subject nor in a subject (4) where 1=universal substance, 2=universal accident,
3=particular accident, 4=particular substance. See Porphyry, On the Categories
78, 25ff. In (b) four terms: generating (A), not generated (D), generated (B), not
generating (C) are grouped into four combined terms: generating but not generated
(1), both generated and generating (2), generated but not generating (3), neither
generating nor generated (4) where 1 =the numbers one, two, three, and five,
2=the number four, 3=the numbers six, eight, and nine, 4=the number seven. See
Theo of Smyrna, Exposition of Mathematical Matters 103. 1–16. Such schemata
were repeated in Latin texts and thereby transmitted to Eriugena and others: see
Marius Victorinus, To Candidus 8. 1–21, Macrobius’ commentary on Cicero’s
Dream of Scipio I. 5. 16, Martianus Capella, On the Marriage of Mercury and
Philology VII. 738, Boethius, Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories I. 169Bff.
The square of opposition in antiquity has been discussed by Hadot [6.31] 148ff.,
Libera, A. de, ‘La sémiotique d’Aristote’, in Structures élémentaires de la signification,
ed. F.Nef, Brussels, 1976, pp. 28–55. The square of opposition in Eriugena has
been examined most recently by Onofrio [6.56] and Beierwaltes [6.43] 17–38. An
analogous schema applied to propositions was also traditional and certainly known
to Eriugena; see Martianus Capella, On the Marriage of Mercury and Philology
IV. 400–1.
20 See Martianus Capella, On the Marriage of Mercury and Philology IV. 352–4.
21 I. 441A–442B. Eriugena himself seems to envisage a diagram in the form:
The notation A, B…1, 2…is not provided by Eriugena.
22 I. 442A–B, II. 525A, II. 526C–527A, II. 527C. The fourfold schema is repeated
later in Periphyseon but with no additions to the basic doctrine. Cf. III. 688C–
689A, IV. 743B–C, V. 1019A–B.
23 See Eriugena, Homily on the Prologue to John [6.9] 14, 291B–C. The analogy
between the cosmos and a book was derived from Maximus the Confessor,
Ambigua 1245A–1248A. See Duclow [6.47] 131–40.
24 Eriugena is here elevating a standard Carolingian literary practice—illustrated by
Alcuin, Hrabanus Maurus, Ratramnus of Corbie, etc.—to a more philosophical
level.
25 For example, see Kristeva, J., S%mei)tik%. Recherches pour une sémanalyse, Paris,
1969, pp. 143ff., 181–2, etc.
26 A complete inventory can be found in Madec [6.53].
27 I. 509B–510B, II. 617A–620A. Cf. Eriugena, Commentary on pseudo-Dionysius’
Celestial Hierarchy, passim.
28 For the Augustinian citations see Madec [6.53]. These are peculiar in being (a)
extremely frequent, (b) generally brief, and (c) somewhat oblique.
29 I. 463Aff. This text is paraphrased rather than quoted. Eriugena associates the
material with ‘Aristotle’, and tends not to quote secular authors verbatim.
30 III. 716B–719A. Paraphrase only.
31 III. 654A–655C. Paraphrase only. For Eriugena, naturally, Boethius ranks among
the Christian authors. However, his On Arithmetic—the only text cited in
Periphyseon—is thoroughly secular in character.
32 On connotation and denotation in Eriugena see below.
33 The hierarchy is as follows: Greek Christian writers are preferred to Latin Christian
writers, and Christian writers to pagan writers.
34 I. 476C–477B. ‘Plato’ may be considered a Latin author, since Eriugena knew
only Calcidius’ Latin translation of the Timaeus.
35 I. 458Aff. ‘Aristotle’ may be treated as a Latin author, since Eriugena relied entirely
on Aristotelian testimonia in pseudo-Augustine and others.
36 I. 446A–451C. A ‘theophany’ is an appearance of God. Eriugena held that God is
never cognized directly, but only in theophanies.
37 I. 486B–D, II. 567Aff. Cf. II. 602D–603C, 610B–611A. It is highly significant
that the references to the Greek Fathers are made by the ‘Teacher’ and those to
the Latin Fathers by the ‘Student’ in the Periphyseon’s dialogue.
38 For example, see Barthes, R., SZ, English trans., New York, 1974, pp. 1–16.
39 For example, see Derrida, J. Margins of Philosophy, English trans., Brighton,
1982, pp. 209ff.
40 I shall follow the predominant usage of modern semantic theory where the
‘denotation’ of a term is a primary meaning, the ‘connotation’ a secondary one.
In realist semantics, where denotation can be associated with a term’s ‘reference’
to an object and connotation with its ‘sense’—using Frege’s nomenclature—the
distinction between denotation and connotation is easy to maintain; but in strict
nominalism where denotation cannot be associated with a term’s ‘reference’ to
an object, the distinction between denotation and connotation becomes
problematic.
41 Given that early medieval theologians assume (a) that a spiritual meaning resides
behind the literal meaning of biblical texts and (b) that the spiritual meaning is
the ultimate truth underlying the derivative truth of the literal meaning, they
share one important assumption with the realist semantic theory discussed above:
that there is an ontologically grounded primary meaning. On the relation between
medieval exegesis and polysemy see Eco, U., Semiotics and the Philosophy of
Language, London, 1984, pp. 147–53.
42 See Eco, Semiotics, pp. 153ff.
43 Eriugena’s contribution to the understanding of this question—and therefore to
medieval semantic theory in general—has not been studied to date. However,
there are some useful comments in Beierwaltes [6.41],
44 Eriugena, Commentary on Martianus Capella [6.2] pr. 3, 16–22. ‘Wishing to
write about the seven liberal arts, he invented a certain story about the marriage
of Philology and Mercury. And this was not without the display of a most subtle
intelligence, for Philology represents the love of reason and Mercury the eloquence
of speech. If these have come together as though by a certain marriage in the souls
of those pursuing the study of wisdom, it is possible to arrive without any difficulty
at knowledge and possession of the liberal arts.’
45 The impact of the polysemous tendency initiated by Martianus Capella on medieval
writers has gone largely unnoticed. Thus Kristeva, S%mei)tik%, pp. 168–9, contrasts
a ‘Menippean’ polysemy with the theocentric monosemy of the medievals. Yet
On the Marriage of Mercury and Philology is one example of ancient Menippean
satire which became standard reading in medieval schools.
46 I. 454B ‘For our intellect, too, before it enters into thought and memory is not
unreasonably said not to be. It is invisible in itself and known to nobody besides
God and ourselves. But when it has entered into thoughts and acquires form in
certain phantasies, it is not undeservedly said to come into being. For it comes to
be in the memory when it acquires certain forms of things, sounds, colours, and
other sensibles, having had no form before it entered into memory. Then it receives
a kind of second formation when it is formed in certain signs of forms or sounds—
I mean letters which are signs of sounds and figures which are signs of mathematical
forms—or in other sensible indicators by which it can be introduced into the
senses of those who are sentient.’
47 II. 572C–573B ‘There are three universal motions of soul of which the first is
according to mind, the second according to reason, and the third according to
sense. The first is simple, above the nature of the soul itself, and devoid of
interpretation: that is, knowledge of that around which it moves. “Through it, the
soul moves around the unknown God but, because of his excellence, in no way
has knowledge of him derived from anything which exists” as to what he is—that
is, it cannot find him in any essence or substance or in anything which can be said
or understood, for he surpasses everything which is or is not and cannot be defined
in any manner as to what he is. The second motion is that by which the soul
“defines the unknown God as being the cause” of all things. For it defines God to
be cause of all things, this motion being within the nature of soul. It is that “through
which the soul moved naturally imposes on itself through the activity of knowledge
all the natural reasons formative of all things which subsist as having been eternally
made in him who is known only causally”—for he is known because he is cause:
that is, it expresses them in itself through its knowledge of them, this knowledge
itself being born in the second motion from the first. The third motion is “the
composite one through which the soul comes into contact with eternal things and
reforms the reasons of the visible in itself as though through certain signs.” It is
described as composite not because it is not simple in itself as the first and second
motions are simple but because it begins to know the reasons of sensible things
not through themselves.’ In this passage, a good example of Eriugena’s intertextual
method, the words of Maximus appear between quotation marks.
48 The Trinitarian analogy will be more explicit in Anselm of Canterbury’s
development of the same theme. See p. 135.
49 Aristotle, On Interpretation 1, 16a1ff. See Kretzmann, N. ‘Aristotle on spoken sound
significant by convention’, in J.Corcoran (ed.) Ancient Logic and its Modern
Interpretations, Dordrecht, 1974, pp. 3–21; Lieb, H. ‘Das “semiotische Dreieck” bei
Ogden und Richards. Eine Neuformulierung des Zeichenmodells von Aristoteles’, in
H.Geckeler (ed.) Logos Semantikos, Berlin, 1981, pp. 137–56; and Weidemann, H.
‘Ansätze zu einer semantischen Theorie bei Aristoteles’, Zeitschrift for Semiotik 4
(1982): 241–57.
50 This influence is documented in standard works on the history of medieval
semantics. See especially, Kretzmann, N., ‘Semantics, History of, in P.Edwards
(ed.) The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 7, New York, 1967, pp. 362–3, 365ff.;
Pinborg [6.36] 29ff. and Eco [6.29].
51 See Saussure, Course in General Linguistics, pp. 65–70, 111ff. The same fusion
occurs in the semiotic theory of Peirce. See Peirce, C.S., Collected Papers, vol. 5,
ed. C.Hartshorne and P.Weiss, Cambridge, Mass., 1931–58, p. 314, etc.
52 See Klinck [6.32] for the medieval tradition in general.
53 V. 867A–B. These etymologies are all based on the Greek. However, Eriugena
also explores Graeco-Latin etymologies at III. 697A (ouranos/caelum), V. 954D–
955A (aid%s/infernus). An etymology based on the Latin occurs at I. 494D–
495A.
54 This situation is naturally conducive to polysemy. Fusion of real and verbal parallels
and complements the fusion of cognitive and verbal described on p. 128.
55 III. 668C–D. Cf. Commentary on ‘Celestial Hierarchy’ 4. 314–25.
56 II 580C–581A. The passage is particularly interesting when combined with III.
624A–625A. Since this states that the order of the divine names is—according to
Eriugena’s philosophical idealism—partially dependent on the human mind’s
perception, the etymological activity of II. 580Cff. must be not only the discovery
but also the positing of ‘reality’ itself. There is another complex etymology at V.
1003B–D.
57 The precise nature of metaphor is a matter of controversy. However, it clearly
represents a specific application of the concept of polysemy where the primary
meaning of a metaphorized term is the secondary meaning of the metaphorizing
term and vice versa.
58 See To Herennius IV. 34. 45, Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory VIII. 6. 4ff.,
Martianus Capella, On the Marriage IV. 359–60, Isidore of Seville, Etymologies
I. 37. 5, etc.
59 See I. 458C, I. 461C, I. 463B, etc. This application of metaphor is discussed by
Beierwaltes, W., ‘Negati affirmatio. Welt als Metapher. Zur Grundlegung einer
mittelalterlichen Ästhetik durch Johannes Scotus Eriugena’, Philosophisches
Jahrbuch 83 (1976):237–65.
60 Traditionally, synecdoche occurs in two forms—transference from whole to part
and transference from part to whole—and is therefore already bilateral. See To
Herennius IV. 33. 44.
61 I. 459C. ‘But since the divine significations which are predicated of God by
transference from the creature to the creator in Holy Scripture—if indeed it is
rightly said that anything can be predicated of him (which we should consider
elsewhere)—are innumerable and cannot be discovered or collected together in
the smallness of our reasoning, only a few such divine names should be set down
by way of illustration’; I. 461C. ‘For the statement “It is Truth” does not affirm
that the divine nature is Truth in a proper sense but that it can be called by such
a name in a metaphor from the creature to the creator. It clothes the divine
essence which is naked and devoid of all proper signification with such words’;
I. 463B–C. ‘But as we have said above, just as almost all things which are
properly predicated of the nature of created things can be said metaphorically of
the creator of things in order to signify, so also the significations of the categories
which are discerned properly in created things can be uttered not absurdly
concerning the cause of all—not to signify properly what it is but to suggest in
a transferred mode what we should reasonably think about it when investigating
it in some fashion’; I. 480B. ‘So if all things which are are rightly predicated of
God not properly but by a kind of transference since they derive from him, why
is it surprising that all things which are in place—since they seem to be enclosed
everywhere by greater things—can be called places although none of them is
properly a place but is contained within what is place in its proper nature?’ Cf.
III. 624A–625A.
62 I. 480B–C. ‘We see that those things which are contained are named after the
things which contain them through metonymy—that is, transferred naming—
although they are not so contained by them that they are unable to subsist in their
natural limits without them. It is the common practice of mortals to call the wife
or the family a “house” although these things are naturally distinct. For it is not
the house which confers substantial existence on the wife or the family but the
place of their own nature. Yet because they possess that existence in the house
they are accustomed to be named after it. Likewise the things which contain are
named after the things which are contained. For example: air contains light, and
so air which is illuminated is called “light”; the eye is called “sight” or “vision”
although according to its proper nature it is neither sight nor vision’. Cf. I. 450A–
B, I. 515B–C, V. 876A–B, V. 1021B.
63 III. 706A–B. ‘Not unreasonably, given that it is the most common practice of
Holy Scripture to signify the natural subsistences and reasons of invisible things
with words signifying visible things, in order to train pious philosophers. And
this is not surprising, since the same practice has the very frequent custom of
suggesting corporeal and sensible things with the names of spiritual and invisible
things. Since there are many and innumerable examples of this reciprocal
metaphoricity and they are very well known to all those trained in Holy Scripture,
it would appear to be a lengthy and superfluous task to amass them in the present
discussion. However, let us use a few illustrations: “That which is born of flesh is
flesh”—here the entire man born in original sin is called by the name “flesh”—
“And that which is born of the spirit is spirit”—the entire man reborn through
regeneration in Christ is expressed by the term “spirit”. And if somebody says
that it is not the entire man but only the flesh of a man that is born of flesh, I shall
reply that it is therefore not the entire man but only the soul that is born of spirit
and if so it follows that there is no grace to benefit the baptized bodies. But if the
entire man, namely soul and body, is reborn in Christ and becomes spirit, then
necessarily the entire man is born of flesh in Adam and is flesh, from which it is
concluded that the flesh is called spirit and the spirit flesh. The Word of God is
called flesh and flesh the Word, and there are similar cases where both synecdoche
and metaphor are understood simultaneously.’
64 See Richards, I.A., The Philosophy of Rhetoric, New York, 1936, pp. 89ff. The
distinction between ‘comparison’ and ‘fusion’ theories of metaphor owes
something to Black, M., Models and Metaphors, Ithaca, NY, 1962, pp. 25ff.,
who sets out a complete typology consisting of substitutive, comparative, and
inter-active approaches.
65 The problems associated with polysemy were formally discussed in pseudo-
Augustine, Ten Categories 9. 135, 13ff., a text with which Eriugena was
particularly familiar. Cf. Martianus Capella, On the Marriage IV. 355–7.
66 The volume of essays, Beierwaltes [6.42], setting out to prove that Eriugena
exercised significant influence over later medieval thinkers, has not achieved the
desired result. In fact, the following conclusions now seem to have been established:
(1) Eriugena’s influence was considerable for one or two generations after his
time (the evidence: Heiric of Auxerre, Remigius of Auxerre, and other glossators);
(2) In the eleventh century there are only a few traces of his influence, e.g. in
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim; (3) Eriugena’s influence becomes more noticeable
from the beginning of the twelfth century but only in certain respects: (a) His
ideas influence many in a negative sense (the evidence: copies of Eriugenian MSS,
polemic against him), (b) He is influential as translator of pseudo-Dionysius, (c)
His ideas influence a few in a positive sense (the evidence: Honorius
Augustodunensis, ‘Marius’, On the Elements). See also Lucentini [6.52].
67 Edited by Marenbon [5.84] 173ff. Eriugena also influenced the gloss tradition on
Martianus Capella in a manner now difficult to describe precisely; see Schrimpf
[6.58].
68 Gloss I in Marenbon’s edition.
69 Gloss IIIb in Marenbon’s edition.
70 On the Boethian logical tradition in the Middle Ages see van de Vyver [6.37] and
Minio-Paluello [6.34].
71 On Gerbert’s work in general see the collection Gerberto, Scienza, Storia e Mito
[6.61]. This includes papers by Riché [6.62]—stressing the important of Boethius—
and Frova [6.60].
72 On the term ‘semiotic’ see note 14.
73 Gerbert, [6.16] 6, pp. 301ff. Gerbert here systematizes material in Aristotle, On
Interpretation 13. 23a 21–5.
74 The most useful book providing a general introduction to Anselm’s life and works
is Hopkins [6.22]. Among other modern studies, Kohlenberger [6.70] and Evans,
G.R., Anselm and Talking about God, Oxford, 1978 should be mentioned.
75 The first interpretation predominates at 9, 24. 7 to 10, 25. 27, the second at 1,
13. 1 to 4, 18. 3. Both are perfectly standard in the Augustinian tradition which
Anselm represents.
76 The type of causality (efficient) is discussed at 6, 18. 18 to 7. 22, 10.
77 The semiotic always implies the semantic even though the reverse is not the case.
78 [6.11] I: 14. 5ff. ‘It is therefore easy for someone to say to himself silently: Since
the goods are so numerous whose great diversity we both perceive through the
bodily senses and discern by the reason of the mind, should we believe that there
is one thing through which alone whatever things are good are good or are things
which are good good through one another? But it is absolutely certain and clear
to all those willing to pay attention that whatever things are called something in
such a way as to be called this in greater or lesser or equal degree in respect of one
another, are called this through something which is understood not differently in
different things but the same in each case, whether it be considered as equally or
unequally present in them… Therefore, since it is certain that all good things, if
compared to one another, are either equally or unequally good, it is necessary
that all good things are good through something which is understood as the same
in different things, although sometimes good things seem to be called good through
one another… But who would doubt that that through which all good things are
good is a great good? So it is good through itself, since every good is good through
it. Therefore it follows that all other goods are good through something other
than that which they are themselves, and that only this other is good through
itself. But no good which is good through another is equal to or greater than that
good which is good through itself. So that alone is supremely good which is only
good through itself, for that is supreme which so excels others that it has neither
an equal nor a superior.’
79 This is one feature reinforcing the picture of Anselm as a Platonic realist. That he
was moving away from this position was argued by Schmitt [6.72]. However, the
only evidence for such an interpretation is an apparently non-realist handling of
abstract terms to be discussed on p. 135. Anselm’s position as a Platonic realist is
examined by Flasch [6.67] and Adams [6.65].
80 In Anselm’s writing, the term ratio itself has a multiplicity of connotations given
by the earlier textual tradition: ontological, theological, epistemological,
psychological and logical. See Gersh [6.68].
81 [6.11] I, pr. 13 On the textual background to Anselm’s argument see Audet [6.66]
and Nothdurft [6.35].
82 The modern discussion seems to have begun with Frege about 1892. See Frege,
G., ‘On sense and reference’, pp. 118–40 and Russell, B., ‘On denoting’, pp. 143–
58, both in F.Zabeeh (ed.) Readings in Semantics, Urbana, Ill., 1974.
83 Cf. note 79. To the question whether Anselm saw any inconsistency between
these two positions the answer is uncertain. However, since he probably viewed
the signifieds of De grammatico but apparently not the transcendent properties
of Monologion as universals in the logical sense, the philosophical problems raised
by the two treatises were more easily separated for him than they are for his
modern reader. The issue of universality is first raised at Monologion 27, [6.11] I.
45. 1–22.
84 See Augustine, On the Trinity X. 1ff., XV. 10–16. On the history of this theory
see Colish [6.28] 50–1, 99.
85 The threefold division in this text: sensible signs+sensible manner, sensible
signs+insensible manner, sensible signs+neither sensible nor insensible manner,
juxtaposes semiotic categories in a manner recalling Eriugena. See n. 19.
86 Anselm does not himself employ the terms ‘unmotivated’ and ‘non-universal’
here. However, he clearly views the first type of sign as defined negatively with
respect to the third type. The latter will be specified as motivated and universal.
87 Anselm says that the third type of sign is ‘natural’ (naturalis) apparently meaning
that it is motivated. In modern linguistic theory, a motivated sign is one whose
signifier and signified are related analogically. See Barthes, SZ pp. 114ff.
88 Monologion 10 [6.11] 1:24. 29ff. ‘It is noted in common usage that we can speak
of a single thing in three ways. We speak of things either by using sensible signs—
that is, signs which can be perceived by bodily senses—in a sensible manner; or
by thinking the same signs which are sensible externally in an insensible manner
within ourselves; or by neither using these signs in a sensible nor an insensible
manner but by speaking of the things themselves inwardly in our mind through
imagination of the bodily or through a rational understanding in place of the
diversity of things themselves. For I speak of the man in one way when I signify
him with the name “man”, in another when I think the same name silently, and in
another when my mind contemplates that same man either through an image of
the bodily or through reason. It is through an image of the bodily when the mind
imagines his sensible shape, but it is through reason when it thinks his universal
essence which is “animal, rational, mortal”. Of these three ways of speaking each
consists of its own kind of words. However, the words of that speech which I
have posited as third and last—when they are of things which are not unknown—
are natural and the same among all races.’ In this passage, Anselm develops the
theory which he found in Aristotle’s On Interpretation; see p. 129.
89 Anselm states unambiguously that even the third type of speaking constitutes
sign-manipulation of a sort.
90 Monologiom 65 [6.11] I:75. 17–65, 77. 3. The reference to transformation of
meaning indicates metaphoricity.
91 It is possible to treat the statement at Proslogion 15 [6.11] I:112. 12–17 that God
is ‘something greater than can be thought’ (quiddam maius quam cogitari possit)
as a correction of the famous premiss of Proslogion 2 [6.11] I:101. 4–5. If so,
Anselm is pointing out that the ontological argument is in the final analysis only
an image of the truth.
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