Divine OrderâCreated Order: The Inapplicability of Aristotleâs Categories to God in Anselmâs Monologion and Proslogion

John Demetracopoulos

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ChapterÂ 3 Divine OrderâCreated Order

The Inapplicability of Aristotleâs Categories to God in Anselmâs Monologion and Proslogion

In: Anselm of Canterbury

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John Demetracopoulos

John Demetracopoulos
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 55â87

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004716308_005

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Abstract

This chapter investigates Anselmâs place in the tradition that addresses the applicability of the Aristotelian Categories to God. It shows that Anselm can be seen as the last and most important link in a chain of thinkers that includes Augustine, Claudianus Mamertus and Boethius, all of whom investigate the theonymical value of Aristotleâs Categories. A comparison with the writings of these three thinkers suggests Anselmâs familiarity with them and their influence on his thought. In the Monologion in particular, but also in his other writings, Anselm works out his position with regard to the different Categories and their applicability to God. He is aware that the Categories are supposed to be the definitive set of concepts reflecting the fundamental types of being (in the created order), and therefore would appear to provide the only means of talking about God (the divine order). Through a three-stage investigation into his understanding of the use of the different Categories, we see that for Anselm God per se cannot be grasped at all by the Categories. We can only know certain of his agere/facere and ad aliquid properties, which, since they pertain only to God, can, in a way, identify him on account of their being his âproprietatesâ. Unlike these âproprietatesâ, however, the âproprietasâ of God, that is God per se, is not accessible to man. Anselm concludes that one can know God per aliud, but this is no more than a reverse rephrasing of the main conclusion of the first stageâthat no finite being can account for itself but stands in need of being accounted for per aliud, namely God.

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Anselm of Canterbury

Nature, Order and the Divine

Series:Â Anselm Studies and Texts, Volume: 8

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004716308

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 11 Dec 2024

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PartÂ 1 Monologion and Proslogion

PartÂ 2 The Three Early Dialogues, De Grammatico and De Concordia

PartÂ 3 Cur Deus Homo

PartÂ 4 Eadmer and Epistolae

PartÂ 5 Addendum

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ChapterÂ 3 Divine OrderâCreated Order

The Inapplicability of Aristotleâs Categories to God in Anselmâs Monologion and Proslogion

Abstract

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Anselm of Canterbury

Nature, Order and the Divine

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ChapterÂ 3 Divine OrderâCreated Order

The Inapplicability of Aristotleâs Categories to God in Anselmâs Monologion and Proslogion