Saint Anselm. Elements of a Theory of Knowledge

Resumo

The theory of knowledge is normally a conditioning factor in philosophers’ attitudes concerning the speculative enterprise undertaken in the proofs of God’s existence. This much is clear in the case of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who rejected Anselm’s proof because it denied the human being’s direct intellectual knowledge of the divine essence. Saint Anselm, however, never stated such a knowledge, nor did he expressly theorize the process of human cognition. Notwithstanding, there are dispersed elements of an implicit theory of knowledge in his writings, emerging ever since the Monologion. The aim of this study is to survey those elements so as to outline the general vectors of a theory of knowledge, which is fundamentally solidary not only with the four ways in the Monologion, but also and especially with the sole argument in the Proslogion.

Keywords: Philosophy; Knowledge; Thought; Saint Anselm; Anselm’s Argument.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/21836884/med41a2