The Critique of Anselm's Principles in Understanding the Perfect Being

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA student of Philosophy of Religion, Tehran University

2 Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Tehran University

Abstract

The “theology of perfection” is an approach that interprets the concept of God and analyzes His attributes, relying on the definition of God as a being who is perfect in all aspects. Anselm is the first to offer a systematic analysis of the concept of perfect being. Since the subsequent discussions of philosophers are a reaction to his views, it is of special importance to explain his views. In this article, based on the descriptive-analytical method, we address the question that according to Anselm's view, what rules can be used for attaining a detailed knowledge about the perfect being and extraction of divine attributes as well? Our purpose in this article is to explain the strengths and weaknesses of Anselm's view. In total, five general rules can be derived from Anselm's expressions; he first tries to achieve this goal based on comparisons between the creatures of the universe. The most important criticism of this method is that it cannot properly provide the most important goal of perfection theology, that is, the extraction of divine attributes. In another position, Anselm makes the comparison between different states of a being the focus of the work. He follows the same method in his later works and finally comes to the conclusion that because God is in the highest imaginable state, therefore, he must have every imaginable thing that is better to be attributed to than not to be attributed to it. Anselm's final rule can be considered defensible after making some reforms; taking into account, by adding some limitations, the possibility of conflict between the attributes that God can have in the primary view.

Keywords

References

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Theology Journal
Volume 9, Issue 16 - Serial Number 16
December 2022
Pages 165-190

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