Introduction to Anselm's Proslogion Part 1 of 3

Let us look at the Preface of the Proslogion to create an outline of the text and to set its expected outcomes.

For one thing, Anselm is a very clear writer in that he tells us what he plans to do and then he goes on to do it.

He begins by telling us about a previous work. This is his Monologion, i.e. a soliloquy. It is composed of a series of arguments to prove God's existence. In the present text (Proslogion) he proffers an attempt to use a single consideration (Latin: unum argumentum) to prove God's existence.

He confidently asserts he could hit not only two, but three birds with one stone. His unum argumentum stands by itself. It needs no preliminary support for it to stand. and this unum argumentum will be enough to prove three things:

1. God truly (i.e. really) exists (Latin: Deus est). This is his  concern for chapters 1-4. Much like St. Thomas Aquinas 200 years later, he begins with the most fundamental question: the question of God's existence.

2. God is the Supreme Good (Latin: Summum Bonum), needing no one else, yet needed by all else in order to fare well. This is his concern for chapters 5-14.  Here he talks about how God is the source of all other things, reflecting on the relationship between God as Summum Bonum and creatures as participants in God's goodness and existence.

3. God is whatever else we believe about the Divina Substantia.  This is his concern for chapters 15 to 26. Another way of stating this objective is, he wants to make sure that we are not deceived by what we think we know about God. In other words, what we know about God points to what God really is.

These three expected outcomes express a progression. First we will tackle whether God exists, then we investigate God's relationship to creatures and finally to what God really is qua God.