On Anselm of Canterbury's de Grammatico: on the reception of Aristotle in the Middle Ages

• Grant number: 11/00195-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2011
• End date: January 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: José Carlos Estêvão
• Grantee: Lessandro Regiani Costa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During the first centuries (VIII-XII) of Medieval Philosophy we can perceive a close relation between logic, grammar and rising theologies. Anselm of Canterbury represents an important moment of that intellectual landscape, in such a way that it's possible to better understand this period taking his work as a conducting wire. Thus, taking the Anselm's dialog De grammatico as our entryway, we will discuss logical-semantical-metaphysical questions and questions in regard to the relation between dialectic and faith. In regard to the logical-semantical-metaphysical questions, when we analyse the Anselm's discussion on the paronyms we evoke the sources of the question, in this case, Aristotle (via Boethius) and Priscian. Thus, we will delineate the development of aristotelian-boethian logic in early medieval philosophy, allowing us to dimension the importance of Anselmian thoughts not only in regard to his foregoers but also in regard to the posterior generation. We will also analyze the relation between faith and dialectic, since it is connected to logic. After all, while developing, the logic becomes independent in regard to the questions of faith; an exemplar case of this is the debate on Eucharist. Thus, we will turn to Lanfranc, who is traditionally seen as a defender of faith, and Berengar, who is seen as a defender of dialectic. In their turn, both of them believe to defend positions of the IXth century, which will bring us back to the beginning of the disputation. In the face of this Peter Damian stands out - as we will see when we analyze his letter De divina omnipotentia - when he suggest as solution a hierarchy between faith and dialectic, where dialectic would represent a slave subordinated to its lord, faith. Anselm, in a different way, accept the challenge of thinking sola ratione and, thus, join the strength of logic - the rigorous argumentation - to the christian thought. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

COSTA, Lessandro Regiani. From Lanfranc to Anselm. On the dialectic in theology: the Anselm of Canterbury\'s \'De grammatico\'. 2015. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.