Volume 98, Issue 2, Spring 2024
Special Issue on Anselm
Eileen C. Sweeney
Pages 179-194
https://doi.org/10.5840/acpq2024618293
Anselm as Teacher
Reasoning about the Affections
The essay examines Anselm¡¯s De libertate arbitrii and De casu diaboli, arguing that the points made about the will and free choice are mirrored in the questions and struggles of the student interlocutor in the dialogues. In contrast to Plato and Aristotle, who want to bring us to see that virtue is the path to happiness, Anselm wants to show that we have free choice and are responsible for not choosing rightly (i.e., choosing justice for its own sake), and that human beings are autonomous but also finite and flawed. For this kind of learning, not just reasoning but insight and self-examination are required, a process reflected in the very human will, willfulness, and weakness of the student as he engages with his teacher.