Anselm and Talking About God (review)

248 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY G. R. Evans. Anselm and Talking About God. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978. Pp. xii + 211. s Professor Evans has written a scholarly though somewhat diffuse and uninspired study centering on Anselm's theory of God-talk, tracing its development from Monologion to De Concordia. It is a further attempt to remedy the "patchy and piecemeal business" that the study of Anselm has been since the time of Aquinas (p. 2). Throughout his career, as Evans indicates, Anselm's considerations on talking about God served above all as the point of departure for philosophical inquiry. These speculations begin with the acceptance that God is the Word, and as Word, He is the ground of both language and intelligibility. It follows that the study of language may well tell us something about God, provide a glimpse into that Mind on which the human mind is modeled. His "general theory" of human language is in this way grounded on a "special theory" of divine language (p. 20). The most interesting and by far the most valuable aspect of the present study is Evans's treatment of 'universal words'. Thoughts, both in the Divine and in the human mind may correspond to unique 'images' rather than conventional words. These 'images' comprise a primary language, "that power of thinking directly in images which Anselm believes to exist in both God and man" (pp. 22ff.). Moreover, this 'language' is grounded on the distinctioB--of such importance to Proslogion interpretation--between res and verba, things and words. These 'images' are natural words, namely, words which corresponding exactly to things act as the basis for the invention of all "lower order" words. Common to all races of men, they are recognized "in some indefinite manner" by comparison with the Divine archetypes to which they refer (pp. 27, 85). If human reason were not weakened by sin, a single language comprised of "great universal verba'" would be a distinct possibifity (p. 193). Although this theme is far from being exhaustively explored by the author, she has uncovered a relatively little known enclave of anselmiana which holds definite possibilities for future investigation possibly leading to a clarification of the relation between Anselm and Ars Magna of Lull. Further points which are nicely handled include Evans's mirror-image comparison of Monologion and Prosiogion, the emphasis on the changing role of Trinitarian speculation in these works (pp. 55, 62), her discussion of Anselm's 'conceptual devices' (pp. 186-87) and the place of definition in De Veritate. However, the treatment of the vicissitudes of Anselm's pedagogical career and method while interesting borders on the mawkish. Doubtless a valuable work, Anselm and talking about God has certain peculiarities the reader may find vexing, especially Evans's incfination to psychologize. Anselm's principal works may even appear to be rated according to an index based on emotivity. The Proslogion, by the way, rates highest ("frenetic joy") while De Concordia brings up the rear ("no intellectual excitement"). One fears that the Archbishop monk has been transmogrified into an English don all too sensitive to aesthetic untidiness. Yet, it must be conceded that these are comparatively unimportant flaws in a work which should be considered a serious contribution to Anselm scholarship. ROBERT A. HERRERA Seton Hall University ...