The Ethical Philosophy of Anselm of Canterbury

In his chapter entitled ’Anselm on Ethics’ in the Cambridge Companion to Anselm, Jeffrey Brower comments that, ’Anselm’s ethical views have received very little attention from contemporary scholars, and as a result there is no satisfactory systematic treatment of them available in the contemporary literature.’ This book seeks to fill that lacuna. More specifically the purpose of this volume is to examine the extent to which Anselm of Canterbury possessed a consistent normative philosophy which coherently addressed the question of how the individual ought to act. By so doing it extends the contemporary commentary of Anselm’s ethical philosophy beyond the abstract and meta-ethical and analyses the ways in which Anselm’s letter collection can be used to show pragmatic approaches to ethical questions. In examining this field, this book contains two interdependent parts, one illustrative of the other. The first deals with Anselm’s anthropology, theory of will, and ethical philosophy. The second examines the impact of his theology and ethical philosophy upon his societal and political beliefs. The contrast between formal theological writing and the more personal letter collections is intentional as a way of evaluating the manner in which Anselm’s thought is consistent across a range of academic exercises and real world scenarios. In addition, this provides case studies of how a normative approach opens up new lines of research and furthers the field of Anselm studies, addressing several past issues of contention.