Brentano's Account of Anselm's Proof of Immortality in Monologion 68-69
Titel:
Brentano's Account of Anselm's Proof of Immortality in Monologion 68-69
Auteur:
Susan Krantz Gabriel
Verschenen in:
The Saint Anselm journal
Paginering:
Jaargang 2 (2004) nr. 1 pagina's 52-59
Jaar:
2004
Inhoud:
In his lectures on medieval philosophy, the German philosopher Franz Brentano (1838-1917) noted that Anselm had proposed a "peculiar" proof of immortality. This proof caught Brentano's attention because it is what he would call a "psychological" proof, that is to say, it rests on facts about our mental or psychic activities. Anselm tells us, roughly, that the purpose of our existence is to love God (a psychological activity, in Brentano's terms), and that God would not will that our activity of loving him should cease, therefore our souls are immortal. There is an interesting play between Anselm's claim that the soul amet summam essentiam (loves the supreme being) and Brentano's report that Anselm says the love of God is the soul's hoechste Bestimmung (highest determination). Perhaps it is Brentano's peculiar interpretation of Anselm's argument for immortality that turns an activity of the soul into a defining property of the soul. In any event, Brentano is right that Anselm's proof of immortality in the Monologion is remarkable, and apparently it has gone largely unnoticed and unstudied so far.
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