Abstract

The nineteenth century historian Hauréau dismissed St Anselm’s logical treatise De Grammatico as a mere ‘agreeable exercise’ and a contemporary historian such as Gilson can write a comprehensive study of the ‘father of Scholasticism’ without mentioning it even once. Nevertheless the medieval tradition took Anselm the logician very seriously, so much so that it is as a logician that he is honoured in Dante’s Paradiso There is, in fact, not a little concerning logic in the philosophical and theological treatises which, moreover, evidence throughout a very subtle use of logic. There is, therefore, some grounds for hoping that an examination of St Anselm’s thought from the standpoint of the neglected De Grammatico might produce some interesting results. This is the task that Dr Henry has undertaken and the results are more than interesting. They are quite amazing.