ANSELM, Saint [1033-1109].

Opuscula [Opera].

      [Basel: Johann Amerbach, not after 1497]. - small 4to. [ff. 208]. 2 columns. 49 lines & headline. gothic type. capital spaces with guide letters. later full vellum (front hinge cracked, dampstaining to upper portion of leaves, generally light to moderate, scattered light foxing, tear in upper blank margin of title repaired). Third Collected Edition of the works of the mediaeval philosopher, theologian, and church official, who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 until his death. Anselm is regarded as the founder of scholastic theology. He was canonized in 1494. Included here are his three most famous works, the Cur Deus Homo, a treatise on the atonement, and the Proslogion, and the Monologion, which contain his formulation of the ontological proof of the existence of God (God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived; that than which nothing greater can be conceived must exist; therefore God exists). Although it attracted little interest at the time, the argument has long generated intense debate among philosophers, being taken up by Descartes and Leibnitz, and rejected by Hume and Kant. BM III 759. Goff A-761. GW 2033. Hain Copinger 1136. Pellechet 799. Polain (B) 230. Proctor 7648. [Attributes: Soft Cover]