Dialectic

Anselm’s only dialectical treatise, De grammatico, deals with the semantics of terms of a type called ‘‘denominatives’’ (sometimes also ‘‘paronyms’’). In the Latin translation of Aristotle’s Categoriae, the term grammaticus served as an example of a denominative. As the term grammaticus can function both as a noun (‘‘a grammarian’’) and as an adjective (‘‘grammatical’’), the title of Anselm’s treatise cannot be translated directly. Anselm says of De grammatico that it is ‘‘not without use to those who need to be introduced to dialectic,’’ but the treatise is far from being an elementary textbook. A solid working knowledge of the different areas of Boethian logic is assumed throughout, and Anselm indicates at the end (De grammatico 21) that the treatise is related to contemporary academic debates. De grammatico is a contribution to the advanced study of dialectic, but the treatise has pedagogical objectives as well. Anselm takes pains to make the treatment as accessible as possible, and he purposely includes passages that serve to rehearse the techniques of logical concept analysis, sentence analysis, and argument analysis.

De grammatico reveals Anselm as a highly competent dialectician. Anselm makes constant but inconspicuous use of dialectical insights in other works as well, and his dialectically molded habits of thought give a philosophical tone to almost everything that he writes. One dialectical theme that particularly interests Anselm is modalities and the interpretation of modal expressions. He presents remarks about possibility, necessity, and so on, in many of his works. In this and other contexts, Anselm often points out that linguistic usage can be misleading and appeals to a distinction between “proper” and “improper” usage.