Thinking about a necessary being › Reading the primary texts

Read the preface and chapters I-IV together. The preface states the intended proof, chapter I locates it within faith seeking understanding, and chapters II-IV develop the reasoning about existence, necessity, and denial. Chapter XV is a useful companion because it complicates any claim that Anselm thinks the human mind completely comprehends God.

• Anselm, Proslogium, Sidney Norton Deane's translation, for the complete work.
• Gaunilo, In Behalf of the Fool, and Anselm's reply, in the same translation, especially Gaunilo's section 6 and the reply's discussion of the island.

Keep the two texts beside one another when assessing the disputed inference. A paraphrase can clarify the steps while also changing them; returning to the description each writer uses helps reveal where that change has occurred.