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The "Secure Technician": Varieties of Paradox in the Writings of St. Anselm

The "Secure Technician": Varieties of Paradox in the Writings of St. Anselm I The "Secure Technician": Varieties of Paradox in the Writings of St. Anselm GILLIAN R. EVANS nselm's treatises contain a number of expositions of the solutions hue proposes to some of the traditional 'paradoxes' of the Christian faith; elsewhere, in the Prayers and Meditations, for example, he creates rhetorical paradoxes of his own. Both kinds of paradox in his writings seem to reflect the same fundamental characteristic of mind, the same delight in getting out of an intellectual rut. A logical or epistemological paradox requires explanation which often demands the abandoning of previous habits of thought; a rhetorical paradox is designed to startle, to jolt the reader out of the complacency of his habits of thinking. Both play havoc with intellectual and spiritual apathy, and 'excite the mind' as Anselm intends that they should. "Only confident men can contemplate paradoxes in the first place, and only the most secure technicians can accept its [sic] risks." 1 Anselm's delight in paradox in its many forms and his technical assurance in handling it comes from what seems so complete a mastery of the grammar, logic and rhetoric of the trivium that he is able to explore separately many of their http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Vivarium Brill

The "Secure Technician": Varieties of Paradox in the Writings of St. Anselm

Vivarium , Volume 13 (1): 1 – Jan 1, 1975

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1975 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0042-7543
eISSN
1568-5349
DOI
10.1163/156853475X00015
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

I The "Secure Technician": Varieties of Paradox in the Writings of St. Anselm GILLIAN R. EVANS nselm's treatises contain a number of expositions of the solutions hue proposes to some of the traditional 'paradoxes' of the Christian faith; elsewhere, in the Prayers and Meditations, for example, he creates rhetorical paradoxes of his own. Both kinds of paradox in his writings seem to reflect the same fundamental characteristic of mind, the same delight in getting out of an intellectual rut. A logical or epistemological paradox requires explanation which often demands the abandoning of previous habits of thought; a rhetorical paradox is designed to startle, to jolt the reader out of the complacency of his habits of thinking. Both play havoc with intellectual and spiritual apathy, and 'excite the mind' as Anselm intends that they should. "Only confident men can contemplate paradoxes in the first place, and only the most secure technicians can accept its [sic] risks." 1 Anselm's delight in paradox in its many forms and his technical assurance in handling it comes from what seems so complete a mastery of the grammar, logic and rhetoric of the trivium that he is able to explore separately many of their

Journal

VivariumBrill

Published: Jan 1, 1975

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