Born in Aosta
Born in the Alpine town of Aosta, in what is now northern Italy. His mother was devout; his father was harsh. Anselm wanted to become a monk from childhood, but his father refused. He left home at twenty-three and never went back.
Anselm was born in Aosta in the Alps, became a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy, and ended his life as Archbishop of Canterbury. He is remembered for one argument: if God is defined as the greatest conceivable being, then God must exist, because a being that exists in reality is greater than one that exists only in the mind. This ontological argument has been debated for nine hundred years. Descartes, Leibniz, and Godel tried to refine it. Kant, Hume, and Russell tried to demolish it. It refuses to die.
Born in the Alpine town of Aosta, in what is now northern Italy. His mother was devout; his father was harsh. Anselm wanted to become a monk from childhood, but his father refused. He left home at twenty-three and never went back.