Gaunilo of Marmoutiers - The Remainder of Gaunilo's Text

The Remainder of Gaunilo's Text

Gaunilo's treatise is divided into eight sections. The first seven of these sections are criticisms of Anselm's argument from the point of view of a rational non-believer. The last section (8) is simply praise for the remaining chapters of the Proslogion. The full title of Gaunilo's treatise is: 'What Someone on Behalf of the Fool Replies to these Arguments'. This means Gaunilo does not write as a fellow Christian who believes, rather, he pretends to be a rational non-believer. The scholarly debate has focused on section 6 (the Lost Island Refutation). Very few scholars engage with the remaining sections of Gaunilo's text. There, Gaunilo's puts forward powerful criticisms against the ontological argument, some of which are later re-formulated by other critics of the Proslogion (for example by Aquinas).