Blogging through monologion

Sections 1 & 2:

Differing things can both be said to be “good,” yet it is clear they are not the same thing. They are good though a greater good.

This ultimate good is good through itself. Anslem calls this the supreme good and ascribes the predicate “existence” to it.

Section 3:

Everything that exists exists through something or nothing. Obviously not through nothing.

There is either one or more things through which everything exists. Either one of these options will ultimately reduce to one thing (cf. p. 13 for a fuller discussion). Anything that exists through something other than itself is necessarily less than that thing through which it exists. Anselm calls this the divine essence.