World: An anthropological examination (part 2)

Abstract

This paper is the second of a two-part essay that aims to examine anthropologically the category "world." The first part argued in favor of a single-world approach and for the unavoidable centrality of personhood in the human condition. In this second part of the essay, I address the metaphysical implications of the category "world" and relate them to the process of "worlding," thus defending the continued heuristic value of the old anthropological category of worldview. I suggest that a consideration of the Ontological Proof of God's existence, developed by St. Anselm of Canterbury in the late eleventh century, helps us develop a comparative theory of personhood by showing how the experience of transcendence is inherent in personal ontogenesis.