DOCSLIB.ORG

Albertus Magnus) 70

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Albertus Magnus) 70 Animal Rationality <UN> Investigating Medieval Philosophy Managing Editor John Marenbon Editorial Board Margaret Cameron Simo Knuuttila Martin Lenz Christopher J. Martin volume 12 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/imp <UN> Animal Rationality Later Medieval Theories 1250–1350 By Anselm Oelze leiden | boston <UN> This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov lc record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2017061201 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1879-9787 ISBN 978-90-04-36362-5 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-36377-9 (e-book) Copyright 2018 by the Author. Published by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill Sense and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. <UN> To all animals ∵ <UN> <UN> Contents Preface xi Introduction 1 1 What are and Why Study Later Medieval Theories of Animal Rationality? 5 2 How to Study Later Medieval Theories? 12 3 Structure and Key Questions 16 Part 1 Animals and Rationality in the Middle Ages Introduction to Part 1 20 4 The Role of Animals in the Middle Ages 21 5 Animal Souls and Sensory Cognition 28 6 Human Souls and the Triad of Intellectual Operations 36 7 Grey Areas 44 Part 2 Universal Cognition and Concept Formation Introduction to Part 2 52 8 Estimation, Conceptualisation, and Categorisation (Thomas Aquinas) 57 9 Intentions and Quiddities (Albertus Magnus) 70 <UN> viii Contents 10 Elevated Intentions and Common Forms (Pseudo-Peter of Spain) 78 11 Vague Particulars as Universals (Roger Bacon) 82 12 Universal Desire and Experience (John Buridan) 88 13 General Mental Representations (Peter of John Olivi) 95 Part 3 Judging Introduction to Part 3 100 14 The Idea of Sensory Judgments 102 15 Natural Judgments (Thomas Aquinas) 106 16 Erroneous Judgments and Differences in Estimation (Albertus Magnus) 112 17 Reflective and Experimental Judgments (Peter of John Olivi, John Buridan) 116 18 The Ascription of Judgments and the Problem of Anthropomorphism (William of Ockham, Adam Wodeham, Gregory of Rimini) 121 Part 4 Reasoning Introduction to Part 4 132 19 Quasi-Reasoning (Thomas Aquinas, Gregory of Rimini, John Duns Scotus) 134 20 Quasi-Reasoning and Cogitation (Roger Bacon) 142 21 Imperfect Argumentations and Practical Syllogisms (Albertus Magnus) 150 <UN> Contents ix 22 Material Souls and Degrees of Reasoning (John Buridan, Nicole Oresme) 156 Part 5 Prudence Introduction to Part 5 164 23 Memory vs. Recollection (Albertus Magnus) 168 24 Incomplete and Complete Memory (Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon) 175 25 Foresight and Provision (Albertus Magnus, Bonaventure) 178 26 Quasi-Foresight and Quasi-Hope (Thomas Aquinas) 183 27 Operating for and towards the Future (Roger Bacon, Peter of John Olivi) 189 28 Imperfect or Particular Prudence (Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas) 193 29 Prudence by Analogy (Giles of Rome, John Duns Scotus) 199 Part 6 Rationality without Reason? Introduction to Part 6 204 30 Medieval and Contemporary Theories: The Differences 206 31 Medieval and Contemporary Theories: The Commonalities 209 32 Towards a Classification: Differentialist and Assimilationist Explanations 217 33 Room for Rationality or Rationality without Reason 227 <UN> x Contents Conclusion 234 Bibliography 239 Index of Names 264 Index of Subjects 266 <UN> Preface This book is about animals. About animals like you and me but also – and mainly – about the members of other animal species such as dogs, cats, apes, or ants. A topic like this may not seem very original these days, because inter- est in animals has grown immensely over the past few decades. It has grown to the extent that some even say that we are currently observing an ‘animal turn’ across various disciplines. Regardless of whether or not this is true, there is undoubtedly much research being done on animals, their mutual relation- ships, common history, differences, and commonalities at the moment and this interest is shared by people working in different fields, including philosophers. The philosophers’ main interest in this context lies, as many people think, in animal ethics, that is, the question of the moral status of humans in compari- son to other animals. The answers given to this question surely matter, as they affect the way in which we interact with and act on other animals. However, there is also a second field that is philosophically relevant and this is the field of animal cognition. One might even argue that this field is more fundamen- tal than animal ethics since arguments regarding the moral status of animals often rely on what we think about their cognitive capacities. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the topic of animal cognition has a long philosophical history. In recent years, several studies have shed light on this history. Some peri- ods, however, have received considerably more attention than others. While the views of ancient, early modern, and contemporary philosophers have been studied a great deal, the views of medieval thinkers have yet to attract as much attention as they might. A very general reason for this lack of attention is that, despite all efforts, medieval philosophy still leads a relatively shadowy exis- tence within contemporary (history of) philosophy. Yet, there is also a more specific reason, namely, the widespread opinion that there is not much to say about animal cognition in the Middle Ages. Medieval philosophers, it is often said, granted various sensory capacities to nonhuman animals, such as sight, hearing, imagination, and memory. Still, they denied them anything related to the possession of a rational soul, such as concept formation, judging, rea- soning, or prudence. Consequently, nonhuman animals are non-rational ani- mals and their cognition is nothing but a deficient version of human rational cognition. Although this view contains more than a grain of truth, it fails to capture the depth and diversity of the medieval discussion. As this study shows, medi- eval philosophers did not stop at the ascription of sensory cognition to other <UN> xii Preface animals. Rather, they wondered whether one can coherently account for many complex behaviours in nonhuman species without granting them complex cognitive processes. In particular, the question was whether those processes that were taken to be rational processes always require rational faculties or whether they can also exist without a rational soul. This question might, of course, seem to be heretical in at least two regards. First, it seems to contra- dict the basic idea of Aristotelian faculty psychology, according to which every psychological process requires a particular type of soul or faculty of the soul. Rationality without reason thus seems to be impossible. Second, it seems to undermine the Aristotelian definition of the boundary between humans and nonhuman animals because, in Aristotle’s view, rationality is what sets humans apart from all other animals. Yet, despite these dangers for Aristotelian psy- chology and anthropology (which, incidentally, went hand in hand with the Christian idea of human nature), medieval philosophers did not refrain from asking these questions and the answers they gave were quite different. It is these answers that shall be called theories of animal rationality and they are the subject of this book. It is important to note, however, that this book does not cover the whole range of medieval theories from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries. Rather, it focuses on the theories of Latin authors from roughly 1250 to 1350. This pe- riod is a particularly rich and interesting period because the transmission of Aristotle’s writings had been largely completed by that time. Aristotle’s trea- tises on psychology and zoology as well as his works in other fields, such as metaphysics or ethics, gave a major boost to theorising in the Latin West. In a sense, this was a late-medieval precursor of the modern animal turn because animals became the subject of various debates not only in zoology but also in psychology and philosophy. Still, one must not forget that there are many theo- ries that were developed before and after that period and outside the Latin cultural area, especially in the Islamic world during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Many Islamic thinkers paved the way for the Latin discussion. Yet in the present book their theories will be considered only insofar as they had a notable influence on the ideas of Latin thinkers. This is not to say, of course, that they are less relevant or less interesting but they go beyond the scope of this book and definitely deserve a study in their own right.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Projectile Motion Acc
    PHY1033C/HIS3931/IDH 3931 : Discovering Physics: The Universe and Humanity’s Place in It Fall 2016 Prof. Peter Hirschfeld, Physics Announcements • HW 1 due today; HW 2 posted, due Sept. 13 • Lab 1 today 2nd hour • Reading: Gregory Chs. 2,3 Wertheim (coursepack), Lindberg (coursepack) • HW/office hours 10:40 M,T, 11:45 W email/call to make appt. if these are bad Last time Improvements to Aristotle/Eudoxus Appolonius of Perga (~20 -190 BCE) : proposed: 1) eccentric orbits (planet goes in circle at const. speed, but Earth was off center) 2) epicycles (planet moves on own circle [epicycle] around a point that travels in another circle [deferent] around E. His model explained • variation in brightness of planets • changes in angular speed Ptolemy (AD 100 – c. 170): Almagest summarized ancient ideas about solar system. He himself proposed “equant point”: eccentric point about which planet moved with constant angular speed. Not true uniform circular motion, but explained data better. Ptolemaic universe (Equant point suppressed) • Note: this picture puts planets at a distance relative to Earth corresponding to our modern knowledge, but Ptolemaic system did not predict order of planets (or care!) • Exception: inner planets had to have orbits that kept them between Earth and Sun • Why epicycles? Not asked. Clicker quickies Q1: Ptolemy’s model explained retrograde motion of the planets. This means that A. Some planets moved clockwise while others moved counterclockwise along their orbits B. Some planets moved outside the plane of the ecliptic C. Some planets were observed to stop in the sky, move apparently backwards along their path, forward again D.
    [Show full text]
  • The Logic of Where and While in the 13Th and 14Th Centuries
    The Logic of Where and While in the 13th and 14th Centuries Sara L. Uckelman Department of Philosophy, Durham University Abstract Medieval analyses of molecular propositions include many non-truthfunctional con- nectives in addition to the standard modern binary connectives (conjunction, dis- junction, and conditional). Two types of non-truthfunctional molecular propositions considered by a number of 13th- and 14th-century authors are temporal and local propositions, which combine atomic propositions with ‘while’ and ‘where’. Despite modern interest in the historical roots of temporal and tense logic, medieval analy- ses of ‘while’ propositions are rarely discussed in modern literature, and analyses of ‘where’ propositions are almost completely overlooked. In this paper we introduce 13th- and 14th-century views on temporal and local propositions, and connect the medieval theories with modern temporal and spatial counterparts. Keywords: Jean Buridan, Lambert of Auxerre, local propositions, Roger Bacon, temporal propositions, Walter Burley, William of Ockham 1 Introduction Modern propositional logicians are familiar with three kinds of compound propositions: Conjunctions, disjunctions, and conditionals. Thirteenth-century logicians were more liberal, admitting variously five, six, seven, or more types of compound propositions. In the middle of the 13th century, Lambert of Auxerre 1 in his Logic identified six types of ‘hypothetical’ (i.e., compound, as opposed to atomic ‘categorical’, i.e., subject-predicate, propositions) propo- sitions: the three familiar ones, plus causal, local, and temporal propositions [17, 99]. Another mid-13th century treatise, Roger Bacon’s Art and Science of Logic¶ , lists these six and adds expletive propositions (those which use the connective ‘however’), and other ones not explicitly classified such as “Socrates 1 The identity of the author of this text is not known for certain.
    [Show full text]
  • Jean Buridan Qui a Étudié Les Arts Libéraux S’Est Intéressé Aux Dis- Cussions Sur Le Modèle De L’Univers Et Sur La Théorie Du Mouvement D’Aristote
    Jean Buridan qui a étudié les arts libéraux s’est intéressé aux dis- cussions sur le modèle de l’univers et sur la théorie du mouvement d’Aristote. Il a redécouvert et diffusé la théorie de l’impetus. Éla- borée à Alexandrie, cette théorie visait à combler une lacune de la théorie du mouvement d’Aristote. Jean Buridan 1295-1358 Jean Buridan Discussion du géocentrisme Si la terre reste toujours immobile au Jean Buridan est né à Béthune au Pas de centre du monde; ou non ... [et] si, en Calais, en 1295 et est mort vers 1358. supposant que la terre est en mouve- Il étudie à l’université de Paris où il est ment de rotation autour de son cen- un disciple de Guillaume d’Occam. Tra- tre et de ses propres pôles, tous les phé- ditionnellement, pour se préparer à une nomènes que nous observons peuvent carrière en philosophie, les aspirants étu- être sauvés? dient la théologie. Buridan choisit d’étu- dier les arts libéraux (voir encadré) plu- Peut-on, en considérant que la Terre est tôt que la théologie et il préserve son in- en rotation sur elle-même, expliquer dépendance en demeurant clerc séculier tous les phénomènes que nous obser- plutôt qu’en se joignant à un ordre reli- vons ? Buridan donne une série d’argu- gieux. ments en accord avec la rotation de la Buridan enseigne la philosophie à Pa- Terre et une autre série à l’encontre de ris et est élu recteur de Angleterre Calais Belgique cette hypothèse. Il écrit : Lille Allemagne l’Université en 1328 et en Béthune Il est vrai, sans aucun doute, que si la 1340.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019-2020 Member Institutions
    South Dakota Minnesota Wisconsin Michigan Ohio Maine Mount Marty College College of Saint Benedict Alverno College University of Detroit Mercy Franciscan University of Steubenville Saint Joseph’s College of Maine Presentation College Saint John’s University Edgewood College John Carroll University Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Marquette University Indiana Mercy College of Ohio Vermont Nebraska St. Catherine University Holy Cross College Mount St. Joseph University Saint Michael’s College Creighton University The College of Saint Scholastica Illinois Marian University Ohio Dominican University University of St. Thomas DePaul University Saint Mary’s College University of Dayton New Hampshire Kansas Dominican University Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Ursuline College Saint Anselm College Benedictine College Iowa Lewis University University of Notre Dame Walsh University 2019-2020 Newman University New York Briar Cliff University Loyola University Chicago Xavier University Member Institutions University of Saint Mary Quincy University Kentucky Fordham University Missouri University of St. Francis Bellarmine University Iona College Fontbonne University Brescia University Le Moyne College Saint Louis University Manhattan College Molloy College Mount Saint Mary College Niagara University Siena College St. Bonaventure University St. Francis College St. John Fisher College St. John’s University-New York St. Thomas Aquinas College Massachusetts Assumption College Boston College College of the Holy Cross Merrimack College Regis College Stonehill
    [Show full text]
  • Pomponazzi on Identity and Individuation Han Thomas Adriaenssen Abstract. Aristotle Defines Growing As a Process in Which An
    Final version forthcoming in Journal of the History of Philosophy Pomponazzi on Identity and Individuation Han Thomas Adriaenssen Abstract. Aristotle defines growing as a process in which an individual living being persists as it accumulates new matter. This definition raises the question of what enables an individual to persist as its material composition continuously changes over time. This paper provides a systematic account of Pietro Pomponazzi’s answer to this question. In his De nutritione et augmentatione, Pomponazzi argues that individuals persist in virtue of their forms. Forms are individuated in part by their material, causal, and temporal origins, which commits Pomponazzi to the view that individuals necessarily have the material, causal, and temporal origins they do. I provide an account of why Pomponazzi was willing to this view. While his opponents remain unnamed, I argue that his arguments for this view are best read as addressing, among others, Paul of Venice and Gregory of Rimini. In On Generation and Corruption, Aristotle describes growing as a process in which “any and every part of the growing magnitude is made bigger . by the accession of something, and thirdly in such a way that the growing thing is preserved and persists” (321a18–22).1 For instance, when an animal grows as the result of the intake of food, all of its limbs grow larger as the result of the intake of new matter, in such a way that the same individual animal persists throughout the process. 1 All Aristotle translations are taken from the Jonathan Barnes edition of the Complete Works. 1 Final version forthcoming in Journal of the History of Philosophy Simple though it may perhaps appear, this definition confronted Aristotle’s later followers and commentators with a problem.
    [Show full text]
  • School Spirit from University Ministries to Mt
    The Magazine of St.Bonaventure University Fall/Winter ’09 School Spirit From University Ministries to Mt. Irenaeus, service is at the heart of spirituality at St. Bonaventure PLUS: The Fosters’ remarkable commitment to the liberal arts E FALL/WINTER ‘09 R U T N E V A N O B The Rise of the Mounain By Tom Donahue Holy Peace Chapel today (above) and under construction in 1988 (below, left) he backdrop for an Oct. 17 concert, Mass and supper celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mt. Irenaeus was supposed to be one of those spectacularly clear, crisp, autumn afternoons when the hill- sides are ablaze with color. T But an early winter storm had rolled through the day before, dump- ing half a foot of snow on the mountaintop retreat in Allegany County. Huge tents meant to shelter the concertgoers sagged under the heavy blanket of white, and everywhere the ground was a slushy mess. When events were moved indoors, Br. Kevin Kriso, O.F.M., the newest member of the friar community at Irenaeus, remembers thinking that the sloppy weather might keep some people away. But the cars kept coming and Holy Peace Friary, the retreat’s community house, kept filling with people. Visitors who couldn’t squirm their way into the spacious main room joined those standing in the kitchen or just gave up and waited out- side, chatting and shivering on the porch. 20 B O N AV E N T U R E F A L L / W I N T E R ‘ 0 “A lot of people truly wanted to be that would be called Mt.
    [Show full text]
  • The Aeolipile As Experimental Model in Early Modern Natural Philosophy
    7KH$HROLSLOHDV([SHULPHQWDO0RGHOLQ(DUO\0RGHUQ1DWXUDO3KLORVRSK\ &UDLJ0DUWLQ 3HUVSHFWLYHVRQ6FLHQFH9ROXPH1XPEHU0D\-XQHSS $UWLFOH 3XEOLVKHGE\7KH0,73UHVV )RUDGGLWLRQDOLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKLVDUWLFOH KWWSVPXVHMKXHGXDUWLFOH Access provided by Oakland University (22 Aug 2016 16:29 GMT) The Aeolipile as Experimental Model in Early Modern Natural Philosophy Craig Martin Oakland University What causes winds was regarded as one of the most difficult questions of early modern natural philosophy. Vitruvius, the ancient Roman architectural au- thor, put forth an alternative to Aristotle’s theory by likening the generation of wind to the actions of the aeolipile, which he believed made artificial winds. As Vitruvius’s work proliferated during the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- ries, numerous natural philosophers, including Descartes, used the aeolipile as a model for nature. Yet, interpretations of Vitruvius’s text and of the relation of the aeolipile to natural winds varied according to definitions and concep- tions of air, wind, rarefaction, condensation, and vapor. 1. Introduction Numerous early modern natural philosophers, Aristotelians as well as their detractors, invoked the workings of the aeolipile to explain the origin and matter of winds. An aeolipile, in its simplest form, is a hollow metal ball or vessel that has one or two small openings. An external fire, or other source of heat, warms water placed within the ball until jets of steam and air shoot forth from the aperture or apertures. From antiquity to the seventeenth century, natural philosophers referred to this artificial device as evidence for specific theories of the wind. These writings typically cited Vitruvius, the ancient Roman author of De architectura, who gave the earliest Prelimary versions of the paper were presented at seminars sponsored by the Department of History and Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University and by the Graduate School Field Committee in Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.
    [Show full text]
  • Saint Bonaventure Church
    SAINT BONAVENTURE CHURCH TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME | JUNE 21, 2020 As Christian stewards, our mission is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people through word, sacrament, service and community life. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father knowing ... fear not, you are more valuable than many sparrows. – Matthew 29:31 Page two 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time PPastor’sastor’s CCornerorner Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Today I want to offer a prayer for all the Dads on this Father’s Day: God our Father, in your wisdom and love you made all things. Bless these men, that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Today is the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The response to today’s Psalm is, “Lord, in your great love, answer me.” I find this very appropriate. I have been doing a lot of praying during the “lock down time” of the last three months. We were ready to celebrate the opening of our church in March, only to be told to stay home. We have all been through so much. I was so happy when the Bishop offered to bless our newly retrofitted and renovated church on June 14. Originally this was going to be just a livestream Mass. Then with the help of the Bishops of California, including Bishop Vann, as well as Bishop Jaime Soto, a native son of Orange County and Bishop of Sacramento, we were allowed by the Governor to open our churches on June 14.
    [Show full text]
  • Index Nominum
    Index Nominum Abualcasim, 50 Alfred of Sareshal, 319n Achillini, Alessandro, 179, 294–95 Algazali, 52n Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio, Ali, Ismail, 8n, 132 205n Alkindi, 304 Adam, 313 Allan, Mowbray, 276n Adam of Papenhoven, 222n Alne, Robert, 208n Adamson, Melitta Weiss, 136n Alonso, Manual, 46 Adenulf of Anagni, 301, 384 Alphonse of Poitiers, 193, 234 Adrian IV, pope, 108 Alverny, Marie-Thérèse d’, 35, 46, Afonso I Henriques, king of Portu- 50, 53n, 93, 147, 177, 264n, 303, gal, 35 308n Aimery, archdeacon of Tripoli, Alvicinus de Cremona, 368 105–6 Amadaeus VIII, duke of Savoy, Alberic of Trois Fontaines, 100–101 231 Albert de Robertis, bishop of Ambrose, 289 Tripoli, 106 Anastasius IV, pope, 108 Albert of Rizzato, patriarch of Anti- Anatoli, Jacob, 113 och, 73, 77n, 86–87, 105–6, 122, Andreas the Jew, 116 140 Andrew of Cornwall, 201n Albert of Schmidmüln, 215n, 269 Andrew of Sens, 199, 200–202 Albertus Magnus, 1, 174, 185, 191, Antonius de Colell, 268 194, 212n, 227, 229, 231, 245–48, Antweiler, Wolfgang, 70n, 74n, 77n, 250–51, 271, 284, 298, 303, 310, 105n, 106 315–16, 332 Aquinas, Thomas, 114, 256, 258, Albohali, 46, 53, 56 280n, 298, 315, 317 Albrecht I, duke of Austria, 254–55 Aratus, 41 Albumasar, 36, 45, 50, 55, 59, Aristippus, Henry, 91, 329 304 Arnald of Villanova, 1, 156, 229, 235, Alcabitius, 51, 56 267 Alderotti, Taddeo, 186 Arnaud of Verdale, 211n, 268 Alexander III, pope, 65, 150 Ashraf, al-, 139n Alexander IV, pope, 82 Augustine (of Hippo), 331 Alexander of Aphrodisias, 311, Augustine of Trent, 231 336–37 Aulus Gellius,
    [Show full text]
  • Pietro Pomponazzi – the Most Representative Aristotelian of the Italian Renaissance
    188 PIETRO POMPONAZZI – THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE ARISTOTELIAN OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Anna MAKOLKIN1 ABSTRACT. In European cultural history, the name of Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525) is associated with the re-birth of the ancient pagan Graeco-Roman cultural legacy and the revival of the ancient natural philosophy, as well with the debate over the power of Man and God. He is also one of the most prominent neo-Aristotelians of the Renaissance who promoted Aristotle’s natural philosophy, contrasted with the thought of Plato, thus continuing the ongoing comparative analysis of Platonism and Aristotelianism. Pomponazzi who claimed that “a philosopher has to be a heretic” entered European cultural history as a truly radical thinker, having turned his advocacy of Aristotle into a weapon against the Church dogma, Mediaeval scholasticism, theological main arguments, and religion in general. The Renaissance neo-Aristotelianism is unthinkable without Pomponazzi’s battle for the materiality of cosmos and human body, without his denunciation of the immortality of the soul – the main premise of Christian ideology and mythology – that was going on nearly a100 years prior to the burning of Giordano Bruno. This paper brings to the surface of the current philosophical discourse this less known but an extremely significant Renaissance thinker, an alumnus of the University of Padua, “the cradle of Aristotelianism” during the High Renaissance. KEY WORDS: Aristotle, Aristotelianism, natural philosophy, organic essence, Faith, Reason, heresy, heretic, Plato(nism), immortality of the soul, religious myth, Cosmos Contents Introduction 1. Biography of a Heretic 2. Italy – the most Preserved Archive of Aristotelianism 3. Padua – Pomponazzi’s Alma Mater 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Bonaventure and the Sin of the Church
    Theological Studies 63 (2002) BONAVENTURE AND THE SIN OF THE CHURCH C. COLT ANDERSON [The author describes how the medieval tradition answered the question of whether one can legitimately speak of collective ecclesial sin. Using principally Bonaventure as a focal point, he examines how the notion of ecclesial sin functioned simultaneously as reform rhetoric and an ecclesial apologetic of humility. Finally, he applies Bonaventure’s analysis of ecclesial sin to the present crisis regarding sexual abuse of minors to show how this idea can function even today to exhort believers to maintain unity as they struggle for re- form.] VER SINCE THE Second Vatican Council declared that the Church is “at E once holy and always in need of purification,” there has been an ongoing debate over whether one may speak of the Church sinning as a collective body.1 Interest in this question has been stimulated by John Paul II’s repeated calls for the Church to repent for the many abusive policies and actions its members have engaged in over the last two millennia.2 More C. COLT ANDERSON is assistant professor in the department of church history at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in the archdiocese of Chicago. He received his Ph. D. from Marquette University. A specialist in the rhetoric and methods employed by the medieval reformers, he has also published a book entitled A Call to Piety: St. Bonaventure’s Collations on the Six Days (Fran- ciscan, 2002). 1 Lumen gentium no. 8, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Cloister Chronicle 101
    liOISTER + ~ CnROllICliF.i ~'-~ ST. JOSEPH'S PROVINCE The Fathers and Brothers of the Province extend their sympathy CONDOLENCES and prayers to the Rev. M. A. O'Connor, 0.P., Rev. H. R. Ahern, O.P., and Rev. R. T. lmwalle, O.P., on the death of their fathers; to the Rev. ]. V. Fitzgerald, O.P., on the death of his mother; to the Very Rev. C. A. Drexelius, O.P., Rev. M. A. Murray, O.P., Rev. E. ]. Donovan, O.P., Rev. ]. ]. Costello, O.P, and Rev E. M. McDonald, O.P., on the death of their brothers. On November 24, in the Chapel of the House of Studies, Wash­ SIMPLE ington, D. C., the Very Rev. W. M. Conlon, O.P., Prior, received PROFESSION the simple profession of two laybrothers: Malachy Cosgrove and Louis Bertrand Alvey. In virtue of authorization by His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, the HONORS Supreme Council for the Holy Year has conferred the silver medal, "Benemerenti," on the Very Rev. T. R. Gallagher, O.P. The twenty-first annual observance of the Chair of Unity Octave CHAIR OF was held at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, UNITY OCTAVE Washington, D. C., January 18-25. On January 23, the Rev. H. I. Smith, O.P., Dean of the School of Philosophy at Catholic Uni­ versity, preached the sermon, and the Brothers from the House of Studies served as ministers at the Solemn Benediction given by the Most Rev. Bryan McEntegart, D.D., Rector of Catholic University. Two members of the Holy Rosary Province, Brothers Agripino NEW STUDENTS Franco-Herrero, 0.P., and Ramon Perez-Rodriguez, O.P., arrived in November, from Avila, Spain, to pursue their courses in The­ ology, at the House of Studies, Washington, D.
    [Show full text]