Jean De La Rochelle on the Soul and Its Powers
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive Library An Examination of a Thirteenth-Century Treatise on the Mind/ Body Dichotomy: Jean de La Rochelle on the Soul and its Powers by Denise Ryan, M.A. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Presented to: The Department of Philosophy National University of Ireland, Maynooth 29th October, 2010 Head of Department of Philosophy: Dr Michael Dunne Supervisor: Dr Michael Dunne Co-Supervisor: Dr Cyril McDonnell C O N T E N T S Acknowledgements iv Preface v Note on Translation vii Introduction 1 CHAPTER I: Background to the Summa of Jean de La Rochelle 12 Section One: Jean’s Early Education, Career and Writings 12 Section Two: Encounter between Theological Anthropology and Philosophical Anthropology 18 Section Three: The Translation of the Works of Aristotle and Avicenna in Thirteenth-Century Europe 19 Section Four: Sources 22 Section Five: Introduction to the Critical Edition of the Summa 26 Section Six: Outline of the First Consideratio of the Summa 27 1.6.1 Prologue 28 1.6.2 Whether the Soul exists 28 1.6.3 What is the Soul? 29 1.6.4 Origin of the Soul 31 1.6.5 Soul with Regard to Being 33 1.6.6 Soul with Regard to the Image 35 1.6.7 On the Soul in Relation to the Body 38 1.6.8 On the Immortality of the Soul 42 1.6.9 On the Passibility of the Soul 44 1.6.10 On the Place of the Soul 45 1.6.11 Movement of the Separated Soul 46 Section Seven: Outline of the Second Consideratio of the Summa 48 1.7.1 Powers of the Soul according to the Pseudo-Augustine 48 1.7.2. Powers of the Soul according to John Damascene 50 1.7.3. Powers of the Soul according to Avicenna 52 Section Eight: Influences of the Summa 53 1.8.1 Conclusion 56 CHAPTER II: Exposition and Analysis of Arguments Relating to Specific Doctrines 58 Section One: Arguments for the Existence of the Soul 58 Section Two: Causality with Regard to the Soul 64 2.2.1 The Material Cause of the Soul 65 2.2.1.1 That the Soul is not made from a Divine Substance 65 2.2.1.2 That the Soul is not made from Matter 66 2.2.1.3 That the Soul is not made from a Soul 69 2.2.2 The Formal Cause of the Soul 71 2.2.3 The Efficient Cause of the Soul 78 2.2.4 The Final Cause of the Soul 79 Section Three: The Being of the Soul 81 2.3.1 Soul as a Substance 81 2.3.2 Simplicity of the Soul 85 2.3.3 Incorporealilty of the Soul 87 2.3.4 Soul as One in Three Powers 90 Section Four: The Soul in Relation to the Body 96 Section Five: The Immortality of the Soul 103 Section Six: Conclusion 112 ii CHAPTER III: The Significance of Jean’s Account of the Pseudo-Augustine’s De Spiritu et anima 114 Section One: Whether the Soul is its Powers 115 Section Two: Distinction of the Powers of the Soul by their Actions and their Objects 120 Section Three: The Division of the Powers according to the Pseudo-Augustine 125 CHAPTER IV: Human Psychology According to John Damascene 135 Section One: The External Senses 139 Section Two: The Cognitive Powers 142 Section Three: Human Free Will 155 Section Four: John Blund. Tractatus de Anima. Chapter XXVI.i: Concerning Free Will 167 CHAPTER V Avicenna’s Influence on the Thought of Jean de la Rochelle 175 Section One: Jean’s Interest in Avicenna’s Psychology 176 Section Two: The Vegetative Soul 179 Section Three: The Sensitive Soul 186 5.3.1 The External Senses 187 Section Four: Internal Senses 195 5.4.1 The Common Sense 196 5.4.2 The Imaginative Power 198 5.4.3 Imagination 199 5.4.4 The Estimative Power 200 5.4.5 Memory 207 Section Five: The Driving Forces of the Senses 211 Section Six: The Intellective Soul 219 5.6.1 Doctrine of the Four Intellects 224 5.6.2 The Active Intellect 227 Conclusion 233 Bibliography 239 Appendix (I) Latin Text with English Translation of Selected Passages from the Summa de anima of Jean de La Rochelle 248 Appendix (II) Outline of Chapters of the Summa de Anima 283 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to begin by thanking the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, for granting me a four year John & Pat Hume Scholarship which enabled me to pursue my doctoral studies in Philosophy. I would also like to take this opportunity both to remember and to thank Professor Thomas Kelly for all his encouragement in the early years of my studies at Maynooth. I am privileged also to have known Professor John Cleary and Professor James McEvoy and thank each of them for their generosity of spirit and enthusiasm for philosophy. My thanks also go to the following who have helped me in my studies: to Anne Gleeson, Administrative Officer, in the Department of Philosophy, for her help and advice over the years; to all in the Postgraduate group for their encouragement, both past and present members; to Dr Gordon Campbell (Ancient Classics, NUIM) for his advice on Latin translation. Special thanks goes to Haydn Gurmin for his continuous support and friendship. I would like to thank, in particular, Dr Cyril McDonnell, my co-supervisor, not only for his practical advice on particular aspects of thesis writing but also for his advice on planning, researching and bringing a thesis to completion. Finally, I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr Michael Dunne, whose lectures in my undergraduate studies led to my interest in Medieval Philosophy. I am indebted to him for his confidence in me and for his guidance throughout the process of writing and researching my topic. On a personal note, I would like to say ‘thank you’ to my family for their love and support; to Andrew, my husband, and to my children, Tracy, Ciara, David and Alan Ryan for everything they have done for me and for helping me to keep a sense of proportion throughout. iv P R E F A C E Because Jean de la Rochelle has remained in the background to some of the more well-known authors of the later thirteenth century, such as, for instance, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, the aim of this study is to highlight the contribution made by him and his contemporaries to philosophical thought in the light of the new Greek and Arabic translations. This was a very specific moment in the history of medieval philosophy when Avicenna, rather than Aristotle, was the preferred philosopher of many writers of the early thirteenth century. That he is the philosopher for Jean will become clear throughout our study. His aim would seem to have been to transmit all the views on the soul that were known at this time. His range of sources certainly testifies to the breadth of his knowledge as he appeals to a wide range of authorities: Augustine, (also the Pseudo-Augustine’s work De Spiritu et Anima), Philip the Chancellor and John Damascene, on the theological side; and, on the philosophical side, he appeals to Avicenna and Aristotle (the latter to a limited degree). It is only by looking back to this very specific moment in time that we can begin to realise the impact that follows in its wake. Jean’s Summa is testament to the moment when the new Arabic sources facilitated access to the classical texts and to its own medical tradition which far outweighed that of Western Europe. The accusation could be made against Jean that he misunderstood a theory or that he deliberately digressed from the original text of a specific author, but equally it could be stated that it is often the misunderstandings and digressions that can be of great benefit to a philosophical discussion. This could certainly be the case with regard to the doctrine of ‘Avicennised Augustianism’, which would not be what v Avicenna intended by the doctrine, yet it does reveal, as Hasse states, the sagacity of the scholastic writers.1 Hasse also highlights the difficult task of the theologians who confronted and mastered the task of assimilating the philosophical works into their Summae and commentaries on Peter Lombard’s Sentences. It is remarkable that a theologian, such as Jean, managed to integrate, considering the constraints of his office, the new sources and, in doing so, to create a certain freedom for his successors. Confronted with the medical tradition, Jean was one of the first to appreciate the value of the new learning and the need to formulate an account of the complex philosophical-theological enigma of the soul. The expansion of thought which occurred in this period owes much to the activity of translating. Jean, in turn, must also be recognised for his work of assimilation and transmission of new ideas to his successors, for his personal engagement with and interpretation of three of the most significant writers on the soul at this time (Augustine, John Damascene, and Avicenna). He certainly deserves his place in the formation of the philosophical anthropology of the thirteenth century; and it is hoped that this study will also contribute towards gaining a better understanding of the philosophical background to the mind of the greatest thinker of this period, Thomas Aquinas.