Monopsychism: Albert the Great, Siger of Brabant, and Thomas Aquinas

ISBN-13: 9783639063059 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 136 str.

James Bryson

Opis

A doctrine widely considered to jeopardize Christian belief in the immortality of the soul, monopsychism aroused members of the theology and arts faculties at the University of Paris into intense debate about the nature of man. Born out of the philosophical legacy of Greek Antiquity, late antique Neoplatonic philosophy, and medieval Arabic commentary, Christian theologians and philosophers were forced to confront their own intellectual past in relation to pressing contemporary questions. The Unity of the Intellect for Albert the Great, Siger of Brabant, and Thomas Aquinas revisits this debate in light of divided 20th century scholarship. Bryson identifies Albert the Great, Siger of Brabant, and Thomas Aquinas as principal figures. Through careful analysis of their relevant treatises, he illumines much about the character of philosophical commentary, epistemology, and psychology in the Middle Ages, and what this period owes to its forbearers. Bryson claims to have resolved questions about the debates origins in the phenomenon of Latin Averroism. Special attention to Aquinas epistemology, against the Averroistic psychological model, lies at the heart of the argument.

O autorze

James Bryson is pursuing PhD at Cambridge under the supervision of Douglas Hedley on Thomas Jackson's Neoplatonism. This present work depends on research done for an MA thesis in the Classics Department at Dalhousie University supervised by Wayne Hankey. Bryson holds a BA from the University of King's College in Classics and Early Modern Studies.