Abstract
Aristotle’s thought, both in its own right and as interpreted in the Neoplatonist and Arabic traditions, contained several areas of special interest and sensitivity for Christians. Among the problems posed by his Physics and Metaphysics were the nature of causation, in particular the compatibility of his analysis with the idea of a free creation and of a contingent universe, whether he had taught that the world was eternal and whether, if he had, this error could be refuted philosophically.
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Bibliographies
A. Bibliography of Works in English
F. van Steenberghen, Aristotle in the West. The Origins of Latin Aristotelianism (2nd edn; Louvain, 1970), is a good introduction to the period;
see also his The Philosophical Movement in the Thirteenth Century (Belfast; Edinburgh, 1955) (lectures). A series of studies by W. H. Principe, under the general title, The Theology of the Hypostatic Union in the Early Thirteenth Century (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Studies and Texts, VII, XII, XIX, XXXII; Toronto, 1963–75), though concerned with a specific theological doctrine, contain treatment of the philosophical presuppositions and provide short biographies and extensive bibliographies for the theologians considered. These are: William of Auxerre (vol. I; 1963); Alexander of Hales (vol. II; 1967); Hugh of Saint-Cher (vol. III; 1970); Philip the Chancellor (vol. II; 1975). On the early period at Oxford, see D. A. Callus, ‘Introduction of Aristotelian Learning to Oxford’, Proceedings of the British Academy, XXIX (1943), 229–81;
cf. Callus, ‘Two Early Oxford Masters on the Problem of Plurality of Forms. Adam of Buckfield. Richard Rufus of Cornwall’, Revue Néoscolastique de Philosophie, XLII (1939), 411–45.
C. H. Lawrence, St Edmund of Abingdon (Oxford, 1960), is the standard study of a figure whose scholastic career is of interest.
S. P. Marrone, William of Auvergne and Robert Grosseteste. New Ideas of Truth in the Early Thirteenth Century (Princeton, 1983), considers developments in epistemology in the period.
L. J. Bowman, ‘The Development of the Doctrine of the Agent Intellect in the Franciscan School of the Thirteenth Century’, The Modern Schoolman, L. (1972–3), 251–79, sketches the doctrine through the century among teachers of this order.
There are several important studies of Bonaventure: J. G. Bougerol, Introduction to the Works of Bonaventure (Paterson, New Jersey, 1964; translated from French), is very useful
E. Gilson, The Philosophy of St Bonaventure (Paterson, New Jersey, 1965; translated from French), is a valuable interpretation
J. F. Quinn, The Historical Constitution of St Bonaventure’s Philosophy (Toronto, 1973), is exhaustive and judicious.
R. McKeon, ‘Philosophy and Theology, History and Science in the Thought of Bonaventura and Thomas Aquinas’, in D. Tracy, ed., Celebrating the Medieval Heritage: a Colloquy on the Thought of Aquinas and Bonaventure (The Journal of Religion, LVIII, Supplement, 1978), is a useful consideration of the method of the two thinkers.
J. A. Weisheipl, ed., Albertus Magnus and the Sciences, Commemorative Essays 1980 (Toronto, 1980), serves as a valuable review of the main features and problems.
The Two Commentaries of Albertus Magnus on the Nicomachean Ethics’, Recherches de Théologie Ancienne et Médiévale, XXX (1963), 232–50, is an important study.
L. A. Kennedy, ‘The Nature of the Human Intellect according to St Albert the Great’, The Modern Schoolman, XXXVII (1959–60), 121–37.
J. A. Weisheipl, Friar Thomas d’Aquino, his Life, Thought and Work (New York, 1974), is the standard biography, with a useful catalogue of authentic works.
Among the introductions to Aquinas’ thought note especially: J. Pieper, Guide to Thomas Aquinas (New York, 1962)
M.-D. Chenu, Towards Understanding St Thomas (Chicago, 1964)
F. C. Copleston, Aquinas (Harmondsworth, 1955)
A. Kenny, Aquinas (Oxford, 1980). The two latter are readable discussions from a philosophical viewpoint
E. Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas (New York, 1956), is an excellent study
A. C. Pegis, St Thomas and the Problem of the Soul in the Thirteenth Century (Toronto, 1934), is also excellent on this aspect. St Thomas Aquinas Commemorative Studies, 2 vols (Toronto, 1974), contains important articles, some of which are signalled in the endnotes
see also, G. Verbeke and D. Verhelst, eds, Aquinas and the Problems of his Time (Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, series I, Studia 5; Louvain, 1976)
A. Parel, ed., Calgary Aquinas Studies (Toronto, 1978) (especially E. Synan, ‘Aquinas and his Age’)
B. Mondin, St Thomas Aquinas’Philosophy in the Commentary to the Sentences (The Hague, 1975), is technical but useful in examining a rather neglected work.
J. Doig, Aquinas on Metaphysics. A Historico-Doctrinal Study of the Commentary on the Metaphysics (The Hague, 1972), is a close exposition.
R. J. Henle, Saint Thomas and Platonism. A Study of the Plato and Platonici Texts in the Writings of Saint Thomas (The Hague, 1956), on an aspect of Aquinas’ thought which has received insufficient emphasis.
The evolving interpretation of Aquinas’ political thought as bearing on the De Regno in particular may be followed in L. E. Boyle, ‘The De Regno and the Two Powers’, in O’Donnell, Essays in honour of Anton Charles Pegis, pp. 237–47, J. Catto, ‘Ideas and Experience in the Political Thought of Aquinas’, Past and Present, LXXI (1976), 3–21.
T. Gilby, Principality and Polity: Aquinas and the Rise of State Theory in the West (London, 1958).
P. E. Persson, Sacra Doctrina: Reason and Revelaton in Aquinas (Oxford, 1970).
R. McInerney, Ethica Thomistica: the Moral Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas (Washington, D.C., 1982).
J. McEvoy, The Philosophy of Robert Grosseteste (Oxford, 1982), is a splendidly clear analysis.
See also J. McEvoy, ‘The Chronology of Robert Grosseteste’s Writings on Nature and Natural Philosophy’, Speculum, LVIII (1983), 614–55. A. C. Crombie, Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science 1100–1700 (Oxford, 1953), for an assessment of Grosseteste within this strand.
D. E. Sharp, Franciscan Philosophy at Oxford in the Thirteenth Century (Oxford, 1930), was pioneering and remains fundamental.
T. Crowley, Roger Bacon. The Problem of the Soul in his Philosophical Commentaries (Louvain; Dublin, 1950).
S. C. Easton, Roger Bacon and his Search for a Universal Science (Oxford, 1952).
E. M. F. Sommer-Seckendorff, Studies in the Life of Robert Kilwardby (Rome, 1937)
D. Douie, Archbishop Pecham (Oxford, 1952), on these figures.
J. A. Weisheipl, ‘The Parisian Faculty of Arts in Mid-Thirteenth Century: 1240–1270’, American Benedictine Review, XXV (1974), 200–17, is a general account of developments in the curriculum and of the academic exercises.
Controversy and condemnation: F. van Steenberghen, Thomas Aquinas and Radical Aristotelianism (Washington, D.C., 1980).
J. F. Wippel, ‘The Condemnations of 1270 and 1277 at Paris’, Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, VII (1977), 169–201
D. A. Callus, ‘The Condemnation of St Thomas at Oxford’ (The Aquinas Society of London, Aquinas Paper no. 5; London, 1955).
B. Bibliography of Works in Other Languages
F. van Steenberghen, La Philosophie au XIIIe Siècle (Louvain; Paris, 1966), is an indispensable survey which provides extensive bibliography. His ‘L’Organisation des Etudes au Moyen Age et ses Repercussions sur le Mouvement Philosophique’, Revue Philosophique de Louvain, LII (1954), 572–92, is a useful statement on the programme of studies
P. Glorieux, ‘L’Enseignement au Moyen Age. Techniques et Méthodes en Usage à la Faculté de Théologie de Paris au XIIIe Siecle’, AHDLMA, XXXV (1968), 65–186.
On the 1210 condemnation there is a series of studies: G. Théry, Autour du Décret de 1210: I. David de Dinant (Bibliothèque Thomiste, VI; Paris, 1925), and Autour du Décret de 1210: 11. Alexandre d’Aphrodise (Bibliothèque Thomiste, VII; Paris 1926)
G. C. Capelle, Autour du Décret de 1210: III. Amaury de Bène. Essai sur son Panthéisme Formel (Bibliothèque Thomiste, XVI; Paris, 1932).
K. Jacobi, Die Modalbegriffe in den logischen Schriften des Wilhelm von Shyreswood und in anderen Kompendien des 12 und 13 Jahrhunderts: Funktianbestimmung und Gebrauch in der logischen Analyse (Leiden, 1980), is for the specialist in this area.
A. Masnovo, Da Guglielmo d’Auvergne a San Tomaso d’Aquino 3 vols (Milan, 1930–45), provides useful coverage of a period which is rather neglected.
C. Ottaviano, Guglielmo d’Auxerre († 1231). La Vita, le Opere, il Pensiero (Rome, [1929]).
M. Baumgartner, Die Erkenntnislehre des Wilhelm von Auvergne, (BGPMA, vol. II, Part 1; Münster, 1893). A.
A. Forest, ‘Guillaume d’Auvergne, Critique d’Aristote’, in Etudes Médiévales Offertes à M. le Doyen Augustin Fliche de l’Institut (Montpellier, 1952), pp. 67–79.
E. Gilson, ‘La Notion d’Existence chez Guillaume d’Auvergne’, AHDLMA, XV (1946), 55–91.
On the developing character of thought: R. de Vaux, Notes et Textes sur l’Avicennisme Latin aux Confins des XIIe et XIIIe Siècles (Bibliothèque Thomiste, XX; Paris, 1934)
E. Gilson, ‘Les Sources Gréco-Arabes de l’Augustinisme Avicennisant’, AHDLMA, IV (1929–30), 5–149
E. Bertola, ‘E Esistito un Avicennismo Latino nel Medioevo?’ Sophia, XXXV (1967), 318–34; XXXIX (1971), 278–320
R. de Vaux, ‘La Première Entrée d’Averroës chez les Latins’, Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques, XXII (1933), 193–245.
P. Glorieux, ‘Les Années 1242–1247 à la Faculté de Théologie de Paris’, Recherches de Théologie Ancienne et Médiévale, XXIX (1962), 234–49.
F. Pelster, ‘Adam von Bocfeld (Bockingfold), ein Oxforder Erklärer des Aristoteles um die Mitte des XIII Jahrhunderts, sein Leben und seine Schriften’, Scholastik, XI (1936), 196–224.
O. Lottin, ‘La Pluralite des Formes Substantielles avant Saint Thomas d’Aquin. Quelques documents nouveaux’ Revue Néoscolastique de Philosophie, XXXIV (1932), 449–67.
F. van Steenberghen, ‘Albert le Grand et l’Aristotélisme’, Revue Internationale de Philosophie, XXXIV (1980), no. 133–134, 566–74, is a useful general statement.
B. Geyer, ‘Albertus Magnus und die Entwicklung der Scholastischen Metaphysik’, in P. Wilpert, ed., Die Metaphysik im Mittelaller (Miscellanea Mediaevalia, II; Berlin, 1963), pp. 3–13 (a conference paper from a useful collection).
G. Wieland, Untersuchungen zum Seinsbegriff im Metaphysikkommentar Alberts des Grossen (BGPMA, Neue Folge, vol. VII; Münster, 1971), on Albert’s treatment of a central concept.
A. Zimmermann, ed., Albert der Grosse, seine Zeit, sein Werk, seine Wirkung (Miscellanea Mediaevalia, XIV; Berlin; New York, 1981), is a valuable collection treating Albert’s philosophical and scientific work and his influence.
H. Ostlender, ed., Studia Albertina. Festschrift für Bernhard Geyer (BGPMA, Supplementary vol. IV; Münster, 1952), is largely devoted to theological aspects of Albert’s work; among the aspects of philosophical interest covered
J. Hansen, ‘Zur Frage der anfangslosen und zeitlichen Schopfung bei Albert dem Grossen’, pp. 167–88; A. Hufnagel, ‘Das Person-Problem bei Albertus Magnus’, pp. 202–33 (on an aspect which was a topic also in the twelfth century). F. Ruello, La Notion de Vérité chez Saint Albert le Grand et chez Thomas d’Aquin de 1243 à 1254 (Louvain; Paris, 1969), is a detailed and interesting study of this aspect in the early thought of both figures.
See also, on another aspect, G. de Mattos, ‘L’Intellect Agent Personnel dans les Premiers Ecrits d’Albert le Grand et de Thomas d’Aquin’, Revue Néoscolastique de Philosophie, XLIII (1940), 145–61.
Controversy and condemnations: E.-H. Wéber, La Controverse de 1270 à l’Université de Paris et son Relentissement sur la Pensée de S. Thomas d’Aquin (Paris, 1970)
B. Bazán, ‘La Dialogue Philosophique entre Siger de Brabant et Thomas d’Aquin. A propos d’un Ouvrage Récent de E. H. Weber, O.P.’, Revue Philosophique de Louvain, LXXII (1974), 53–155. Wéber maintained his position in the course of his Dialogue et Dissensions entre Saint Bonaventure et Saint Thomas d’Aquin à Paris (1252–1273) (Paris, 1974), and in ‘Les Discussions de 1270 à l’Université de Paris et leur Intluence sur la Pensée Philosophique de S. Thomas d’Aquin’, in A. Zimmermann, ed., Die Auseinandersetzungen an der Pariser Universität im XIII Jahrhundert (Miscellanea Mediaevalia, X; Berlin, 1976).
F. van Steenberghen, Maître Siger de Brabant (Louvain; Paris, 1977), is now the standard account of this figure.
R. Hissette, Enquête sur les 219 Articles Condamnés à Paris le 7 mars 1277 (Louvain; Paris, 1977), is an indispensable and judicious analysis.
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© 1985 Michael Haren
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Haren, M. (1985). Aristotelian Philosophy in the University — the First Phase of Assimilation. In: Medieval Thought. New Studies in Medieval History. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17856-8_6
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