Work · Medieval & Scholastic
On the Intellective Soul (De anima intellectiva)
A reply to Aquinas: what did Aristotle really hold about the intellect? Siger admits that the question remains doubtful for him and that in doubt he holds to faith.
Introduction
A treatise of about ten chapters written around 1273–74, after Aquinas had attacked the Averroist reading of Aristotle. Siger examines how the intellective soul is united to the body and whether it is multiplied with bodies. He discusses the arguments of the foremost philosophers Albert and Thomas, finds them inconclusive and admits that he has long been in doubt about what natural reason and Aristotle hold. In such doubt, he writes, one must hold to faith, which surpasses all human reason. The work shows Siger moving away from his earlier, more confident Averroism; whether its appeal to faith was sincere has been debated since Pierre Mandonnet’s study of Siger (1899).
Connections
Responds to
- On the Unity of the Intellect against the Averroists1270 · Thomas Aquinas
More works by Siger of Brabant
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