The development of the theory of the intellect and of the soul in the reception of Aristotle's philosophy in the later middle ages

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The purpose of this reseach project was an investigation in/the history of reception and interpretation of Aristotle's theory of the intellect and of the soul in the periods of high and late scnolastic philosophy. For methodological reasons, there had to be taken into account also its interpretations in Arab philosophy, especially Avicenna and Averroes, as well as the Neo-platonic conception of mind, which has exercised considerable influence, especially the "Liber de causis", and, further, Augustine's psychological conception of the human mind. Through this research, in the history of interpretation of "De anima", the following steps and schools have been distinguished : 1. In the first half of the 13th century, Aristotle's theory of intellect has been exprosed according to Avicenna. The interpretations show a wide variety, form a denial of the agent intellect to its identification with God (Ox-ford school), in the combination with Agustine's theory of illumination. 2. In the most imp … More ortant period from 1250 to the seventies (from the introduction of "De anima" as teaching manual in the Arts-Faculty in Faris to its condemnations), conflicting interpretations have been developped : (1) Albertus Nagnus, (2) Sigerus of Brabant, (3) Bonaventura, (4) Thomas Aquinas. While, on one side, the soul-body-relation has been seen in Augustinian terms, intellect and soul have been identified, the substantial unity of sould and body has been posilively developped towards a new image of man (Albertus, Aquinas) ; whereby the controntation with Averroes' Neo-platonid theory of the unity of the intellect has served as stimulating factor. 3. In the period of transition from 1280 to 1300, the Averroist theory of intellect shifted from Paris to Padova and Bologna, where a unified understanding of Aristotle, based on the theory of the unity of the intellect, has been promoted . On the other side, in the Dominican school of cologne, Dietrich of Freiberg connected the agent intellect with Augustine's 'abditum mentis', on which basis Meister Eckhart has built German mysticism, founded in the conception of the uncreated ground of the soul.5. From the middle of the 14th to the middle of the 15th century, the theory of abstraction, which lies at the bottom of the metaphysical theory of the agent intellect, lost ground to nominalism and empiricism, while, on the other side, with the reception of Plato's thought, it was replaced by a theory of man's self-knowledge.6. In the 16th century, the immortality of the soul became the center of discussion. Less