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Article published In:
Bochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch für Antike und Mittelalter: Band 23
Herausgegeben von Manuel Baumbach und Olaf Pluta
[Bochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch für Antike und Mittelalter 23] 2020
► pp. 117–140

Transcending natural philosophy or disregarding metaphysics?

Albert the Great on humors, reason and intellect

| University of Tours

Albert’s anthropology places the human being at the top of a hierarchy of living things in virtue of a unique feature – namely the intellect – that offers the possibility of transcending the changing realm of nature and of assimilating its possessor to their divine creator. Even though Albert, throughout his works, often defends the independence of the human intellect from matter and consequently from the body and senses, his works on natural philosophy seem to offer a different perspective. In De animalibus, Albert considers the brain to be the divine member of the body responsible for the operations of sensation and, to a certain degree, of intellection. Thus, the entire humoral activity of the human body has a direct influence on the activity of the intellect, his divine nature notwithstanding. Accordingly, the main purpose of the present study is to point out how the classical humoral theory is integrated by Albert the Great in his physiological consideration for an explanation of the intellect placed between the murky boundaries of natural philosophy and metaphysics.

Keywords: humoral theory, intellect, Albert the Great, natural philosophy, metaphysics
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.The division of sciences and natural philosophy
  • 2.Humors and intellect in De animalibus
  • 3.Transcending natural philosophy in the theory of intellect
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
Published online: 8 September 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpjam.00058.ile
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