•  3
    In the Middle Ages more than in other periods, eschatology informed the way people understood humankind and the world. The papers in the present volume are devoted to the complexity and interconnectivty of the eschatological orientation of the Middle Ages. Central topics are questions of the influence and formation of eschatological themes in philosophy and the significance of ideas of the final end in medieval political thought. In addition, there is a consideration of further themes from histo…Read more
  •  3
    This contribution looks at how the topic of sleep, prominent in the Parva naturalia, is picked up by philosophers and theologians of the late thirteenth century in texts that are not directly commentaries on the Parva naturalia. In particular, the chapter looks at the question of what sort of activity sleep is and whether it is possible to have higher-level cognitive activities during sleep. While most authors deny outright that we can perform acts of thinking while we are asleep, others defend …Read more
  • Ch. 11. Aquinas on incontinence and psychological weakness
    In Tobias Hoffmann, Jörn Müller & Matthias Perkams (eds.), Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, Cambridge University Press. 2013.
  •  18
    This short chapter explores Aquinas’s teaching on the vegetative soul. At first glance, Aquinas does not seem too interested in the vegetative soul, and this type of soul certainly takes last rank compared with the sensory and the intellectual souls, which are of more relevance when it comes to human perfection and morality. However, this does not mean that Aquinas’s teaching on the vegetative soul lacks sophistication. The chapter first examines why there is a need to posit a vegetative soul in…Read more
  •  24
    In Defence of Anachronism
    Laval Théologique et Philosophique 76 (2): 169-177. 2020.
    In this short contribution I argue that the history of philosophy has much to gain from an engagement with the questions and conceptual tools of contemporary philosophy. In particular I argue against the view that the historian of philosophy’s engagement with contemporary philosophy necessarily leads to anachronism. Whatever the risks of failure, they seem to be outweighed by the potential for insight. Advocates of a “purely” historical approach to the history of philosophy defend their approach…Read more
  •  16
    Gratitude, justice, and the emotions: Comments on Thomas Nisters
    Zeitschrift Für Ethik Und Moralphilosophie 4 (1): 161-167. 2021.
    In this comment on Thomas Nisters’ “Gratitude, Anger and the Horror of Asymmetry” I propose a different reading of Schnitzler’s short story that serves as a basis for Nisters’ reflections. On my interpretation, the behaviour of Franz is best understood on the background of a traditional understanding of gratitude, one that we can find, for instance, in Thomas Aquinas.
  •  3
    Genèse du Dieu souverain (Archéologie de la puissance II) by Gwenaëlle Aubry
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 58 (4): 814-815. 2020.
    As the subtitle indicates, and the introduction explains in more detail, this is a sequel to Aubry's 2006 book, Dieu sans la puissance. Dunamis et energeia chez Aristote et chez Plotin. In the present as well as in the previous studies, the author traces the developments and transformations undergone by the notion of power and in particular how these transformations affect the understanding of God. Whereas the first study follows the development from Aristotle's account of the divine being to Pl…Read more
  •  5
    Peter Auriol on Habits and Virtues
    In Nicolas Faucher & Magali Roques (eds.), The Ontology, Psychology and Axiology of Habits (Habitus) in Medieval Philosophy, Springer. pp. 245-261. 2018.
    Peter Auriol is a good example of the debate over the nature of habits, moral habits in particular, that raged at the University of Paris in the early fourteenth century. This chapter examines Peter Auriol’s basic understanding of habits and virtues in his quodlibetal questions and his commentary on the Sentences. The first part is devoted to the ontological status of virtues and other habitual dispositions and examines why, according to Auriol, habits are qualities. The second part turns to the…Read more
  •  46
    Emotion and cognitive life in Medieval and early modern philosophy (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 2012.
    This volume explores emotion in medieval and early modern thought, and opens a contemporary debate on the way emotions figure in our cognitive lives.
  •  4
    A Companion to James of Viterbo (edited book)
    with Antoine Côté
    Brill. 2018.
    This is the first book-length treatment of the philosophical thought of one of the major thinkers at the University of Paris in the late thirteenth century. The book examines all major areas of James’s philosophical thought, exploring his connections with other important masters of the time and highlighting his originality in the context of late medieval philosophy.
  •  6
    "Herbst des Mittelalters?" Fragen zur Bewertung des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts (edited book)
    with Jan A. Aertsen
    Walter de Gruyter. 2004.
    Nach wie vor wird das Verhältnis des späten Mittelalters zur anbrechenden Neuzeit kontrovers diskutiert. Manche sehen im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert eine Periode des Verfalls, andere betonen die prägende und innovative Rolle dieser Epoche für die Neuzeit. Der 31. Band der Miscellanea Mediaevalia wirft einen interdisziplinären Blick auf diese Zeitspanne und wendet sich dabei auch kritisch klassischen Einschätzungen zu. Die über dreißig Beiträge behandeln die Philosophie des Spätmittelalters, spätmitt…Read more
  •  5
    Biographical note: Martin Pickavé ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Thomas-Institut der Universität zu Köln.
  •  16
    Zur Verwendung der Schriften des Aristoteles in den Fragmenten der 'quaternuli' des David von Dinant
    Recherches de Theologie Et Philosophie Medievales 64 (1): 199-221. 1997.
    Lange war die philosophische Mediävistik über die Lehre und Person des in die universitären Verurteilungen von 1210 und 1215 verwickelten Magister David von Dinant nur äußerst schlecht unterrichtet. Spärliche Erwähnungen in mittelalterlichen Chroniken und vor allem das Zeugnis Alberts des Großen stellten den einzigen Zugang zu einer Person dar, die — wie die gesamte frühe Geschichte der Pariser Universität — weitgehend im Dunkeln lag. Die quaternuli, ein im Verurteilungsdekret von 1210 genanntes…Read more
  • Review (review)
    Revue Philosophique De Louvain 97 665-667. 1999.
    Alberti Magni Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Physica, ed. P. Hoßfeld; id., Quaestiones, edd. A. Fries, W. Kübel et H. Anzulewicz; id., Super Dionysium de caelesti hierarchia, edd. P. Simon et W. Kübel
  •  68
    In recent philosophical debates about the nature of human emotions the intentionality of emotions plays a key part. The article explores how medieval philosophers of the late 13th and early 14th centuries accounted for the fact that our emotions, such as love, hate, anger and the like, are intentional mental states, states that are ‘of’ or ‘about something’. Since medieval philosophers agree that emotions are essentially movements of the appetitive powers, the intentionality of emotions is part …Read more
  •  1
    Metaphysics as First Science: The Case of Peter Auriol
    Documenti E Studi Sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale 15 487-516. 2004.
    Lo studio verte in primo luogo sul commento di Pietro alle Sentenze, in cui viene proposto un «catalogo» delle sette parti della metafisica, intesa come disciplina scientifica. L'A. propone un'indagine dettagliata sul tema, partendo dalla considerazione che il rapporto problematico fra la metafisica intesa come ontologia e la dottrina dell'essere in Aureolo sembrerebbe mettere in discussione lo statuto scientifico della metafisica. Nelle sezioni successive dello studio l'A. si concentra sulla gn…Read more
  •  14
    Nicomachean Ethics 7.3 on Akratic Ignorance
    with Jennifer Whiting
    Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 34 323-371. 2008.
  •  31
    Neil Lewis and Rega Wood, eds., In Aristotelis De generatione et corruptione (review)
    Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 6 (1): 181-184. 2016.
  •  38
    La notion d'a priori chez Descartes et les philosophes médiévaux
    Les Etudes Philosophiques 75 (4): 433. 2005.
    Cet article essaie de démontrer que le discours cartésien sur l’a priori est tributaire de la tradition philosophique antérieure et en particulier de la tradition médiévale. Selon cette dernière, l’expression a priori est strictement liée à un certain type de démonstration. Cette interprétation n’est pas contredite par les emplois que Descartes fait de l’expression a priori dans le traitement de deux thèmes clés de son œuvre : ses remarques sur l’ordre des raisons dans ses Méditations et sa prés…Read more
  •  12
    This volume offers a new and comprehensive study of a central aspect of Henry of Ghent's (+ 1293) philosophical thought: his understanding of metaphysics.
  • Heinrich von Gent über das Subjekt der Metaphysik als Ersterkanntes
    Documenti E Studi Sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale 12 493-522. 2001.
    L'A. esamina in primo luogo l'origine del problema metafisico in Enrico. Il tema del subiectum metaphysice è inquadrato nel contesto della problematica del soggetto scientifico e ciò che interessa l'A. è soprattutto il procedimento argomentativo di Enrico ed il significato delle conseguenze di tale procedere. Lo studio si chiude con uno sguardo sul commentario alla Metafisica di Pietro di Auvergne, evidenziando la relazione fra soggetto della metafisica e dottrina del primum cognitum nell'intell…Read more
  • Human knowledge
    In Brian Davies & Eleonore Stump (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas, Oxford University Press. 2011.
  •  11
    An Early Witness of the Reportatio of Giles of Rome's Lectures on the Sentences Note on the Edition of Concetta Luna
    Recherches de Theologie Et Philosophie Medievales 72 (1): 175-185. 2005.
    The discovery of the reportatio of Giles of Rome’s lectures on the Sentences by Concetta Luna is without doubt one of the most important contributions to the history of medieval philosophy and theology in the last years. This note reviews Luna’s edition of the reportatio and draws attention to what seems to be its earliest indirect witness: the anonymous Dominican Sentences commentary in ms. Bruges, Stadsbibliotheek, 491.