The doctrine of the soul of Albert the Great:critical edition of his works: 'De somno et vigilia' (Book III), 'De intellectu et intelligibili, De spiritu et respiratione, De motibus animalium, De iuventute et senectute, De morte et vita'

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ludger Honnefelder
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: since 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 216525151

The long-term project (2013-2024) is concerned with the critical edition of six central works written by Albert the Great (1200-1280) within his systematic exposition of the Aristotelian corpus: De somno et vigilia (Book III), De intellectu et intelligibili, De spiritu et respiratione, De motibus animalium, De iuventute et senectute, De morte et vita. As an analysis of the activities and the affections of the soul, those works constitute a systematic unity, which is modelled on the Aristotelian corpus of treatises known as the Parva naturalia. However, due to its systematic scope and massive use of post-Aristotelian sources, it goes far beyond the limits of its original model. The present project will not only fill a significant gap in the Alberti Magni Opera Omnia, the critical edition published by the Albertus-Magnus-Institut and one of the most important edition projects of medieval philosophical texts currently in progress. It will also make available in a critical edition a corpus of writings that have exerted a significant influence on subsequent philosophical reflections in the field of the philosophy of nature, noetic and psychology. In the fourth and last part of the project (2022-2024), the critical edition of the treatise De aetate sive de iuventute et senectute and of the commentary on Aristotle’s De longitudine et brevitate vitae will be prepared, two works which shed light on Albert’s understanding of central biological concepts such as “life”, “death” and “life-cycles”.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Hannes Möhle