From phantasma to intellectus. The philosophical reworking of the peripatetic theory of cognition in the De anima commentary of Albert the Great

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Bernd Roling
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy ; Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 237382581

Albert the Great (1200-1280) is among the pioneering thinkers of European university culture. Starting in Cologne, his teachings founded a distinct school of thought. Theories of the soul and of intellect are pillars of his new anthropology - mainly influenced by peripatetic thought - which he brings to a high level of sophistication in the middle of the 13th century. His commentary of the Aristotelian treatise De anima, written around 1254, is at the centre of his endeavors to emphasize the nobility of human recognition and thought. Despite the importance of the commentary, modern research about Albert has produced no epistemological study that systematically opens up its innovative content in all three books as well as in the accompanying writings. This conspicuous research gap shall be filled with the proposed monograph. The analysis of this philosophical magnum opus will examine theorems concerned with how perception and knowledge are accessed. The analysis and interpretation will be undertaken by a close inspection of the text and in an epistemological and systematic manner. During the two-year work on the book manuscript, which has been undertaken within in the framework of the initial proposal, it became apparent that the appropriate work on this complex matter needs and additional year of intense research. The central argument of this research is that - in contrast to Thomas von Aquin - Albert based the stages of knowledge on a continuous process of abstraction. The stages of realization of this process, which are determined by the cognitive segregation of form are built upon each other. He includes the outer as well as the inner sensitive-particular stages of knowledge, which sensually defined forms of art regarding the images of imagination on the universal level of intellectual understanding of being are being made intelligible. The peripatetic defined model of knowledge is built upon the cognitive function of representation of the hylomorphic definition of form, the concept of a substantial unity of the soul which incorporates all capability of knowledge functionally, and a anthropology which was new at that time and which focuses on the entire human with all the potential of his soul. In order to bring this very advanced project to a reputable conclusion, a continuation of the length of one year resulting in a printed book is necessary.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants