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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 February 2016
Although William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris from 1228 to his death in 1249, criticized Avicenna severely, he also adopted many philosophical positions of Avicenna. In a recently published article, I emphasized William's considerable debt to the philosophy of Avicenna, and in a still-to-be-published article I pointed out how William was indebted to Avicenna for his view of what it is to be a human being, and especially for his view of the spirituality of the human soul. For much of his lengthy work, De anima, William follows Avicenna's philosophy as he found it in the great Islamic thinker's Liber de anima, seu sextus de naturalibus; not, of course, without serious criticism on many points. In chapter 5, however, of his De anima, William rather abruptly introduces a historical concept of human nature, which is closer to that of Augustine than of Avicenna or Aristotle, in place of the philosophical concept of human nature, which he derived largely from Avicenna, whom he often confused with the real Aristotle. In introducing such a historical concept of human nature or of the nature of the human soul, William raises several rather intriguing problems, which I want to discuss in this paper. First, he raises a question about how the various historical states of human nature are to be conceived and how they are to be combined with the philosophical concept of nature that he derives from Avicenna. Second, he raises a question about how he can, while claiming to proceed exclusively by means of philosophical proofs, introduce such topics as the original state in which Adam and Eve were created, the original sin by which they fell and which they passed on to the rest of the human race, and Christian baptism by which the harm stemming from their sin can be undone. Finally, William speaks about the soul's state of natural happiness as opposed to the state of glory, and though his treatment of these states is rather brief, it raises a further question about how William envisaged these states and their relationship to each other. Hence, the paper will have three parts: the first on the present and past states of human nature of which William speaks and on their relationship to the philosophical concept of human nature, the second on how William introduces into what he claimed was strictly philosophical such apparently theological topics, and the third on how William understands the relation between the soul's state of natural happiness and the state of glory.
1 See de Vaux, Roland, Notes et textes sur l'Avicennisme latin aux confins des XIIe–XIIIe siècles (Paris, 1934), 37 for a list of errors from Avicenna that William criticized.Google Scholar
2 See Teske, R. J., “William of Auvergne's Debt to Avicenna,” in Avicenna and His Heritage , Acts of the International Colloquium, Leuven-Louvain-la-Neuve, September 8-September 11, 1999, ed. Janssens, Jules and Smet, Daniel De (Leuven, 2002), 153–70.Google Scholar
3 Teske, R. J., “William of Auvergne's Spiritualist Concept of the Human Being,” to be published in the proceedings of the conference, “Autour de Guillaume d'Auvergne,” held at the University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, 17–19 May 2001.Google Scholar
4 For the critical edition see Avicenna Latinus: Liber de anima seu sextus de naturalibus , ed. van Riet, Simone, intro. Verbeke, Gerard, 2 vols. (Louvain and Leiden, 1968–72).Google Scholar
5 William's De anima is divided into seven chapters, each of which has many parts. For William's works, except for the De trinitate, which has a modern critical edition, see his Opera omnia , ed. Hadot, François and Le Feron, Blaise, 2 vols. (Paris, 1674; repr. Frankfurt am Main, 1963). The De anima is found in vol. 2, pp. 65–288. For an English translation, see William of Auvergne: The Soul, ed. and trans. Teske, R. J. (Milwaukee, 2000).Google Scholar
6 William, for example, attributes to Aristotle the emanation of the ten intelligences, the last of which is the agent intelligence; see De anima 7.3.210a. References to William's De anima will include chapter, part, page, and column of the Opera omnia , vol. 2.Google Scholar
7 See ibid., 2.3.75a–b on the incorporeality of the soul, and 2.10.80a–81a, 2.13.82b–84b, and 3.1.86a–2.88b on the soul's simplicity or indivisibility into parts. For immortality as an essential or natural disposition see ibid., 5.22.147a.Google Scholar
8 See ibid., 3.11.100a–102a, where William argues that the soul is not a part of a human being but the whole human being.Google Scholar
9 “Circa essentialia namque nihil possunt ea quae forinseca sunt. Et intendo nihil diminutionis vel alterius transmutationis essentialis. Alioquin possunt abstrahere a specie, hoc est transferre rem aliquam ab una specie in aliam” (De anima 5.2.114a).Google Scholar
10 “Sic etiam ipsam naturam aliter dicimus, cum proprie loquimur, naturam hominis, in qua primum in suo genere inculpabilis factus est: aliter istam, in qua ex illius damnati poena, et mortales et ignari et carni subditi nascimur; juxta quem modum dicit Apostolus: ‘Fuimus enim et nos naturaliter filii irae, sicut et ceteri’ (Eph. 2:3)” (De libero arbitrio 3.19.54).Google Scholar
11 “Quaero igitur de anima humana in hoc statu libertatis et puritatis suae in quo libera est ab omni servitute et alligatione passionum inordinatarum ac turpitudinum carnalium et spiritualium …” (De anima 5.11.134b).Google Scholar
12 “Animae humanae in statu libertatis et puritatis constitutae tanto vehementius calerent et arderent amore bonorum spiritualium et sublimium quam ardere possunt in statu miseriae et corruptionis istius amore bonorum sensibilium et temporalium” (De anima 5.15.137b).Google Scholar
13 “Anima vero rationalis quantum est ex naturali puntate, sanitate, ac libertate … praeest corpori suo, et ipsum servit ei jure ac lege naturali et plenae subjectionis absque ulla rebellione et resistentia” (De anima 5.22.147b).Google Scholar
14 “Manifestum est animas primorum hominum sive ipsos in stato antedicto sanitatis, puritatis, et libertatis naturalis … fuisse” (De anima 5.16.140b).Google Scholar
15 “Miseriam et perversitatem, aegritudines et vulnera, ebrietatem et captivitatem, et servitutem nequissimam, pariter et turpissimam, necnon et tenebrositatem, infirmitatemque quibus anima humana a parte corporis laeditur, vulneratur, deprimitur, captivatur, inebriatur, et obtenebratur, adeoque infirmatur seu debilitatur, ut ab omnibus bonis et malis et vulnerabilis et captivabilis sit” (De anima 5.16.139a).Google Scholar
16 “Omni enim inhonestati et turpitudini vitiorum inimicae ac rebellantes naturaliter nascuntur animae humanae, et intendo naturaliter, ut saepe audivisti, videlicet a parte creationis suae, et naturalium atque essentialium suorum. Praenominati autem perversitates et laesiones adventitiae sunt et a foris tanquam inflictae et illatae. Sed hoc est a parte corporis noxii, et ut audivisti, corrupti” (De anima 5.15.138a).Google Scholar
17 See n. 9 above.Google Scholar
18 “Non ex creatione sua sunt virtuti nostrae irascibili. Nihil enim perversum ex parte creatoris vel ingeri vel infundi possibile est cuicumque ex creaturis” (De anima 5.13.131b–132a).Google Scholar
19 “Et intendo perversitatem qua econtrario se habet naturali ordinatione …” (De anima 5.10.126a–b).Google Scholar
20 “Ista vero quam dixi perversitas accidit et separabilis est et actu et ratione” (De anima 5.13.133a).Google Scholar
21 “Extraneum igitur est ab essentialibus et eis omnibus quae habet species humana vel natura humana ex creatore sive dono creatoris quo est natura humana et ipsa species humana sicut debet et sicut decet eam esse” (De anima 5.13.133a).Google Scholar
22 R. A. Gauthier has argued that William was still writing his De universo as late as 1240 and had begun the De anima only shortly before that date. See Gauthier, , “Notes sur le début (1225–1240) de premier ‘Averroïsme,’” Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 66 (1982): 321–74. Aquinas, on the other hand, was in Paris as a student of Albert by 1245.Google Scholar
23 The Magisterium divinale et sapientiale is the huge summa-like work of William, which includes the De trinitate, De universo, De anima, Cur Deus homo, De fide et legibus, De sacramentis, and De virtutibus et moribus. It was only in the early twentieth century that scholars recognized that William had intended the various parts to form one whole work. Hence, the 1674 Paris edition treats them as separate and independent works.Google Scholar
24 See De trinitate, Prologus , ed. Switalski, Bruno (Toronto, 1976), 15–16. William distinguishes three ways of acquiring knowledge of God. The first two are by way of a gift of God. “Tertius vero est philosophantium, et ex toto cum ipsis agendum suscepimus, non quod fides hujusmodi, videlicet suasa et exhortata probationibus, apud Deum meritum aut gratiam habeat, sed morem eis gerentes iuxta consuetudinem eorum eis satisfacere conabimur …” (ibid.).Google Scholar
25 “Non intret autem in animum tuum quod ego velim uti sermonibus Aristotelis tanquam authenticis ad probationem eorum quae dicturus sum, qui scio locum dialecticum ab auctoritate tantum esse, et solum facere posse fidem, cum propositum meum sit et in hoc tractatu et ubicumque possum certitudinem facere demonstrativam, postquam non relinquitur tibi dubitationis ullum vestigium” (De anima 1.1.65b). I have conjectured “dubitationis” instead of “demonstrationis.” Google Scholar
26 William says that the Magisterium exists “propter duas causas, quarum altera est honor et gloria creatoris, qui est finis praecipuus et ultimus totius sapientialis divinalisque magisterii” (De universo 1a-1ae.1.593bB; references to the De universo, which is found in volume 1 of the Opera omnia, give the part, principal part, chapter, page, column, and section). And in the De trinitate he claims that the image and likeness of God in us “accedit … ad actum suum ultimum philosophando” (De trinitate chap. 26, p. 150). This ultimate actuality of the soul is found “in intellectu glorificato, hoc est, cuius tota potentialitas in effectum suum ultimum et perfectionem exivit” (De trinitate chap. 26, p. 152). Or, as he says in De universo, the fruit of true philosophizing is “remuneratio foelicitatis aeternae quae in novissimo expectatur” (De universo 1a-1ae.1.594aE).Google Scholar
27 See Corti, Guglielmo, “Le sette parti del Magisterium diuinale et sapientiale di Guglielmo di Auvergne,” in Studi e richerche di scienze religiose in onore dei santi apostoli Petro et Paulo nel XIX centenario del loro martirio (Rome, 1968), 289–307. See also my article, “William of Auvergne on the Relation between Reason and Faith,” The Modern Schoolman 75 (1998): 279–91.Google Scholar
28 For these topics see De anima 5.1.110a–9.124b.Google Scholar
29 “Et primum quam ob causam in corpore vel in corporibus tam noxiis eisdem, tantaque impedimenta nobilibus perfectionibus earum praestantibus velit eas creator esse et creet eas in ipso. Deinde de statu earum et imperio in corporibus. Tertio de modo essendi ipsarum in illis” (De anima 5.9.125b).Google Scholar
30 “Creator optimus ac sapientissimus tam ineptum tamque noxium instrumentum ut est corpus humanum tam nobili operario, ut est anima humana, vel adaptaverit vel dederit” (De anima 5.10.125b).Google Scholar
31 “Homines vero soli adeo obtenebrati nascuntur ut neque de cibo sive alimento vel curent vel curare noscuntur, sed neque gradi, neque quidquam quod vitam ipsorum vel sustentet vel nutriat, vel quolibet aliorum modorum adjuvet et operari vel possunt vel sciunt” (De anima 5.10.125b).Google Scholar
32 “Quis intelligens … non videat hanc … perversitatem non solum innaturalem sed etiam contra naturam … cum initia et rudimenta naturalia proportionalia naturaliter sint et esse debeant perfectionibus suis” (De anima 5.10.126a).Google Scholar
33 “Videmus siquidem perdices nondum pene exclusas ab ovis, imo etiam cum aliqua parte ovorum evolantes” (De anima 5.10.125b–126a).Google Scholar
34 See ibid., 5.10.126b.Google Scholar
35 “Ad vim vero rationalem si attenderis, invenies eam miserabiliter vulneratam multis perversitatibus corruptam et suorum utilium ac salutarium pernitiosissimis ignorantiis obtenebratam” (De anima 5.13.132a).Google Scholar
36 See ibid., 5.10.126b.Google Scholar
37 “Concedere coguntur de necessitate plagam miseriae istius providentia gubernatoris universi qui est Deus altissimus inflictam esse. Naturalem enim ipsam esse humanae naturae impossible est” (De anima 5.10.127a).Google Scholar
38 “Nulli namque naturae laesio sua naturalis est, quin potius contra naturam, cum ei adeo adversetur, eamque quousque pervertat, ut non solum illam naturae irrationalium animalium parem faciat vel adaequat, sed etiam longe inferiorem vel viliorem et ignobiliorem efficiat” (De anima 5.10.127a).Google Scholar
39 See ibid., 5.10.127a.Google Scholar
40 “Causa autem rationabilis propter quam poenae a justissimo creatore infligantur non est nisi culpa; si enim sine culpa poenae cuiquam infliguntur, non est dubium quin injuste infligantur. Quapropter cum injustitia nullum locum habere possit apud creatorem, manifestum est culpam illam esse causam perniciosae poenalitatis eamque praecessisse poenalitatem hujusmodi” (De anima 5.10.127a).Google Scholar
41 See ibid., 5.11.127a–b.Google Scholar
42 See my article, “William of Auvergne and ‘the Newness of the World,’” Mediaevalia: Textos e Estudios 7–8 (1995): 287–302.Google Scholar
43 “Jam autem hoc removi tibi remotione demonstrativa” (De anima 5.11.127b).Google Scholar
44 “Non est autem perfecta hujusmodi imperiositas ubi rebellionem habet aut retardationem obedientiae sive executionis. Quapropter manifestum est corpora primorum hominum et membra absque ulla rebellione obedientissima fuisse animabus suis et absque tarditate exequendi imperia earumdem” (De anima 5.11.128b).Google Scholar
45 “Manifestum est si primi homines contra Dei regalitatem sive imperiositatem rebellione deliquerunt et eam in eis in quantum fuit minuerunt, consequens esse lege justitiae ut in ipsa sua regalitate sive imperio hoc ipsum quod creatori intulerant paterentur” (De anima 5.11.128b).Google Scholar
46 “Nec tu mireris si operatio ista naturae videlicet humana generatio secundum similitudinem est, et quia corruptio naturalis est, non est enim mirabile si corruptus corruptum generat” (De anima 5.11.129b).Google Scholar
47 See ibid., 5.11.129b.Google Scholar
48 “Cum autem consideraveris istam corruptionem perscrutatius in ipsa anima humana, rationalitatem sopitam atque sepultam, brutalitatem vero et perversitatem brutalitate longe deteriorem eidem animae humanae ex conjunctione corporis adventitiam” (De anima 5.11.129b).Google Scholar
49 “Ipse assimilatur multis et forte omnibus aliqua perversitate, sicut iracundia leoni, rapacitate lupo, insidiositate vulpi, venenosa mordacitate serpenti, superbia seu praecipitatione equo” (De anima 5.11.129b–130a).Google Scholar
50 “Spiritualitas autem est perfectio per quam avertimus imprimis ab animabus nostris mala spiritualia quae sunt vitia et peccata atque poenas, quae pro eis redduntur judicio creatoris” (De anima 5.11.130a).Google Scholar
51 “Per hanc similiter quaeruntur animabus bona spiritualia, quae sunt virtutes omnes et dona gratiarum, sed et praemia futura quae sunt partes foelicitatis aeternae” (De anima 5.11.130a).Google Scholar
52 “Ista animalitas non est actu species aliqua animalitatis, sed privatio quaedam est rationalitatis secundum actum tantum vel usum, non secundum essentiam ipsius rationalitatis” (De anima 5.11.130a).Google Scholar
53 See ibid., 5.11.130b.Google Scholar
54 See ibid., 5.14.133b.Google Scholar
55 See ibid., 5.14.134a.Google Scholar
56 See ibid., 5.22.147b, where William appeals to states of rapture and ecstasy as proof of the soul's ability to survive separation from the body and, hence, of its immortality.Google Scholar
57 See ibid., 5.15.137b.Google Scholar
58 See ibid., 5.15.138b.Google Scholar
59 “Antequam in abyssum corruptionis … et pelagus miseriarum quas audivisti decidissent” (De anima 5.16.140b).Google Scholar
60 “Sublimibus bonis et spiritualibus intentos et abstentos a corporalibus suis fuisse tanquam in eodem statu et tempore minime cognoverunt” (De anima 5.16.140b).Google Scholar
61 “Et sicut vides in isto sermone profunditatem philosophicam, ita intendo et tibi ostendere in quibusdam aliis sermonibus prophetarum ubi faciam te scire de multis narrationibus eorum quod ipsae sunt conclusiones quarundam scientiarum, sicut vides de hac eadem quod conclusio est primae partis primae philosophiae” (De universo 1a-1ae.20.614bE).Google Scholar
62 “Scito tamen hic quod gens christianorum habet multa quae respondeat ad quaestionem istam” (De anima 5.20.144b).Google Scholar
63 “Baptismalis sanctificationis gratiam quae corruptionem originalem dejicit et prosternit et animam humanam ad nobiliorem statum quam sit status naturae ipsius elevat et attollit” (De anima 5.20.145a).Google Scholar
64 “In statu isto … libera est a saepe dicta miseria, liberrima ad ascendendum in mundum superiorem qui est mundus intelligibilium naturalium, similiter ad descendendum in mundum inferiorem, qui est mundus sensibilium particularium, necnon ad applicandum se utrique istorum mundorum” (De anima 5.21.146a).Google Scholar
65 “Commoratio ejus sive habitatio sibi delectabilis ac jucunda est regio sive mundus praedictorum intelligibilium, mundus vero sensibilium non est ei conveniens habitatio … sed est ei deambulatorium sive diversorium, verum modicum et angustum” (De anima 5.21.146a).Google Scholar
66 “Sed nec sufficit ei eadem nisi pateat amplitudo et immensitas regionis gloriae quae tanto latior est mundo superiore intelligibilium naturalium, quanto gloria amplior est natura” (De anima 5.21.146a).Google Scholar
67 “Nec mundus iste superior natura satis spatiosus est animae humanae … in eo sistere vel quiescere finaliter, nec est ei quies perfecta nisi in mundo gloriae sive in ipso creatore” (De anima 5.22.146a).Google Scholar
68 “Omnis enim virtus et omnis potentia creata habet esse proper perfectionem sui ultimam, et haec est gloria ipsius” (De universo 1a-2ae.8.816aF).Google Scholar
69 “Ultra nec aliud quaerit, aut desiderat, nec aliquid ei deest” (De universo 1a-2ae.8.816aF).Google Scholar
70 “Sed intelligere sive intellectus primi et nobilissimi intelligibilis, quod est creator, non est intellectus solius creatoris, immo est intellectus sive intelligere omnium…. Ipse enim creator benedictus est in seipso velut mundus intelligibilis et exemplar lucidissimum omnium” (De universo 1a-2ae.8.816aG).Google Scholar
71 “In gloria sua ultima et decore ultimo et beatitudine sibi promissa, simillima futura est anima humana conditori suo … quoniam de immediata coniunctione sua relucebit ad ipsum velut speculum tersissimae puritatis reddens faciem suam inspectori suo” (De trinitate chap. 26, p. 149).Google Scholar
72 “Et impossibile sit aliquid eam quaerere ultra perfectionem istam” (De trinitate chap. 26, p. 149).Google Scholar
73 “Non possunt vires naturales ultra naturales fines et limites, cum status gloriae incogitabilis ultra naturam sit et omnia illa quae gloriae sunt” (De anima 5.21.146a).Google Scholar
74 “Licet igitur status ille naturalis foelicitatis magnus sit, ad foelicitatem gloriae nullo modorum proportionalis est” (De anima 5.21.146a).Google Scholar
75 “Si enim nullum est ei desiderium hujusmodi erit contenta igitur foelicitate naturali” (De anima 5.21.146a).Google Scholar
76 “Quibus non erat solum hujusmodi foelicitas naturalis, sed etiam magis gloriae splendor atque jocunditas” (De anima 5.21.146a).Google Scholar
77 “Et foelicitate naturali et superadditione illa gloriae privati sunt” (De anima 5.21.146b).Google Scholar
78 “Contra Dei ordinationem in parte ista faceret, qui eam ad incomparabiliter majus bonum creavit et ordinavit” (De anima 5.21.146b). Google Scholar
