Aristotle's Children by Richard E. Rubenstein

Author:Richard E. Rubenstein [Rubenstein, Richard E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

WHILE WILLIAM OF AUVERGNE was pouring out his thoughts on natural philosophy and theology, Aristotle's "nature books" remained banned at the University of Paris, as well as at several other universities. Even among the Dominicans, there was still considerable fear of pagan philosophy and science. The statutes of the order in 1228 forbade the brothers to "study in the books of the Gentiles and the philosophers, although they may inspect them briefly."16 But with the bishop of Paris himself citing Metaphysics in support of the Catholic cause, how long could the prohibition last? Clearly, the Dominicans could not be prevented in the long run from studying the materials that they needed to arm themselves against the heretics. This they began to do in the privacy of their own convent school, but discussions begun at Saint-Jacques inevitably continued in the faculty of theology—a trend that became irreversible in 1242, when a new master, a Dominican scholar from Swabia, was appointed to a university chair.

Then in his mid-forties, Albertus Teutonicus, as he was then called, was the first German to become a professor of theology at Paris. He is remembered today as Albertus Magnus—Albert the Great. Almost as well known for his blunt, take-no-prisoners manner of speaking as for his theological insights, Albert was a vehement opponent of heresy, but his interest in Aristotelian thought extended far beyond the specific doctrines needed to conduct disputations with the Cathars or the Joachimites. A man of enormous energy, he "conceived the almost fantastic plan of making the complete works of Aristotle, with their wholly new theory of reality, accessible to the Latin West," and carried it out by commenting on all of the Philosopher's extant books.17 Albert's own theological writings were equally voluminous, dealing with a wide range of doctrinal issues. But some of his most memorable work was Aristotelian in quite another sense, for the blunt Swabian was an extraordinary observer and collector—the most accomplished botanist and zoologist of his day, and a pioneer in the methods of empirical research.

Albert "describes an apple from peel to core," remarks one close student of his work.

He describes with the greatest precision the "evergreen leathery leaves" of the mistletoe.... He tells which spiders spin webs and where ... and which spiders catch their prey by leaping upon it. He distinguishes between thorns and spikes. He knows, because he has discovered this by tasting, that the sap of trees is bitterest in the roots, and that the bee's abdomen contains a transparent little sac with a subtle taste of honey. He points out that the eel does not live on mud, as Aristotle maintains ... quite often he corrects Aristotle in this way, that is, by referring back to experience.18

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