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Article Dans Une Revue (Article De Synthèse) Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy Année : 2017

The Flow of Powers

Charles Ehret

Résumé

In thirteenth-century philosophical psychology, it is commonly held that the powers of the soul, responsible for a living being’s various operations, “flow” from the soul’s essence. The phrase is used systematically by Albert the Great, who imports it from Avicenna. It suggests that the soul, considered as a separate substance, is ontologically distinct from its powers. This is how Albert understands Avicenna, and how modern interpreters understand both Avicenna and Albert. The aim of this paper is to call into question such an understanding, as a reading of Avicenna and as a philosophical doctrine. It argues that an ontological distinction between the soul and its powers isn’t intended in Avicenna, and isn’t successfully established in Albert. It further argues that psychological emanation yields such a distinction only in Aquinas, where the soul is no longer considered a separate substance, but a material form.

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Philosophie
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Dates et versions

hal-04259285 , version 1 (25-10-2023)

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Charles Ehret. The Flow of Powers: Emanation in the Psychologies of Avicenna, Albert the Great, and Aquinas. Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy, 2017, 5, pp.87-121. ⟨10.1093/oso/9780198806035.003.0003⟩. ⟨hal-04259285⟩

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