William of Conches (c. 1090–after 1154) was a French scholastic philosopher. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language He sought to expand the bounds of Christian humanism by studying secular works of the classics and fostering empirical science. Christian Humanism is the belief that human freedom and individualism are intrinsic (natural parts of or are at least compatible with Christian doctrine and practice John of Salisbury, a bishop of Chartres and former student of William's, refers to William as the most talented grammarian after Bernard of Chartres. John of Salisbury (c 1120 &ndash 1180 English author diplomat and Bishop of Chartres, was born at Salisbury. Bernard of Chartres ( Bernardus Carnotensis) (d after 1124 was a twelfth-century French Neo-Platonist Philosopher, scholar and administrator
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Life
He was born in Conches, Normandy. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. His teaching activity extended from c. 1120 to 1154, and about the year 1122 he became the tutor of Henry Plantagenet. It is possible, but uncertain, that he was teaching at Chartres before that. Chartres is a town and commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in north-central France It is located 96 km southwest of Paris Warned by a friend of the danger implied in his Platonic realism as he applied it to theology, he took up the study of Islamic philosophy and physical science. Islamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies, and is a longstanding attempt to create harmony between Philosophy ( Reason) and the religious teachings When and where he died is a matter of uncertainty.
William devoted much attention to cosmology and psychology. See Cosmology (disambiguation. Cosmology is the branch of Philosophy and Metaphysics that deals with the World Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Having been a student of Bernard of Chartres, he shows the characteristic Humanism, tendency towards Platonism, and taste for natural science which distinguish the "Chartrains". Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal He is one of the first of the medieval Christian philosophers to take advantage of Islamic physical and physiological lore, to which he had access in the translations by Constantine the African. Constantine the African ( Latin Constantinus Africanus c 1020 Carthage or Sicily&ndash1087 monastery of Monte Cassino, near Cassino Principality
William of St. Thierry, who had encouraged Bernard of Clairvaux to prosecute Abelard, in another letter to Bernard attacked William's De philosophia mundi for having a modalist view of the Holy Trinity. William of St-Thierry was a theologian and mystic so called from the monastery of which he was abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, OCist ( 1090 - August 20, 1153) was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian monastic order In Christianity, Sabellianism (also known as modalism, modalistic monarchianism, or modal monarchism) is the Nontrinitarian belief SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных William in consequence revised some controversial parts in the Dragmaticon.
Works
There is a good deal of discussion regarding the authorship of the works ascribed to William. It seems probable, however, that he wrote the encyclopedic De philosophia mundi (or Philosophia) and the related dialogue Dragmaticon, as well as glosses on Plato's Timaeus, on Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, on Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae, and on Macrobius's Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480&ndash524 or 525 was a Christian philosopher of the 6th century Consolation of Philosophy ( Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius, written in about the year AD 524. Priscianus Caesariensis ( fl 500 AD commonly known as Priscian, was a Latin grammarian. This article is about Macrobius the author for Macrobius the bishop of Seleucia and Calycadnum see Macrobius of Seleucia Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius The Dream of Scipio ( Latin, Somnium Scipionis) written by Cicero, describes a fictional Dream vision of the Roman He was probably also the author of a lost treatise Magna de naturis philosophia. A work on ethics, the Moralium dogma philosophorum, was attributed to him in the 1920s, but his authorship is now rejected by most scholars. Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life Moralium dogma philosophorum ("Teaching of the philosophers on moral questions" is a Latin work of the 12th century A
The De philosophia mundi
The De philosophia mundi is divided into four books, covering physics, astronomy, geography, meteorology and medicine. Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Meteorology (from Greek grc μετέωρος metéōros, "high in the sky" and grc -λογία -logia) is the Interdisciplinary Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the
William explains the world as composed of elements (elementa), which he defines as
the simplest and minimum part[s] of any body - simple in quality, minimum in quantity[1].
He identifies elements with the traditional four elements (fire, air, water, earth) but (following Constantine the African) not as they are perceived, since as such they are neither simple in quality nor minimum in quantity: earth, for example, contains something hot, something cold, something dry and something wet at the same time. Many ancient philosophies used a set of archetypal classical "elements" to explain patterns in Nature. Pure elements are not to be perceived, says William, but to be grasped by reason, through an abstract division of the sensible bodies[2]. Each of these pure elements has two of the four basic qualities: earth is cold and dry, water is cold and humid, air is hot and humid and fire is hot and dry. The perceivable elements, called elementata[3], are made of pure elements: the sensible earth especially of pure earth, the sensible water especially of pure water, and so on.
The discussion of meteorology includes a description of air becoming less dense and colder as the altitude increases, and William attempts to explain the circulation of the air in connection with the circulation of the oceans. The discussion of medicine deals chiefly with procreation and childbirth. This work influenced Jean de Meung, the author of the second part of the Roman de la Rose. Jean de Meun or Jean de Meung (c 1250 &ndash c 1305 was a French Author best known for his continuation of the Roman de la Rose The Roman de la rose is a medieval French poem styled as an allegorical dream vision
Notes
- ^ "Elementum ergo, ut ait Constantinus in Pantegni, est simpla et minima pars alicuius corporis - simpla ad qualitatem, minima ad quantitatem" (De philosophia mundi, Liber primus, capitulum XXII).
- ^ "Quae elementa numquam videntur, sed ratione divisionis intelliguntur" (Ibidem).
- ^ "Si ergo illis digna velimus imponere nomina, particulas praedictas dicamus «elementa», ista quae videntur «elementata»" (Ibidem).
Editions
- De philosophia mundi is edited under the name of Bede in Patrologia Latina, vol. The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 90, and under the name of Honorius Augustodunensis in vol. 172.
- Gregor Maurach, ed. , Philosophia Mundi; Wilhelm von Conches: Ausgabe des 1. Buchs von Wilhelm von Conches Philosophia. Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1974.
- Italo Ronca, ed. , Guillelmi de Conchis Dragmaticon, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 152. The Corpus Christianorum is a major publishing undertaking of the Belgian publisher Brepols devoted to patristic and medieval Latin texts Turnhout: Brepols, 1997. ISBN 2-503-04521-9 (hardback); ISBN 2-503-04522-7 (paperback)
- Lodi Nauta, ed. , Guillelmi de Conchis Glosae super Boetium, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 158. Turnhout: Brepols, 1999. ISBN 2-503-04581-2 (hardback); ISBN 2-503-04582-0 (paperback)
- Édouard Jeauneau, ed. , Glosae super Platonem. Paris, Vrin, 1965. ISBN 2-7116-0336-9 (reprint)
- Paul Edward Dutton, ed. , Philosophia (Simon Fraser University, forthcoming)
- Helen Rodnite Lemay, ed. Simon Fraser University ( SFU) is a public university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby and satellite campuses in , Glosae super Macrobium (State University of New York at Stony Brook, forthcoming)
- Irene Caiazzo, ed. State University of New York at Stony Brook, commonly known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York , Glosae super Priscianum (CNRS, Paris, forthcoming)
Further reading
- Peter Ellard, The Sacred Cosmos: Theological, Philosophical, and Scientific Conversations in the Twelfth Century School of Chartres, University of Scranton Press, 2007
External links
- William of Conches
- Etexts of De philosophia mundi and Moralium dogma philosophorum at The Latin Library
- Facsimile of ljs384, a late-12th-century manuscript of De philosophia mundi
Renaissance of the 12th century
The Latin Library is a website that collects Public domain Latin texts The Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes during the High Middle Ages.Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic