Abstract
In order to illustrate the theoretical definitions of nature commonly shared in the mid-thirteenth century in Europe, we translate and comment on the definition of nature given in the “Mirror of Sciences” (Speculum doctrinale XV, ch. 4) compiled by a Dominican friar, Vincent of Beauvais. While complex, this European fourfold definition reflects to a degree all the theoretical conceptions of nature used at this time, including the literary heritage available, some theological definitions and the new inputs from natural philosophy (Arabo- and Greco-Latin translations). It synthetizes the conceptions of nature, some of which go back to Augustine of Hippo (fifth century), to William of Conches (twelfth century), to Aristotle and to the medical school of Salerno until the beginning of the thirteenth century.
Some of the material presented here is discussed in Eduard Frunzeanu’s doctoral thesis, University of Montréal (Frunzeanu 2007).
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The Augustinian conception of nature was extremely influential in this respect. See Thonnard 1965.
- 3.
Saint Paul, Epistle to the Romans, I.20: Invisibilia Dei a creatura mundi, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur. On the exegetical current and its meaning in connection with the perception of nature, see Chenu 1957.
- 4.
- 5.
As shown by Tullio Gregory (Gregory 1975).
- 6.
Until quite recently, following Chenu 1957 and Gregory 1975, we tended to consider that the Platonic vision, supported by Augustine’s influence, dominated the early Middle Ages. Recently, the perception of nature in the early Middle Ages has been re-evaluated from the point of view of astronomical and cosmological representations, as highlighted by Obrist 2004, 11–13 (and see article note in this chapter).
- 7.
See Speer 1995 for the new investigation of nature by Adelard of Bath, Bernard of Chartres, William of Conches and Thierry of Chartres in the twelfth century.
- 8.
The literature on medieval translations is vast and growing rapidly, after the fundamental and pioneering work of M. Steinschneider at the end of the nineteenth century, as well as Grabmann 1916 and Grabmann 1928. On the subject of Arabic-Latin translations, see the works of Charles Burnett, who continued the work of Marie-Thérèse d’Alverny. E.g. Burnett 2009 and the following collected studies: d’Alverny 1994, 1998. Mention should also be made of Lindberg 1978 and the catalogue of Cranz and Kristeller 1960–1980, as well as Van Riet 1987; Jayyusi and Marin 1992; Jolivet 1995; González 1997; Kischlat 2000; Gutas 2005. Among the conferences, Oriente e Occidente nel Medioevo: Filosofia e Scienze 1971; Scarcia Amoretti 1987; Endress hrsg. 1989; Hamesse and Fattori 1990; Butterworth 1994; Draelants et al. 2000; Lau and Cobet 2000; Speer and Wegener 2006; Jenkins 2007; Goyens et al. 2008; Lejbowicz and Bourin 2009; Tischler and Fidora 2011; Entre Orient et Occident: la philosophie et la science gréco-romaines dans le monde arabe 2011; Köpf and Bauer 2011; Van Oppenraay and Fontaine 2012; Wisnovsky et al. 2012; Federici Vescovini and Hasnawi 2013; De Leemans 2014.
- 9.
There has recently been renewed interest in studies on the Black Death and epidemics. Before the Black Death, see García-Ballester et al. 1994; for changes in attitude following major epidemics, Green 2015 and Paravicini Bagliani and Santi 1998; Aberth 2010, 2013, esp. 49, 69–70; Herlihy 1980. For a specific medical example, Gottschall 2006.
- 10.
- 11.
Paulmier-Foucart and Duchenne 2004, 11: “la plus grande encyclopédie médiévale, le Speculum maius ou ‘Grand miroir’ est destinée aux fratres communes – soit neuf frères sur dix – qui ne sont pas destinés à poursuivre un enseignement au-delà de celui dispensé au studium de leur couvent”.
- 12.
See the papers collected by Zimmermann 2001.
- 13.
- 14.
For an accessible synthesis on the contribution of this author and his work, cf. Paulmier-Foucart 2004.
- 15.
Cf. Zimmermann 2001.
- 16.
Translations of the Latin excerpts in this article, when not borrowed from existing publications (indicated), owe much to Eduard Frunzeanu and Monique Paulmier-Foucart (I am also grateful to Patricia Stirnemann for the revision of the English version). For each Latin extract, I have added punctuation, made typographic enhancements and presented the text in subdivisions to facilitate understanding.
- 17.
Note that Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa theologiae I, qu. 105, Art. 6, (reply to objection 1), quotes more fully and comments on the passage of Augustine’s Contra Faustum (XXVI): Unde Augustinus dicit, XXVI contra Faustum, quod id est cuique rei naturale, quod ille fecerit a quo est omnis modus, numerus et ordo naturae. (“Wherefore Augustine says (Contra Faustum xxvi, 3): ‘That is natural to each thing which is caused by Him from Whom is all mode, number, and order in nature.’” [The Summa Theologiae, Online 2016]).
- 18.
Items I and II.3. are inspired by Augustine’s Contra Faustum XXVI.3 in the chapter concerning what is “unnatural” or “against the truth” (On this excerpt, see recently Müller 2012, 136–8), as shown by what is emphasized in the following quotation, drawn from chap. Numquam omnipotens Deus aliquid contrarium naturae sive veritati facit. (…) “Whether the almighty God does something contrary to nature or to truth”: (…) People in error, as you are, are unfit to decide what is natural (secundum naturam) and what contrary to nature (contra naturam). We admit that what is contrary to the ordinary course of human experience is commonly spoken of as contrary to nature. Thus the apostle uses the words, “If you are cut out of the wild olive, and engrafted contrary to nature in the good olive”. Romans 11:24 Contrary to nature is here used in the sense of contrary to human experience of the course of nature (contra consuetudinem naturae) (…). But God, the Author and Creator of all natures, does nothing contrary to nature, for whatever is done by Him who appoints all natural order and measure and proportion must be natural in every case. And man himself acts contrary to nature only when he sins; and then by punishment he is brought back to nature again (redigitur ad naturam). The natural order of justice requires either that sin should not be committed or that it should not go unpunished. In either case, the natural order is preserved, if not by the soul, at least by God. For sin pains the conscience and brings grief on the mind of the sinner, by the loss of the light of justice, even should no physical sufferings follow, which are inflicted for correction, or are reserved for the incorrigible. There is, however, no impropriety in saying that God does a thing contrary to nature, when it is contrary to what we know of nature. For we give the name nature to the usual common course of nature (appellamus naturam, cognitum nobis cursum solitumque naturae) and whatever God does contrary to this, we call a prodigy (magnalia) or a miracle (mirabilia). But against the supreme law of nature, which is beyond the knowledge both of the ungodly and of weak believers, God never acts, any more than He acts against Himself. As regards spiritual and rational beings (rationalis creatura), to which class the human soul belongs, the more they partake of this unchangeable law and light, the more clearly they see what is possible and what is impossible; and again, the greater their distance from it, the less their perception of the future, and the more frequent their surprise (miratur insolita) at strange occurrences. (Augustine, Contra Faustum , transl. by R. Stothert, rev. and ed. for New Advent by Kevin Knight. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1406.htm).
- 19.
Speculum naturale II, Chap. 5, ed. Douai 1624, 82c-d: Guilhelmus de Conchis: Sed fortasse dicet aliquis: creator, qui omnia solo dicto creavit et antequam fiant cognoscit. Cur ex quattuor elementis illud composuit quod non diu permansurum cognovit? Opera inquam creatoris videmus: sed causas ignoramus: quod tamen nobis inde videtur, dicemus. Omne opus vel est creatoris vel nature vel artificis. Opus creatoris est elementorum et animarum ex nihilo creatio, mortuorum resuscitatio: partus virginis et similia. (= Dragmaticon , I, Chap. 7.2, l. 16–25, ed. Ronca, Badia, Pujol 1997, 29–30). Natura vero est, quedam vis rebus insita, similia de similibus procreans. Opus igitur nature, quod homines ex hominibus nascantur, asini de asinis et sic de aliis: opus autem artificis est, quod ab homine contra naturales indigentias componitur: ut vestis contra frigus: contra aeris intemperiem domus. Sed cum natura aliquod operatur, primo quoddam commixtum operatur, deinde paulatim format et dividit: prius namque operatur mixtum: deinde quod in eo est feculentum et grave ad infimum locum trahit quod vero leve est, ad supremum, quod mediocre ad medium locum. (…) Quia igitur natura et artifex non poterant ad operationem creatoris ascendere: voluit creator ad illorum operationem condescendere. Si enim hoc non esset: debilitas nature putaretur quotiens ab ea aliqua mixta crearentur. Vel ut alii dicunt, mixtum creavit, ut significaret quanta confusio rerum esse posset: nisi sua dilectio res ordinaret? (I, Chap. 7.3–4, l. 38–45, ed. Ronca, 30–31) Hinc omne corporeum importuno motu dixit Plato fluitans, naturalem motum elementorum considerans: quo duo a centro duo ad centrum moventur et hec inquit ex inordinata iactatione, deus in ordinem redegit scilicet non ex inordinata que fuit: sed que esset, nisi res sic ordinavisset. (Dragmaticon I, Chap. 7.6, l. 55–59, ed. Ronca, 32).
- 20.
In the first half of the thirtheenth century, Aristotle’s zoology reached the West through the Arabic-Latin translation known as De animalibus , made by Michael Scot around 1210–20 (from a ninth-century Greco-Arabic translation). It includes three works: History of Animals (Books I to X), Parts of Animals (Books XI–XIV) and Generation of Animals (Books XV–XIX).
- 21.
- 22.
Cf. Isidore of Seville, Etymologies , XII, Chap. 5. (Transl. Barney et al. 2006, 258).
- 23.
Thomas of Cantimpré, Liber de natura rerum IX, Chap. 52, De verme, qui proprie vermis dicitur. Ed. Boese 1973.
- 24.
Speculum historiale I, Chap. 53, De divisione scientiarum que et ipse date sunt homini in remedium, ed. Douai 1624, col. 21a, and Speculum doctrinale XV, Chap. 2, De partibus naturalis philosophie, ed. Douai 1624, col. 1371d-e, after a first passage taken from Al-Fârâbi’s classification of the sciences.
- 25.
See Frunzeanu 2007, sp. 69–74, for the passages examined here. E. Frunzeanu discussed these elements in a lecture given in 2008 at the University of Nancy.
- 26.
In the Speculum doctrinale , the quotation stops here to begin Chap. 3.
- 27.
See Note 3 for the quotation of Paul to the Romans.
- 28.
Nicolas Weill-Parot has definitively clarified the notion of “occult”, taking into account the earlier literature on this subject. See inter alia Weill-Parot 2010.
- 29.
Among the pseudo-Aristotelians works are the De vegetabilibus, by Nicholas of Damascus (first c. BC), and the De differentia spiritu et anima, by Qustâ ibn Luqâ (ca. 820–ca. 912).
- 30.
Speculum doctrinale XV, Chap. 1, De naturali philosophia, ed. Douai 1624, 1371a.
- 31.
Ed. Douai 1624, col. 86d.
- 32.
On this passage, cf. Frunzeanu 2007, 183.
- 33.
Frunzeanu 2007, 70–1.
- 34.
See Note 19 and the following translation in the body of the chapter.
- 35.
French 1994, 199.
- 36.
For the source used by Vincent of Beauvais, see Gauthier 1982, 34, l. 154–169.
- 37.
Boethius, De trinitate , II, ed. Moreschini 2000, 168–9: Nam cum tres sint speculativae partes, naturalis, in motu inabstracta anupexairetos (considerat enim corporum formas cum materia , quae a corporibus actu separari non possunt: quae corpora in motu sunt ut cum terra deorsum ignis sursum fertur, habetque motum forma materiae coniuncta)…
- 38.
Cf. Frunzeanu 2007, 96.
- 39.
Actually, the text on the soul, edited by Gauthier 1982, uses motor (motor) and not motus (motion) as in Vincent of Beauvais’ text, which I have verified in the manuscripts.
- 40.
For example, the Earth would be an elementatum according to Ralph of Longchamp ca. 1212. On this concept, see Silverstein 1954.
- 41.
In his translation of the Introductorium maius ad scientiam iudiciorum astrorum of Abu Maʿshar, made in 1140, Herman of Carinthia used the words naturatum et natura where John of Seville, (in his own translation of the same text in 1133), used the words elementata and elementans to distinguish the compound bodies and the cause governing this composition. See Weijers 1978, 70.
- 42.
Albertus Magnus , Super Dionysium de divinis nominibus , ed. Simon 1972, 281: Dicendum, quod hoc quod Commentator nominat divinam artem universalem naturam, videtur esse secundum opinionem illorum, qui distinguunt duplicem naturam, scilicet naturam naturantem et naturam naturatam, dicentes naturam naturantem deum. Sed hoc non invenitur nec ab aliquo philosopho nec ab aliquo sancto, quod deus dicatur natura, nisi inquantum in patre est principium generationis filii; nec proprie dici potest, ut quod est extrinsecum omni rei naturali, natura dicatur. Si tamen, ut salvetur dictum Commentatoris, divina ars dicatur natura, hoc erit aequivoce dictum, sicut diceretur statuarius statua.
- 43.
Thomas Aquinas , Summa Theologiae, I-II, qu. 85, a. 6: Natura vero universalis est virtus activa in aliquo universali principio naturae, puta in aliquo caelestium corporum; vel alicuius superioris substantiae, secundum quod etiam Deus a quibusdam dicitur natura naturans. Idem, In de divinis nominibus, Chap. 4, l. 21: Est autem Deus universalis causa omnium quae naturaliter fiunt; unde et quidam ipsum nominant naturam naturantem. “On the other hand, the universal nature is an active force in some universal principle of nature, for instance, in some heavenly body, or again belonging to some superior substance, in which sense God is said by some to be ‘the Nature Who makes nature’” (The Summa Theologiae, online 2016) .
- 44.
- 45.
E. Frunzeanu presented the elements taken from the dictionaries of Alain of Lille and John of Genoa during a talk given for medievalists in 2008 at the University of Nancy.
- 46.
William of Conches, Glosae super Platonem , X.18–19, ed. Jeauneau 2006: Phisica vero est de naturis et complexionibus corporum: ‘phisis’ enim est natura; XI.7–8: (…) ubi vero de quatuor elementis et creatione animalium et de primordiali materia , de phisica.
- 47.
See the Contra Faustum , Note 18.
- 48.
Hugh of Pisa, Derivationes, ed. Cecchini 2004, 821.
- 49.
This is Book III, De monstruosis hominibus, by Thomas Cantimpratensis, Liber de natura rerum , ed. Boese 1973.
- 50.
Cf. Van der Lugt 2004.
- 51.
Weill-Parot (2013) deals with the question of the scholastic necessity for the rational explanation of nature.
- 52.
Alberti magni Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum De homine , ed. Anzulewicz, Söder 2008.
- 53.
It is probable that Albert borrowed the concept from the Baghdadi scholar Al-Ghazzâli (Algazel, 1058–1111), who wrote on Hellenistic Islamic philosophy, logic and religious philosophy. His works were translated by Gundisalvi in the third quarter of the twelfth century. See also Draelants 2019a.
- 54.
Augustinus, De genesi ad litteram , VIII.9, ed. Patrologia latina, vol. 34, 376–7. Augustine (354–450) discusses the existence of philosophy as wisdom. He refers to the acquisition of agriculture but also to all knowledge on nature, that is to say, human culture.
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Draelants, I. (2019). Creation, Generation, Force, Motion and Habit: Medieval Theoretical Definitions of Nature. In: Bretelle-Establet, F., Gaille, M., Katouzian-Safadi, M. (eds) Making Sense of Health, Disease, and the Environment in Cross-Cultural History: The Arabic-Islamic World, China, Europe, and North America. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 333. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19082-8_2
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