A Dialogue on Natural Philosophy (Dragmaticon Philosophiae): Translation of the New Latin Critical Text

by Guillaume de Conches, William of Conches, Matthew Curr (Translator)

This English translation of William of Conches's Dramatican Philosophiae (died ca.1154), makes available a synthesis of western thought concerning the structure of the physical universe, as it was understood in the 12th century.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

Gillaume de Conches (c. 1090 – after 1154) was a French scholastic philosopher who sought to expand the bounds of Christian humanism by studying secular works of the classics and fostering empirical science. He was a prominent member of the School of Chartres. 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.

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 4 out of 5]

William of Conches was a Scholastic writer who was affiliated with Chartres, one of the more prominent ecclesiastical universities. His Philosophia Mundi had met with criticism and charges of heresy. The Philosophia Dragmatikon, rendered here as “A Dialogue on Natural Philosophy”, was supposed to be a reworking of that book. I haven’t read the Philosophia Mundi, so I can’t speak on it. The editor here says that both works are actually quite distinct. William of Conches wanted to recast at least some of the points in the first book into a more orthodox form. He seems to have been successful as far as I can tell. It is obvious that he owes a debt to other writers. The editor and/or translator does a great job of footnoting William’s various sources. William of Conches, like Bernardus Silvestris, was indebted to Platonist philosophy and the readily available sources for it at the time. And as I remarked in my review to Bernardus’ work, there were far fewer primary sources for Platonism than there were for Aristotelianism. It is remarkable that writers like them were able to formulate a somewhat cohesive Platonism.

Much of the biological and natural theories presented here have been shown to be erroneous, but it is interesting in at least providing a window into what was being taught at the time. The Platonist teaching regarding the elements is still interesting to me. Plato had theorized a hierarchy of the elements: fire was at the top of the hierarchy, with air, water and earth following in that order. William’s exposition regarding the relationship between these I still find compelling, even if it is only in a more metaphysical sense and context. It is his Platonist contention that it is through fire that order and visibility is made out of the primordial chaos that I find particularly fascinating.

Since there are so few Scholastic works available from a Platonist perspective, I would say this is probably essential reading for those who want a fuller picture of the philosophy of the period. I give it around 4 stars.