Medieval Philosophy

by Peter S. Adamson

an expression of a single, archetypal substance, much as all things are ultimately an expression of the transcendent reality that is God. William’s theory was not quite that Platonist, in that it did not assert the existence of some paradigmatic humanity separate from all individual humans. In a way, this was its chief flaw. If humanity in itself is not separate from humans, and if it is one and the same in all humans, then all humans turn out to be numerically identical with each other insofar as they are humans. In other words, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo are all actually one human being. This, at least, is the objection pressed against William by Abelard (§31–3). To point to the accidental features of things, as William did, is no help. For such accidental features depend on the individual substances to which they belong (§39). Conceptually speaking, Harpo must first exist as a human substance, and only then have such additional features as harp-playing and skirt-chasing. But insofar as he is just a human substance, Harpo will be the same substance as Chico and Groucho. A further problem is that if one and the same substance, namely universal humanity, is the substance of both Harpo and Groucho, then it will have contrary properties (§29). Humanity will be both mute and wisecracking, both harp-playing and non-harp-playing. Even the Marx Brothers’ movies never involved anything quite that absurd. Despite his name, William of Champeaux did not respond to this attack by wash...