Medieval Philosophy

by Peter S. Adamson

Theologically, Kilwardby worries that if there is only a simple rational soul in a human, then the human that was Christ could not in fact have been the incarnation of God, but only an immaterial, divine spirit with a loose connection to a body. In holding that our soul consists of a plurality of forms or powers, Kilwardby flirts with a danger we noted when looking at Olivi. If this theory is correct, then won’t the unity of my person be compromised? My rational soul will be associated with the lower parts of my being, but it will be a distinct entity that floats free of the rest. To avoid this Kilwardby cites Augustine: the soul joins to the body in order to fulfill its desire for knowledge about all things.14 And unlike a giraffe who dreams of rolling around the rink, the soul can achieve its desire, thanks to what Kilwardby calls its “unibility,” that is, its innate tendency to form a unity with the body.15 But why does the soul need to be united to the body in order to have knowledge? Because Kilwardby is enough of an Aristotelian to think that most of our intellectual understanding depends upon the experience of the senses. In the contest between Augustinian theories of illumination and Aristotelian ideas of empirical science he predictably takes a conciliatory, middle position. Knowledge of some things, like mathematical truths, the soul, and God Himself, is implanted within the soul from birth. But for everything else we need to explore the world using sensation, a ...