Adam of Bockenfield (c. 1220 – before 1294)
date of death sometimes given as 1285. was an English

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

philosopher, who taught at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in the early 1240s. He was an early commentator on a number of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

's works, in particular those dealing with

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancient wo ...

Teacher of Aristotle

Adam and the theologian

Richard Fishacre Richard Fishacre (or Fitzacre) (c. 1200–1248) was an English Dominican theologian, the first to hold the Dominican chair at the University of Oxford. He taught at Oxford and authored the first commentary on the Four Books of Sentences of Pete ...

were two Oxford masters of the mid-13th century. Adam introduced the ''New Aristotle'' at the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

university at a time when it was prohibited from being taught in

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

because of ecclesiastical restrictions. It is probable that Adam received a degree in theology and penned his Aristotelian commentaries during his regency in arts which began by 1243. His explanation of Aristotle's meaning drew heavily on the writing of

Averroes Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psy ...

Nature of the soul

His particular interest was in whether the

agent intellect The active intellect (Latin: ''intellectus agens''; also translated as agent intellect, active intelligence, active reason, or productive intellect) is a concept in classical and medieval philosophy. The term refers to the formal (''morphe'') aspe ...

was within the soul or a power of the soul. Averroes' believed in the latter interpretation while many theologians were inclined to affirm the former. Adam doubted that the agent and possible intellect are of the same substance. He wondered if the substance of the possible intellect is within the soul while that of the agent intellect is outside of it. Like his Oxford colleagues he was curious about the unity of the soul. He felt that Aristotle merely refuted the idea of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

. The latter believed the various functions of the soul (understanding, opinion, desire, etc.) reflected diverse parts of the soul, which were located in different organs. To answer the question left unanswered by Aristotle, Adam commented that each of the properties reside in the soul as a whole. He elaborated by saying that each individual being can have only one perfection. So it follows that man's perfection must be in one substance. He thought that according to Aristotelian principles, the vegetative and sensitive souls were of different substance than the 'intellective' soul. His attempt to clarify this was inspired by

Philip the Chancellor Philippe le Chancelier, also known as "Philippus Cancellarius Parisiensis" (Philip, Chancellor of Paris) (''c'' 1160–December 26, 1236) was a French theologian, Latin lyric poet, and possibly a composer as well. He was the illegitimate son of Phi ...

. However Adam's is a more believable argument concerning this matter than is Philip's ''Summa''. Philip the Chancellor insisted that the body and soul were united by a particular medium.''Adam of Buckfield'', ''The Problem Of The Rational Soul In The Thirteenth Century'', Richard C. Dales, E.J. Brill, 1995, pp. 47 ''-'' 52.

Notes

External links

''Commentarium in De somno et vigilia'', online text
* * English Franciscans Scholastic philosophers 13th-century English people Year of birth uncertain 1220s births 13th-century deaths Latin commentators on Aristotle 13th-century philosophers {{England-philosopher-stub