Olivi on the Metaphysics of Soul

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Abstract

Franciscan Peter John Olivi (1247/8-1298) was one of the people interested in Aristotle’s theory of soul in the Latin world during the Middle Ages. In this work that we have translated Olivi’s main problem is to what extent the Aristotelian matter-form relationship can be applied to the body-soul relationship. Although he doesn’t reject Aristotle’s idea that the “soul is the form of the body”, he refuses the Aristotelian approach that the rational part of the soul is the form of the human being. Because according to Olivi, the soul is a form that includes nutritive, sensory and rational forms, namely it is the unity of forms. Olivi claims that the soul as a whole is the form of the body, but if what is meant by the “human soul” is the rational, this cannot be the form of the body. Consequently, making sense of Olivi’s thoughts on the soul-body relationship requires investigating the Aristotelian soul-body relationship regarding of its overlapping and differing aspects with Olivi’s. The conclusion of this work is that, although the nature of Olivi’s thoughts is debatable, his thoughts are correlated to ancient problems.

Keywords

Philosophy

matter-form

soul-body

de anima

Olivi.

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Beytulhikme An International Journal of Philosophy, Print ISSN: 1303-8303, Published by AccScience Publishing