The epistemological delimitation between philosophy and theology was one of the most interesting problems discussed in the Thirteenth Century. Discussions around the object of theology prove this. Among the authors in the first half of the two hundreds, Roberto Grosseteste shows a particular interest because he represents one of the last exponents of the monastic tradition, but already open to new problems. His -well founded- intuition of the incommensability of the philosophical and theological language takes him to postulate the «credibilia» (...) as a proper kind of theological propositions, in opposition with the scibilia of philosophy. The first credibilia enunciated in the text revealed is the creation of nothingness, the importance of which lies in its contradiction with the Aristotelian physics a model of rational knowledge. Grosseteste assumes in this case the need of a rational process demonstrating its «credibility» defined in terms of«probability». (shrink)

This work analyses a number of texts of the medical book Physica, by Hildegarde of Bingen, in which we can see some relatiosships between the natural medicaments that operate on the body on certain psychophysical morbid states produced by diabolical influence. These texts show an anthropological tendency that guides to a more integrating vision of the relationships soul-body as constitutive elements of the human personality.

In the late Middle Ages and especially in the ss. xiv and xv, we see a proliferation of interfaith disputes between Christians, Muslims and Jews, that although somewhat reissue previous practices have, for quantity, quality theoretical and practical consequences, a historical novelty. Can be classified as 1. preaching, 2. education and 3. dispute. Ramon Llull can be considered a pioneer of interreligious dialogue between Western monotheisms, in the sense of having proposed a new approach to the controversies that had centuries (...) of experience when he wrote. While all his work, in a sense, it contributes to the idea of basing the rationality of Christian belief several works specifically devoted to interreligious dialogue, including Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men posed —fictional— as the reason and purpose of their efforts. An important reason to be interested in thinking luliano is that, in some respects, the problems involved in the dialogue are repeated throughout the centuries until today. There are three aspects of his thought that are interesting for their originality and the ability to compare and draw analogies and differences with the current project: 1.Integrate the debate in the context of rationality, but in a broader way than syllogistic correction or that the question of the truth or falsity of assertions isolated. 2.Find a specific objective, clear and can be shared by the partners. 3.Give agnosticism own space. (shrink)

This paper discusses the application of the historiographical category translatio studiorum to the compilation of American philosophical and theological production designated as scholastica americana, and substantiates this expression – by highlighting specific content that puts it in a historiographical category. The article analyses some characteristics of this production in the colonial period, establishing its geographical, chronological, thematic and institutional delimitation. The characterization of the production is justified for the following periods: 1. Scholastic; 2. Eclectic pre-Enlightenment; and 3. Enlightenment.Walter Redmond’s thesis (...) of the double translatio of logic is also discussed – a thesis equally applicable to other philosophical disciplines. The epistemological and methodological justification of the historiographical category scholastica colonialis americana includes the following topics: an unusual process within the general category; its problematic context; the consideration of the American philosophical ‘tradition’ as translatio americana; and its connexion with the scholastica americana as being understood in recent historiography. (shrink)

The Totonac homegarden is a traditionally designed agroecosystem mixing different elements, such as cultivated and wild plants, and livestock. Our objective was to understand the role and importance of homegardens as a strategy for subsistence and natural resources management. Anthropological fieldwork was carried out in Coxquihui, Veracruz, Mexico, a Totonac community. Conventional sampling using a questionnaire yielded a sample of 40 individuals, each representing a family group. Personal interviews, life stories, observations, and field transects enriched survey information. Fieldwork permitted identification (...) of four types of Totonac homegardens: backyards, cropping fields, acahuales or fallow fields, and fences or field edges. Each of these gardens yields an array of products and services important for several cultural roles and natural resource management aims. Totonacs see land as the dominant and most critical resource. A great deal of terrain is steeply sloped and soils are poor. Homegardens play a key role in a production system that minimizes these site limitations, striking a balance between resource maintenance and subsistence needs. Their functions are ecological, to foster a multistrata vegetation cover, and a continuous supply of organic matter to the soil; economic, serving as living storehouses where diverse products (food, timber, firewood, forage, animals, ceremonial supplies, medicinal products), are kept through the annual cycle; and social, performing various social roles such as growing medicinal, ritual, and edible plants, thus supporting beliefs and culture continuity. Studies like this contribute to a better understanding of Totonac culture and native ecology, and give ideas for a better land management. (shrink)

Roberto Grosseteste, bispo de Lincoln, constitui uma figura particularmente importante numa época tão decisiva na história da Filosofia Ocidental, como é a primeira metade do século XIII. Receptor de Aristóteles e do corpo científico-filosófico greco-árabe, Grosseteste interessou-se, contudo, nas suas obras metafísico-teológicas, por continuar a tradição sapiencial herdade dos Padres da Igreja. O seu Hexaemeron é um modelo da sua recepção da exegese espiritualista patrística com vistas a uma concepção integrativa do mundo. Assim, comparando o uso dos Padres da Igreja (...) nesta obra e nos seus opúsculos metafísicos, o presente artigo reafirma sobretudo que Grosseteste tomou deles, reelaborando-as com o seu estilo próprio, as seguintes afirmações metafísico-teológicas: 1. A não-eternidade do mundo; 2. O ser humano como imagem de Deus; 3. A ideia do "corpo místico" de Cristo e do "Christus totus". Estas ideias, por sua vez, são solidárias com a espiritualidade que ele mesmo cultivou. /// Roberto Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, is an especially interesting personality from such a decisive time in the history of western philosophy as is the first half of the thirteenth century. Being recipient of Aristotle and the Greek-Arab scientific-philosophic body, he was nevertheless interested in their metaphysic-theological works, and in continuing the sapiential tradition inherited from the Fathers of the Church. His Hexaemeron is a model of reception of the spiritualist patristic exegesis considering an integrative view of the world. Comparing the use of the Fathers in this work and his metaphysic opuscules, the article states that Grosseteste has taken them into account, rewriting, in his own style, the following metaphysic-theological statements: 1. The no-eternity of the world. 2. Man as God's image. 3. The idea of Christ's "Mystical body" and "Christus totus". It is also shown that these ideas are at the same time in solidarity with the spirituality cultivated by him. (shrink)

At the beginning of the Book 1 of the Physica, Aristotle sets the question on the matter and subject of natural science. This issue refers to the concept of the science, which he starts bringing up. Natural Science (philosophia naturalis) has, since then, been especially enquired into, above all in terms of the original Aristotle’s commentary. Averroes dedicates a concise and, at the same time comprehensive Proem on the subject. Thomas Aquinas, on the contrary, and in opposition to other cases, (...) omits a methodological proem, although the subject itself develops on the brim of the commentaries on the text of Book 1. The aim of this work is to analyze the approximation and differences between the Lesson 1 of the Commentaries to the Book 1 of the Aquinate (where the philosophia naturalis method is dealt with) and the exegesis of Averroes in his Proem and the Summa Prima, in order to establish the relationship between both. KEY WORDS – Aristotle. Thomas Aquinas. Averroes. Natural science. Physical methodology. (shrink)

Tomás de Aquino es considerado, con razón, uno de los mejores exponentes de la aplicación rigurosa del método escolástico, tanto en lo relativo a la forma disputativa (la quaestio) cuanto en la organización sistemática del material teórico. Pero la obra tomasiana incluye también sus importantes comentarios, sobre todo a Aristóteles, que forman parte de su producción filosófica y teológica. El método expositivo es, por lo tanto, bastante variado y merece un análisis específico. En esta comunicación se tomarán dos ejemplos de (...) sendos modos de su método de producción teórica: la summa y la expositio, visualizando la Summa contra Gentes y la Expositio in Octo Libros Physicorum Aristotelis. Se procura mostrar las líneas estructurales de dos formas diferentes y eventualmente complementarias: el modo derivativo y el modo analítico respectivamente, y de qué modo ambos se integran en el método disputativo. (shrink)

El comentario o la Física es representativo de dos rasgos fundamentales de todo su obro: repensar la sabiduría griega y orientarlo hacia su principal interés, las especulaciones científico- experimentales. La combinación de postulados epistemológícos aristotélicos con su personal concepción ontológico agustiniana neoplatonizonte (metafisica de la luz, teoría de la iluminación divina) da por resultado una obra original más que un comentario en sentido estricto. El libro VII, cuyo importancia radico sobre todo en la exposición de la prueba de la existencia (...) el primer motor, es analizado por Grosseteste no en este sentido, sino en unos breves notos no sistemáticas, vinculados a aspectos muy secundarios en el original, inspirados en parte en textos de Avicena y Averroes, y congruentes con sus intereses científicos. Se destocan cuatro aportes originales: 1. reducción de las cualidades sensibles a las táctiles; 2. teoría de lo semejanza de los formas como explicación de lo interacción sustancial; 3. reducción del estudio fisico o las propiedades; 4. análisis experienciol de las propiedades. (shrink)

SÍNTESE - Durante a Idade Média, são inúmeras as classificações das ciências, variando entre si. O que se constata nelas é que, à medida que se modifica o caráter do conhecimento religioso, modifica-se também a compreensão de ciência, a fim de se poder salvar o valor científico da Teologia.

Na visão da ciência e da alquimia do século XIII, os metais não áureos são considerados degradações do ouro. Aceitando este ponto de partida, Robert Grosseteste julga possível separar a ganga existente em tais metais, os quais, assim, se transformariam em ouro. Ao traçar normas para tais tentativas, ele se toma um inovador na metodologia científica.