Ph.D. in Philosophy (University of Pisa and University of Florence, joint degree). She has received the 2022 Santorio Award for Excellence in Research. Associate Member of the Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance. She is currently a post-doc fellow at the University of Trento, where she works on a project titled: “Between Science and Myth: Albert the Great, his Sources and his Followers” (PRIN 2022 Itineraries of Philosophy and Science from Baghdad to Florence: Albert the Great, his Sources and his Legacies)
In: Baldassarri F., Blank A. (eds) Vegetative Powers. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 234. Springer, Cham., 2021
In his De vegetabilibus et plantis (ca. 1256), Albert the Great reorganizes the entire botanical ... more In his De vegetabilibus et plantis (ca. 1256), Albert the Great reorganizes the entire botanical knowledge of his time, creatively resorting to Aristotelian epistemic principles. Plant complex physiology is theoretically relevant for the theological-philosophical discourse. Nevertheless, plant life is mostly hidden, preventing direct investigation. This is borne out by unclear and fragmentary arguments ascribed to the ‘philosophers’ in the pseudo-Aristotelian De plantis. To rebut ‘those who treated the life of plants confusedly’, Albert explains the vegetative soul in a more rigorous way, exploring innovative themes such as sensitivity and the levels of touch. Going deeper into the reasons for the vegetative power, Albert also highlights the relationship between plant and matter (i.e., the elemental properties) to more general issues (e.g., sleep in plants; the night closing of flowers; sexual differentiations; the place of plants in the scala naturae).
Paternitas naturalis and Paternitas divina: Albert the Great on Matthew 6,9 and Luke 11,2, «Divus Thomas» 122 (2019): 59-78, 2019
In the sections devoted to the very first words of the Pater noster, Albert the Great’s commentar... more In the sections devoted to the very first words of the Pater noster, Albert the Great’s commentaries on Matthew (1257-1264) and on Luke (1264-1268) give extensive theoretical treatments of the concept of paternitas. In his earlier commentary on De divinis nominibus (c. 1249), Albert had already discussed the paternitas divina as the exemplary cause of lower levels of paternity, including the spiritual and the natural. Accordingly, in his biblical commentaries, Albert investigates how the archetypical exemplarity of the pater divinus is mirrored by every lower level of paternity. By revealing the features shared by divine and natural paternity, Albert deepens the meaning of the prayer, «which begins with one of the most familiar and sweet names» (Super Mattheum 6,9, p. 178). This paper is aimed at analyzing the development of Albert’s theology of paternitas as enriched in his gospel commentaries through a recourse to natural philosophy.
Nel XIII secolo, insieme alle traduzioni latine del corpus aristotelico, circolava un De plantis ... more Nel XIII secolo, insieme alle traduzioni latine del corpus aristotelico, circolava un De plantis attribuito ad Aristotele, ma scritto in realtà da Nicola di Damasco, un autore di lingua greca vissuto intorno al II secolo d.C.. Quando nel 1256 Alberto Magno commenta quest’opera, si accorge che il testo condivide ben poco con l’epistemologia e il metodo argomentativo di Aristotele. Così, Alberto interviene sul De plantis con strategie commentaristico-parafrastiche così ricche e integrative che, più che spiegare il testo, finiscono per ristrutturarlo. In questo saggio mostreremo le due alternative che Alberto fornisce in risposta alle lacune botaniche rinvenute nel De plantis, avanzando l’ipotesi che si possa identificare nel Liber de animalibus il modello epistemico al quale Alberto si ispira nel suo tentativo di riscrivere lo scritto sulle piante che Aristotele avrebbe dovuto o potuto comporre.
In the 13th century, the availability of Aristotle's treatises of natural philosophy encouraged f... more In the 13th century, the availability of Aristotle's treatises of natural philosophy encouraged forms of integration between libri naturales and sapientia biblica. Instead of diving into allegory and symbolism, several Dominican exegetes began to explore more realistic approaches. The foremost figure is Albert the Great. In his biblical commentaries, philosophy of nature and theology join forces as complementary forms of knowledge. By focusing on Albert's De vegetabilibus, this paper is aimed at analyzing in which ways the Dominican master reuses his naturalistic and, especially, botanical knowledge as an exegetical tool to deepen both the historical and the allegorical sense, realism and spiritual interpretation.
Lezione nell'ambito del corso di Storia della Filosofia Medievale 1 (LM) - L'inanimato e il viven... more Lezione nell'ambito del corso di Storia della Filosofia Medievale 1 (LM) - L'inanimato e il vivente. La filosofia della natura di Alberto Magno (prof. Andrea Colli) - Centro di ricerca "Metabolai"
The 13th-century Dominican master Albert the Great extensively discusses vegetal sexuality. Whi... more The 13th-century Dominican master Albert the Great extensively discusses vegetal sexuality. While animals reproduce through the mating of female and male individuals, plants lack a sexual distinction, reproducing through seeds that contain all the necessary conditions for plant generation. Furthermore, the primary paternal and maternal functions, such as fertilization, generative material provision, and nourishment during development, do not involve individuals of the same plant species. External causal agencies perform these functions, like the Sun and the soil (traditionally regarded as the “father and mother of plants”).
He is convinced that “male and female” and “motherhood and fatherhood” manifest in nature to varying degrees, ranging from the most perfect nature, i.e., human beings, to the less perfect, i.e., plants. Plants express masculinitas and femininitas proportionally to their nature. The examination of plant generation provides an opportunity to elucidate these concepts, defining the essential aspects and causal roles of male and female functions and features. In this lecture, I will focus on how Albert employs concepts such as the female “body”, “seed”, and “power”, in his investigation on vegetal sexuality.
Questo seminario supportato dal CETEFIL - Unità di Trento è dedicato a ricostruire l’interazione ... more Questo seminario supportato dal CETEFIL - Unità di Trento è dedicato a ricostruire l’interazione tra filosofia naturale e prognosi medica nelle discussioni scolastiche sulla lebbra.
Nei testi del XIII secolo le espressioni latine leprosus generat leprosum o leprosus est de leproso vengono impiegate a sostegno delle argomentazioni sulla trasmissione, per via generativa, del peccato originale. Tanto la tradizione teologica, quanto la tradizione medica, avevano infatti impiegato il concetto giuridico di hereditas per spiegare tutto ciò che si trasmette per via generativa. La lebbra e il peccato originale erano intese come una sorta di obbligo legale che il figlio eredita dal padre, attraverso il seme. L’aggettivo hereditarius, tuttavia, non rimandava a un modello genetico di causalità ben definito, ma piuttosto indicava la prevedibilità e la necessità del manifestarsi dell’uguaglianza in natura (anche corrotta) tra “chi genera” e “chi è generato”.
Attingendo a fonti mediche e filosofiche, gli autori scolastici discutono le premesse fisiologiche e i termini dell’analogia tra la lebbra e il peccato originale, sviluppando, incidentalmente, una serie di questioni riguardanti lo statuto ontologico e le modalità di trasmissione delle malattie ereditarie.
Nel seminario verranno analizzati passi dalle opere di Guglielmo d'Alvernia, Rolando da Cremona, Bonaventura, Tommaso d'Aquino ed Enrico di Gand.
L'evento fa parte del ciclo "Medieval Lectures on Prognostication" nell'ambito del Progetto Prin-PNRR "Social, Political, and Religious Prognostication and its Roots: Philosophical Strategies for Coping with Uncertainties and Planning the Future".
In dialogue with the manifold medical, natural-philosophical, and theological doctrines on embryogenesis available in the 13th century, the Dominican master Albert the Great gives a coherent account of embryo morphogenesis that harmonizes theological and philosophical perspectives on human generation. His embryological doctrine combines the theological tenet of a human soul created ex nihilo, and the physical and medical explanatory model of epigenesis, which explains embryonic development as a passage from the imperfect to the perfect both of bodily and psychic functions. To overcome the inconsistencies between the theological and natural-philosophical explanations, Albert focuses on the dynamics of configuration of the embryo and on the principle responsible for them, the virtus formativa. This lecture will explore the dynamics involved in the handing down of morphological and functional structures from generator to generated by focusing on the functioning of the formative power in the generative process. It will be shown that the formative power is able to grasp the likeness of the generating body and then reproduce the bodily design into the generated body by shaping it in the image and likeness of its parents.
Workshop internazionale Padova, 30-31 ottobre 2023. "Quanta varietas arborum" Immaginario arboreo... more Workshop internazionale Padova, 30-31 ottobre 2023. "Quanta varietas arborum" Immaginario arboreo e spazio dell'umano nel cristianesimo latino dalla tarda antichità alla prima età moderna.
Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell'Antichità (DiSSGeA) Progetto Mini-SID 2023 (Università degli Studi di Padova-DiSSGeA) "Immaginario arboreo e spazio dell'umano nel cristianesimo latino dalla tarda antichità alla prima età moderna"
In this lecture, I will examine how 13th-century thinkers treated ‘borderline species’, i.e., liv... more In this lecture, I will examine how 13th-century thinkers treated ‘borderline species’, i.e., living beings which were perceived as halfway between two steps of the so-called scala naturae. Pygmies, with their rudimentary language, and palms, with their partial local movement, challenged the conventional macro-categories, which established neat boundaries between human, animal, and vegetative realms. In fact, palms’ and pygmies’ souls perform activities that usually pertain to the living being of the superior step of the scala naturae. Differently from other plants, the palms exercise the local movement (traditionally ascribed exclusively to animals) in order to fulfill reproductive functions. The pygmies’ ability to communicate basic information and emotional states through a sort of rudimentary language challenges the idea that language is the prerogative of the animal perfectissimum, i.e., the human being. Are these borderline species to be taken as the most 'evolved' of animals and plants kingdom? Are they evidence of a psychological continuity between living beings? What is the nature of their distinctive functions? Answering these questions, 13th-century authors, such as Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, tried to harmonize ‘borderline species’ within the Christian Neoplatonic outlook by interpreting natural dynamics as degrees of perfection. On the one side, the comparison between human perfection and animal imperfection allowed to determine the boundaries of pygmy’s cognitive skills; on the other side, animal perfection (in relation to plant imperfection) provided a template to investigate plants’ life, and go deeper into the powers of vegetative soul.
16-17 March 2023, Conference "Woman and their body"- Paderborn University
https://historyofwom... more 16-17 March 2023, Conference "Woman and their body"- Paderborn University
In the 13th century, intellectuals from different disciplines (medicine, theology, natural philosophy) competed for the theoretical appropriation of the female body. From the natural-philosophical standpoint, the female body was framed within theories concerning causes and powers involved in the generative process. When pondering the female role in embryogenesis, scholastic authors investigated the anatomy and physiology of the female body, its complexion, and its configuration. From an anthropological-philosophical point of view, the female body was closely linked to the female role as wife and mother in society and was considered the material cause from which both marital and filial loves originate. From a theological and biblical-exegetical perspective, 13th-century theologians had to account for some exceptional biblical female figures, such as Mary and Eve, who (for different but complementary reasons) seemed to challenge crucial Aristotelian tenets on the female body. By assuming an interdisciplinary approach, I will explore the structure and intermingling of these perspectives on female corporeality to show to what extent the Aristotelian male-centered epistemic bias influenced the medieval approach to the female body. It will be demonstrated that, following logical and experiential evidence, some medieval authors make room for alternative theoretical explanations of the female body.
Questo intervento ha lo scopo di ricostruire il modello di paternità e maternità, maschile e femm... more Questo intervento ha lo scopo di ricostruire il modello di paternità e maternità, maschile e femminile nelle opere filosofico-naturali, teologiche e biblico-esegetiche di Alberto Magno a partire dal peculiare caso delle piante, in cui tanto la distinzione di genere, quanto le rispettive funzioni paterne e materne sono difficilmente individuabili. La distinzione di genere vegetale è per Alberto una sfida teorica: non solo si tratta di coerentizzare le frammentarie e lacunose informazioni circa la distinzione sessuale, e più in generale, sulla generazione vegetale, presenti nelle sue fonti, ma anche di fornire un modello alternativo che tenga conto dell’eccezionalità delle generazione vegetale rispetto a quella animale, in cui la distinzione di genere non implica necessariamente una distinzione sostanziale, né coinvolge sostanze individuali della stessa specie di ciò che verrà generato.
The notion of 'virtus formativa', i.e., a shaping force responsible for crucial dynamics in the f... more The notion of 'virtus formativa', i.e., a shaping force responsible for crucial dynamics in the formation of living beings, plays a central role in the history of embryology. Among 13th century Latin authors, the Dominican magister Albert the Great (ca. 1193-1280) gives this notion an innovative and extensive treatment, crossing boundaries between theology and philosophy. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this lecture will explore Albert’s doctrine on formative power, by investigating its metaphysical and theological premises and its pivotal role in the dynamics of configuration and transmission of the living.
December 15, 2021 - Plants in Early Modern Knowledge (and Before): History, Philosophy, and M... more December 15, 2021 - Plants in Early Modern Knowledge (and Before): History, Philosophy, and Medicine Winter 2021-2022 Online Seminar
Virtual Conference- 29 June- 2 July 2021- ''Dominican Culture, Dominican Theology: The Order of P... more Virtual Conference- 29 June- 2 July 2021- ''Dominican Culture, Dominican Theology: The Order of Preachers and Its Spheres of Action (1215-ca. 1600)'' -Annual meeting of IGTM – International Society for the Study of Medieval Theology. Hosted by the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen.
Albert the Great’s biblical commentaries and theological works reveal a deep interaction between exegesis and natural philosophy. This paper aims at showing the interaction of exegesis and biology in Albert’s discussion of the generatio Christi, especially in his commentaries on the gospels of Luke, Matthew, and on the book of Isaiah. Albert ponders over the possibility of explaining the generation of Jesus through a comparison with animal generation. However, the very fact that Jesus was conceived without carnal union, thus without the emission of seed (responsible for the configuration of the embryo), requires an alternative explanation both for the conception and for the formative process of Jesus in Mary’s womb. Albert’s plant embryology, as developed in his De vegetabilibus, comes to the aid: the dynamics involved in Jesus’ generation and conception are explained by drawing a parallel with the generation of flowers (pullulatio floris) rather than that of animals.
International Medieval Congress, Leeds 01-04 July 2019. "Matter in the Natural Philosophy of Albe... more International Medieval Congress, Leeds 01-04 July 2019. "Matter in the Natural Philosophy of Albertus Magnus"
In: Baldassarri F., Blank A. (eds) Vegetative Powers. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 234. Springer, Cham., 2021
In his De vegetabilibus et plantis (ca. 1256), Albert the Great reorganizes the entire botanical ... more In his De vegetabilibus et plantis (ca. 1256), Albert the Great reorganizes the entire botanical knowledge of his time, creatively resorting to Aristotelian epistemic principles. Plant complex physiology is theoretically relevant for the theological-philosophical discourse. Nevertheless, plant life is mostly hidden, preventing direct investigation. This is borne out by unclear and fragmentary arguments ascribed to the ‘philosophers’ in the pseudo-Aristotelian De plantis. To rebut ‘those who treated the life of plants confusedly’, Albert explains the vegetative soul in a more rigorous way, exploring innovative themes such as sensitivity and the levels of touch. Going deeper into the reasons for the vegetative power, Albert also highlights the relationship between plant and matter (i.e., the elemental properties) to more general issues (e.g., sleep in plants; the night closing of flowers; sexual differentiations; the place of plants in the scala naturae).
Paternitas naturalis and Paternitas divina: Albert the Great on Matthew 6,9 and Luke 11,2, «Divus Thomas» 122 (2019): 59-78, 2019
In the sections devoted to the very first words of the Pater noster, Albert the Great’s commentar... more In the sections devoted to the very first words of the Pater noster, Albert the Great’s commentaries on Matthew (1257-1264) and on Luke (1264-1268) give extensive theoretical treatments of the concept of paternitas. In his earlier commentary on De divinis nominibus (c. 1249), Albert had already discussed the paternitas divina as the exemplary cause of lower levels of paternity, including the spiritual and the natural. Accordingly, in his biblical commentaries, Albert investigates how the archetypical exemplarity of the pater divinus is mirrored by every lower level of paternity. By revealing the features shared by divine and natural paternity, Albert deepens the meaning of the prayer, «which begins with one of the most familiar and sweet names» (Super Mattheum 6,9, p. 178). This paper is aimed at analyzing the development of Albert’s theology of paternitas as enriched in his gospel commentaries through a recourse to natural philosophy.
Nel XIII secolo, insieme alle traduzioni latine del corpus aristotelico, circolava un De plantis ... more Nel XIII secolo, insieme alle traduzioni latine del corpus aristotelico, circolava un De plantis attribuito ad Aristotele, ma scritto in realtà da Nicola di Damasco, un autore di lingua greca vissuto intorno al II secolo d.C.. Quando nel 1256 Alberto Magno commenta quest’opera, si accorge che il testo condivide ben poco con l’epistemologia e il metodo argomentativo di Aristotele. Così, Alberto interviene sul De plantis con strategie commentaristico-parafrastiche così ricche e integrative che, più che spiegare il testo, finiscono per ristrutturarlo. In questo saggio mostreremo le due alternative che Alberto fornisce in risposta alle lacune botaniche rinvenute nel De plantis, avanzando l’ipotesi che si possa identificare nel Liber de animalibus il modello epistemico al quale Alberto si ispira nel suo tentativo di riscrivere lo scritto sulle piante che Aristotele avrebbe dovuto o potuto comporre.
In the 13th century, the availability of Aristotle's treatises of natural philosophy encouraged f... more In the 13th century, the availability of Aristotle's treatises of natural philosophy encouraged forms of integration between libri naturales and sapientia biblica. Instead of diving into allegory and symbolism, several Dominican exegetes began to explore more realistic approaches. The foremost figure is Albert the Great. In his biblical commentaries, philosophy of nature and theology join forces as complementary forms of knowledge. By focusing on Albert's De vegetabilibus, this paper is aimed at analyzing in which ways the Dominican master reuses his naturalistic and, especially, botanical knowledge as an exegetical tool to deepen both the historical and the allegorical sense, realism and spiritual interpretation.
Lezione nell'ambito del corso di Storia della Filosofia Medievale 1 (LM) - L'inanimato e il viven... more Lezione nell'ambito del corso di Storia della Filosofia Medievale 1 (LM) - L'inanimato e il vivente. La filosofia della natura di Alberto Magno (prof. Andrea Colli) - Centro di ricerca "Metabolai"
The 13th-century Dominican master Albert the Great extensively discusses vegetal sexuality. Whi... more The 13th-century Dominican master Albert the Great extensively discusses vegetal sexuality. While animals reproduce through the mating of female and male individuals, plants lack a sexual distinction, reproducing through seeds that contain all the necessary conditions for plant generation. Furthermore, the primary paternal and maternal functions, such as fertilization, generative material provision, and nourishment during development, do not involve individuals of the same plant species. External causal agencies perform these functions, like the Sun and the soil (traditionally regarded as the “father and mother of plants”).
He is convinced that “male and female” and “motherhood and fatherhood” manifest in nature to varying degrees, ranging from the most perfect nature, i.e., human beings, to the less perfect, i.e., plants. Plants express masculinitas and femininitas proportionally to their nature. The examination of plant generation provides an opportunity to elucidate these concepts, defining the essential aspects and causal roles of male and female functions and features. In this lecture, I will focus on how Albert employs concepts such as the female “body”, “seed”, and “power”, in his investigation on vegetal sexuality.
Questo seminario supportato dal CETEFIL - Unità di Trento è dedicato a ricostruire l’interazione ... more Questo seminario supportato dal CETEFIL - Unità di Trento è dedicato a ricostruire l’interazione tra filosofia naturale e prognosi medica nelle discussioni scolastiche sulla lebbra.
Nei testi del XIII secolo le espressioni latine leprosus generat leprosum o leprosus est de leproso vengono impiegate a sostegno delle argomentazioni sulla trasmissione, per via generativa, del peccato originale. Tanto la tradizione teologica, quanto la tradizione medica, avevano infatti impiegato il concetto giuridico di hereditas per spiegare tutto ciò che si trasmette per via generativa. La lebbra e il peccato originale erano intese come una sorta di obbligo legale che il figlio eredita dal padre, attraverso il seme. L’aggettivo hereditarius, tuttavia, non rimandava a un modello genetico di causalità ben definito, ma piuttosto indicava la prevedibilità e la necessità del manifestarsi dell’uguaglianza in natura (anche corrotta) tra “chi genera” e “chi è generato”.
Attingendo a fonti mediche e filosofiche, gli autori scolastici discutono le premesse fisiologiche e i termini dell’analogia tra la lebbra e il peccato originale, sviluppando, incidentalmente, una serie di questioni riguardanti lo statuto ontologico e le modalità di trasmissione delle malattie ereditarie.
Nel seminario verranno analizzati passi dalle opere di Guglielmo d'Alvernia, Rolando da Cremona, Bonaventura, Tommaso d'Aquino ed Enrico di Gand.
L'evento fa parte del ciclo "Medieval Lectures on Prognostication" nell'ambito del Progetto Prin-PNRR "Social, Political, and Religious Prognostication and its Roots: Philosophical Strategies for Coping with Uncertainties and Planning the Future".
In dialogue with the manifold medical, natural-philosophical, and theological doctrines on embryogenesis available in the 13th century, the Dominican master Albert the Great gives a coherent account of embryo morphogenesis that harmonizes theological and philosophical perspectives on human generation. His embryological doctrine combines the theological tenet of a human soul created ex nihilo, and the physical and medical explanatory model of epigenesis, which explains embryonic development as a passage from the imperfect to the perfect both of bodily and psychic functions. To overcome the inconsistencies between the theological and natural-philosophical explanations, Albert focuses on the dynamics of configuration of the embryo and on the principle responsible for them, the virtus formativa. This lecture will explore the dynamics involved in the handing down of morphological and functional structures from generator to generated by focusing on the functioning of the formative power in the generative process. It will be shown that the formative power is able to grasp the likeness of the generating body and then reproduce the bodily design into the generated body by shaping it in the image and likeness of its parents.
Workshop internazionale Padova, 30-31 ottobre 2023. "Quanta varietas arborum" Immaginario arboreo... more Workshop internazionale Padova, 30-31 ottobre 2023. "Quanta varietas arborum" Immaginario arboreo e spazio dell'umano nel cristianesimo latino dalla tarda antichità alla prima età moderna.
Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell'Antichità (DiSSGeA) Progetto Mini-SID 2023 (Università degli Studi di Padova-DiSSGeA) "Immaginario arboreo e spazio dell'umano nel cristianesimo latino dalla tarda antichità alla prima età moderna"
In this lecture, I will examine how 13th-century thinkers treated ‘borderline species’, i.e., liv... more In this lecture, I will examine how 13th-century thinkers treated ‘borderline species’, i.e., living beings which were perceived as halfway between two steps of the so-called scala naturae. Pygmies, with their rudimentary language, and palms, with their partial local movement, challenged the conventional macro-categories, which established neat boundaries between human, animal, and vegetative realms. In fact, palms’ and pygmies’ souls perform activities that usually pertain to the living being of the superior step of the scala naturae. Differently from other plants, the palms exercise the local movement (traditionally ascribed exclusively to animals) in order to fulfill reproductive functions. The pygmies’ ability to communicate basic information and emotional states through a sort of rudimentary language challenges the idea that language is the prerogative of the animal perfectissimum, i.e., the human being. Are these borderline species to be taken as the most 'evolved' of animals and plants kingdom? Are they evidence of a psychological continuity between living beings? What is the nature of their distinctive functions? Answering these questions, 13th-century authors, such as Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, tried to harmonize ‘borderline species’ within the Christian Neoplatonic outlook by interpreting natural dynamics as degrees of perfection. On the one side, the comparison between human perfection and animal imperfection allowed to determine the boundaries of pygmy’s cognitive skills; on the other side, animal perfection (in relation to plant imperfection) provided a template to investigate plants’ life, and go deeper into the powers of vegetative soul.
16-17 March 2023, Conference "Woman and their body"- Paderborn University
https://historyofwom... more 16-17 March 2023, Conference "Woman and their body"- Paderborn University
In the 13th century, intellectuals from different disciplines (medicine, theology, natural philosophy) competed for the theoretical appropriation of the female body. From the natural-philosophical standpoint, the female body was framed within theories concerning causes and powers involved in the generative process. When pondering the female role in embryogenesis, scholastic authors investigated the anatomy and physiology of the female body, its complexion, and its configuration. From an anthropological-philosophical point of view, the female body was closely linked to the female role as wife and mother in society and was considered the material cause from which both marital and filial loves originate. From a theological and biblical-exegetical perspective, 13th-century theologians had to account for some exceptional biblical female figures, such as Mary and Eve, who (for different but complementary reasons) seemed to challenge crucial Aristotelian tenets on the female body. By assuming an interdisciplinary approach, I will explore the structure and intermingling of these perspectives on female corporeality to show to what extent the Aristotelian male-centered epistemic bias influenced the medieval approach to the female body. It will be demonstrated that, following logical and experiential evidence, some medieval authors make room for alternative theoretical explanations of the female body.
Questo intervento ha lo scopo di ricostruire il modello di paternità e maternità, maschile e femm... more Questo intervento ha lo scopo di ricostruire il modello di paternità e maternità, maschile e femminile nelle opere filosofico-naturali, teologiche e biblico-esegetiche di Alberto Magno a partire dal peculiare caso delle piante, in cui tanto la distinzione di genere, quanto le rispettive funzioni paterne e materne sono difficilmente individuabili. La distinzione di genere vegetale è per Alberto una sfida teorica: non solo si tratta di coerentizzare le frammentarie e lacunose informazioni circa la distinzione sessuale, e più in generale, sulla generazione vegetale, presenti nelle sue fonti, ma anche di fornire un modello alternativo che tenga conto dell’eccezionalità delle generazione vegetale rispetto a quella animale, in cui la distinzione di genere non implica necessariamente una distinzione sostanziale, né coinvolge sostanze individuali della stessa specie di ciò che verrà generato.
The notion of 'virtus formativa', i.e., a shaping force responsible for crucial dynamics in the f... more The notion of 'virtus formativa', i.e., a shaping force responsible for crucial dynamics in the formation of living beings, plays a central role in the history of embryology. Among 13th century Latin authors, the Dominican magister Albert the Great (ca. 1193-1280) gives this notion an innovative and extensive treatment, crossing boundaries between theology and philosophy. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this lecture will explore Albert’s doctrine on formative power, by investigating its metaphysical and theological premises and its pivotal role in the dynamics of configuration and transmission of the living.
December 15, 2021 - Plants in Early Modern Knowledge (and Before): History, Philosophy, and M... more December 15, 2021 - Plants in Early Modern Knowledge (and Before): History, Philosophy, and Medicine Winter 2021-2022 Online Seminar
Virtual Conference- 29 June- 2 July 2021- ''Dominican Culture, Dominican Theology: The Order of P... more Virtual Conference- 29 June- 2 July 2021- ''Dominican Culture, Dominican Theology: The Order of Preachers and Its Spheres of Action (1215-ca. 1600)'' -Annual meeting of IGTM – International Society for the Study of Medieval Theology. Hosted by the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen.
Albert the Great’s biblical commentaries and theological works reveal a deep interaction between exegesis and natural philosophy. This paper aims at showing the interaction of exegesis and biology in Albert’s discussion of the generatio Christi, especially in his commentaries on the gospels of Luke, Matthew, and on the book of Isaiah. Albert ponders over the possibility of explaining the generation of Jesus through a comparison with animal generation. However, the very fact that Jesus was conceived without carnal union, thus without the emission of seed (responsible for the configuration of the embryo), requires an alternative explanation both for the conception and for the formative process of Jesus in Mary’s womb. Albert’s plant embryology, as developed in his De vegetabilibus, comes to the aid: the dynamics involved in Jesus’ generation and conception are explained by drawing a parallel with the generation of flowers (pullulatio floris) rather than that of animals.
International Medieval Congress, Leeds 01-04 July 2019. "Matter in the Natural Philosophy of Albe... more International Medieval Congress, Leeds 01-04 July 2019. "Matter in the Natural Philosophy of Albertus Magnus"
This book provides the first comprehensive treatment of Albert the Great’s (c. 1193–1280) notion ... more This book provides the first comprehensive treatment of Albert the Great’s (c. 1193–1280) notion of virtus formativa, a shaping force responsible for crucial dynamics in the formation of living beings. Crossing the boundaries between theology and philosophy, the notion of virtus formativa, or formative power, was central in explaining genetic inheritance and the configuration of the embryo. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this book reconstructs how Albert the Great, motivated by theological open issues, reorganised the natural-philosophical and medical theories on embryonic development, creatively drawing upon Greek, Patristic, and Arabic sources. A valuable contribution to research, this book offers essential insights for those studying the history of embryology, medicine, and science in the medieval and Renaissance periods.
How is it that a medieval theologian like Albertus the Great (1200ca.-1280) examines in a philoso... more How is it that a medieval theologian like Albertus the Great (1200ca.-1280) examines in a philosophical key the strategies of cooperation within animal species, the interaction of communication and social life, the dynamics of learning in children and animals, the relationship between natural instinct and cognitive abilities, the possible existence of subhuman populations, the only human ability to work on oneself by perfecting one's nature? This book offers, in its central section, a translation into Italian of surprising passages on such topics from several works of Albert the Great. Stefano Perfetti's large opening essay offers various keys for the philosophical understanding of these passages and of the cultural context within which they were born; Amalia Cerrito's closing essay explores the theoretical framework of Albert's biology.
INDICE
I. Umano, subumano e animale nel pensiero di Alberto Magno
1. Tra etologia e dimensione politica 2. Perfezione umana e imperfezione animale 3. Istinto, astrazione e plasticità comportamentale 4. La mente dei bambini: analogia o identità in evoluzione? 5. La comunicazione: suoni, versi, linguaggio 6. I pigmei e l’ombra della ragione 7. È solo arroganza antropocentrica?
II. Testi di Alberto Magno in traduzione
Avvertenza alla traduzione T1. Strutture quasi-politiche nella cooperazione animale (De animalibus, I, 1, 3) T2. Modi di vita degli animali (De animalibus, I, 1, 4) T3. Emozioni e funzioni cognitive negli animali e nell’uomo (De animalibus, VII, 1, 1) T4. La doppia potenzialità del bambino (De homine, q. 2, a. 5, ad 7m [= 3.1.1.4 Anzulewicz – Söder]; De bono, tr. V, q. 1, art.1, resp.; De bono, tr. V, q. 1, art.1, ad 1m) T5. Non ogni suono è voce (De anima, II, 3, 22) T6. La vocalità dei versi animali e il linguaggio umano (De animalibus, IV, 2, 2) T7. Versi e emozioni negli animali (De animalibus, I, 1, 3) T8. La funzione sociale ed etica del linguaggio umano (Politica, I, 1) T9. Avvedutezza e stoltezza negli animali (De animalibus, VIII, 6, 1) T10. Gli animali, le arti e le tecniche (De animalibus, VIII, 6, 2) T11. L’uomo è l’animale perfetto (De animalibus, XXI, 1, 2) T12. Livelli di perfezione dell’anima e del corpo: animali, uomini e pigmei (De animalibus, XXI, 1, 2) T13. L’uomo sa modificare e perfezionare la propria natura (Politica, VII, 11)
III. Alberto Magno e la logica del vivente (di Amalia Cerrito)
1. La palma e la conservazione della specie 2. Organizzazioni imperfette 3. Stimoli e reazioni: la conservazione individuale 4. Istinto naturale, funzioni dell’anima e anatomia del cervello 5. Confini e gradazioni: gli animali antropomorfi 6. La logica del vivente
Round Table organized by Cetefil/Centro Centro Interateneo per l’edizione di testi filosofici med... more Round Table organized by Cetefil/Centro Centro Interateneo per l’edizione di testi filosofici medievali e rinascimentali with papers by José Filipe Silva, Fabio Bulgarini, Elisa Rubino, Stefano Pelizzari, Giulio Navarra, Amalia Cerrito, Marilena Panarelli, Lars Reuke
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Papers by Amalia Cerrito
https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/blog/forma-fluens/albert-the-great-and-the-configuration-of-the-embryo/
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-69709-9_7
Conference Presentations by Amalia Cerrito
https://filo.unibo.it/it/eventi/amalia-cerrito-trento-la-dottrina-della-virtus-formativa-in-alberto-magno
He is convinced that “male and female” and “motherhood and fatherhood” manifest in nature to varying degrees, ranging from the most perfect nature, i.e., human beings, to the less perfect, i.e., plants. Plants express masculinitas and femininitas proportionally to their nature. The examination of plant generation provides an opportunity to elucidate these concepts, defining the essential aspects and causal roles of male and female functions and features. In this lecture, I will focus on how Albert employs concepts such as the female “body”, “seed”, and “power”, in his investigation on vegetal sexuality.
Nei testi del XIII secolo le espressioni latine leprosus generat leprosum o leprosus est de leproso vengono impiegate a sostegno delle argomentazioni sulla trasmissione, per via generativa, del peccato originale. Tanto la tradizione teologica, quanto la tradizione medica, avevano infatti impiegato il concetto giuridico di hereditas per spiegare tutto ciò che si trasmette per via generativa. La lebbra e il peccato originale erano intese come una sorta di obbligo legale che il figlio eredita dal padre, attraverso il seme. L’aggettivo hereditarius, tuttavia, non rimandava a un modello genetico di causalità ben definito, ma piuttosto indicava la prevedibilità e la necessità del manifestarsi dell’uguaglianza in natura (anche corrotta) tra “chi genera” e “chi è generato”.
Attingendo a fonti mediche e filosofiche, gli autori scolastici discutono le premesse fisiologiche e i termini dell’analogia tra la lebbra e il peccato originale, sviluppando, incidentalmente, una serie di questioni riguardanti lo statuto ontologico e le modalità di trasmissione delle malattie ereditarie.
Nel seminario verranno analizzati passi dalle opere di Guglielmo d'Alvernia, Rolando da Cremona, Bonaventura, Tommaso d'Aquino ed Enrico di Gand.
L'evento fa parte del ciclo "Medieval Lectures on Prognostication" nell'ambito del Progetto Prin-PNRR "Social, Political, and Religious Prognostication and its Roots: Philosophical Strategies for Coping with Uncertainties and Planning the Future".
Info e registrazione: https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/lettere/119979/medieval-lectures-on-prognostication
In dialogue with the manifold medical, natural-philosophical, and theological doctrines on embryogenesis available in the 13th century, the Dominican master Albert the Great gives a coherent account of embryo morphogenesis that harmonizes theological and philosophical perspectives on human generation. His embryological doctrine combines the theological tenet of a human soul created ex nihilo, and the physical and medical explanatory model of epigenesis, which explains embryonic development as a passage from the imperfect to the perfect both of bodily and psychic functions. To overcome the inconsistencies between the theological and natural-philosophical explanations, Albert focuses on the dynamics of configuration of the embryo and on the principle responsible for them, the virtus formativa. This lecture will explore the dynamics involved in the handing down of morphological and functional structures from generator to generated by focusing on the functioning of the formative power in the generative process. It will be shown that the formative power is able to grasp the likeness of the generating body and then reproduce the bodily design into the generated body by shaping it in the image and likeness of its parents.
Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell'Antichità (DiSSGeA) Progetto Mini-SID 2023 (Università degli Studi di Padova-DiSSGeA) "Immaginario arboreo e spazio dell'umano nel cristianesimo latino dalla tarda antichità alla prima età moderna"
Answering these questions, 13th-century authors, such as Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, tried to harmonize ‘borderline species’ within the Christian Neoplatonic outlook by interpreting natural dynamics as degrees of perfection. On the one side, the comparison between human perfection and animal imperfection allowed to determine the boundaries of pygmy’s cognitive skills; on the other side, animal perfection (in relation to plant imperfection) provided a template to investigate plants’ life, and go deeper into the powers of vegetative soul.
https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/conference-women-and-their-body-program-16-03-2023/
In the 13th century, intellectuals from different disciplines (medicine, theology, natural philosophy) competed for the theoretical appropriation of the female body. From the natural-philosophical standpoint, the female body was framed within theories concerning causes and powers involved in the generative process. When pondering the female role in embryogenesis, scholastic authors investigated the anatomy and physiology of the female body, its complexion, and its configuration. From an anthropological-philosophical point of view, the female body was closely linked to the female role as wife and mother in society and was considered the material cause from which both marital and filial loves originate. From a theological and biblical-exegetical perspective, 13th-century theologians had to account for some exceptional biblical female figures, such as Mary and Eve, who (for different but complementary reasons) seemed to challenge crucial Aristotelian tenets on the female body. By assuming an interdisciplinary approach, I will explore the structure and intermingling of these perspectives on female corporeality to show to what extent the Aristotelian male-centered epistemic bias influenced the medieval approach to the female body. It will be demonstrated that, following logical and experiential evidence, some medieval authors make room for alternative theoretical explanations of the female body.
Conference programme: https://www.dcdth.net/programme/
ABSTRACT:
Albert the Great’s biblical commentaries and theological works reveal a deep interaction between exegesis and natural philosophy. This paper aims at showing the interaction of exegesis and biology in Albert’s discussion of the generatio Christi, especially in his commentaries on the gospels of Luke, Matthew, and on the book of Isaiah. Albert ponders over the possibility of explaining the generation of Jesus through a comparison with animal generation. However, the very fact that Jesus was conceived without carnal union, thus without the emission of seed (responsible for the configuration of the embryo), requires an alternative explanation both for the conception and for the formative process of Jesus in Mary’s womb. Albert’s plant embryology, as developed in his De vegetabilibus, comes to the aid: the dynamics involved in Jesus’ generation and conception are explained by drawing a parallel with the generation of flowers (pullulatio floris) rather than that of animals.
https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/blog/forma-fluens/albert-the-great-and-the-configuration-of-the-embryo/
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-69709-9_7
https://filo.unibo.it/it/eventi/amalia-cerrito-trento-la-dottrina-della-virtus-formativa-in-alberto-magno
He is convinced that “male and female” and “motherhood and fatherhood” manifest in nature to varying degrees, ranging from the most perfect nature, i.e., human beings, to the less perfect, i.e., plants. Plants express masculinitas and femininitas proportionally to their nature. The examination of plant generation provides an opportunity to elucidate these concepts, defining the essential aspects and causal roles of male and female functions and features. In this lecture, I will focus on how Albert employs concepts such as the female “body”, “seed”, and “power”, in his investigation on vegetal sexuality.
Nei testi del XIII secolo le espressioni latine leprosus generat leprosum o leprosus est de leproso vengono impiegate a sostegno delle argomentazioni sulla trasmissione, per via generativa, del peccato originale. Tanto la tradizione teologica, quanto la tradizione medica, avevano infatti impiegato il concetto giuridico di hereditas per spiegare tutto ciò che si trasmette per via generativa. La lebbra e il peccato originale erano intese come una sorta di obbligo legale che il figlio eredita dal padre, attraverso il seme. L’aggettivo hereditarius, tuttavia, non rimandava a un modello genetico di causalità ben definito, ma piuttosto indicava la prevedibilità e la necessità del manifestarsi dell’uguaglianza in natura (anche corrotta) tra “chi genera” e “chi è generato”.
Attingendo a fonti mediche e filosofiche, gli autori scolastici discutono le premesse fisiologiche e i termini dell’analogia tra la lebbra e il peccato originale, sviluppando, incidentalmente, una serie di questioni riguardanti lo statuto ontologico e le modalità di trasmissione delle malattie ereditarie.
Nel seminario verranno analizzati passi dalle opere di Guglielmo d'Alvernia, Rolando da Cremona, Bonaventura, Tommaso d'Aquino ed Enrico di Gand.
L'evento fa parte del ciclo "Medieval Lectures on Prognostication" nell'ambito del Progetto Prin-PNRR "Social, Political, and Religious Prognostication and its Roots: Philosophical Strategies for Coping with Uncertainties and Planning the Future".
Info e registrazione: https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/lettere/119979/medieval-lectures-on-prognostication
In dialogue with the manifold medical, natural-philosophical, and theological doctrines on embryogenesis available in the 13th century, the Dominican master Albert the Great gives a coherent account of embryo morphogenesis that harmonizes theological and philosophical perspectives on human generation. His embryological doctrine combines the theological tenet of a human soul created ex nihilo, and the physical and medical explanatory model of epigenesis, which explains embryonic development as a passage from the imperfect to the perfect both of bodily and psychic functions. To overcome the inconsistencies between the theological and natural-philosophical explanations, Albert focuses on the dynamics of configuration of the embryo and on the principle responsible for them, the virtus formativa. This lecture will explore the dynamics involved in the handing down of morphological and functional structures from generator to generated by focusing on the functioning of the formative power in the generative process. It will be shown that the formative power is able to grasp the likeness of the generating body and then reproduce the bodily design into the generated body by shaping it in the image and likeness of its parents.
Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell'Antichità (DiSSGeA) Progetto Mini-SID 2023 (Università degli Studi di Padova-DiSSGeA) "Immaginario arboreo e spazio dell'umano nel cristianesimo latino dalla tarda antichità alla prima età moderna"
Answering these questions, 13th-century authors, such as Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, tried to harmonize ‘borderline species’ within the Christian Neoplatonic outlook by interpreting natural dynamics as degrees of perfection. On the one side, the comparison between human perfection and animal imperfection allowed to determine the boundaries of pygmy’s cognitive skills; on the other side, animal perfection (in relation to plant imperfection) provided a template to investigate plants’ life, and go deeper into the powers of vegetative soul.
https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/conference-women-and-their-body-program-16-03-2023/
In the 13th century, intellectuals from different disciplines (medicine, theology, natural philosophy) competed for the theoretical appropriation of the female body. From the natural-philosophical standpoint, the female body was framed within theories concerning causes and powers involved in the generative process. When pondering the female role in embryogenesis, scholastic authors investigated the anatomy and physiology of the female body, its complexion, and its configuration. From an anthropological-philosophical point of view, the female body was closely linked to the female role as wife and mother in society and was considered the material cause from which both marital and filial loves originate. From a theological and biblical-exegetical perspective, 13th-century theologians had to account for some exceptional biblical female figures, such as Mary and Eve, who (for different but complementary reasons) seemed to challenge crucial Aristotelian tenets on the female body. By assuming an interdisciplinary approach, I will explore the structure and intermingling of these perspectives on female corporeality to show to what extent the Aristotelian male-centered epistemic bias influenced the medieval approach to the female body. It will be demonstrated that, following logical and experiential evidence, some medieval authors make room for alternative theoretical explanations of the female body.
Conference programme: https://www.dcdth.net/programme/
ABSTRACT:
Albert the Great’s biblical commentaries and theological works reveal a deep interaction between exegesis and natural philosophy. This paper aims at showing the interaction of exegesis and biology in Albert’s discussion of the generatio Christi, especially in his commentaries on the gospels of Luke, Matthew, and on the book of Isaiah. Albert ponders over the possibility of explaining the generation of Jesus through a comparison with animal generation. However, the very fact that Jesus was conceived without carnal union, thus without the emission of seed (responsible for the configuration of the embryo), requires an alternative explanation both for the conception and for the formative process of Jesus in Mary’s womb. Albert’s plant embryology, as developed in his De vegetabilibus, comes to the aid: the dynamics involved in Jesus’ generation and conception are explained by drawing a parallel with the generation of flowers (pullulatio floris) rather than that of animals.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-24023-2#about-this-book
INDICE
I. Umano, subumano e animale nel pensiero di Alberto Magno
1. Tra etologia e dimensione politica
2. Perfezione umana e imperfezione animale
3. Istinto, astrazione e plasticità comportamentale
4. La mente dei bambini: analogia o identità in evoluzione?
5. La comunicazione: suoni, versi, linguaggio
6. I pigmei e l’ombra della ragione
7. È solo arroganza antropocentrica?
II. Testi di Alberto Magno in traduzione
Avvertenza alla traduzione
T1. Strutture quasi-politiche nella cooperazione animale (De animalibus, I, 1, 3)
T2. Modi di vita degli animali (De animalibus, I, 1, 4)
T3. Emozioni e funzioni cognitive negli animali e nell’uomo (De animalibus, VII, 1, 1)
T4. La doppia potenzialità del bambino (De homine, q. 2, a. 5, ad 7m [= 3.1.1.4 Anzulewicz – Söder]; De bono, tr. V, q. 1, art.1, resp.; De bono, tr. V, q. 1, art.1, ad 1m)
T5. Non ogni suono è voce (De anima, II, 3, 22)
T6. La vocalità dei versi animali e il linguaggio umano (De animalibus, IV, 2, 2)
T7. Versi e emozioni negli animali (De animalibus, I, 1, 3)
T8. La funzione sociale ed etica del linguaggio umano (Politica, I, 1)
T9. Avvedutezza e stoltezza negli animali (De animalibus, VIII, 6, 1)
T10. Gli animali, le arti e le tecniche (De animalibus, VIII, 6, 2)
T11. L’uomo è l’animale perfetto (De animalibus, XXI, 1, 2)
T12. Livelli di perfezione dell’anima e del corpo: animali, uomini e pigmei (De animalibus, XXI, 1, 2)
T13. L’uomo sa modificare e perfezionare la propria natura (Politica, VII, 11)
III. Alberto Magno e la logica del vivente (di Amalia Cerrito)
1. La palma e la conservazione della specie
2. Organizzazioni imperfette
3. Stimoli e reazioni: la conservazione individuale
4. Istinto naturale, funzioni dell’anima e anatomia del cervello
5. Confini e gradazioni: gli animali antropomorfi
6. La logica del vivente