“Pulchra ut Luna”: St. Bonaventure, Richard Fishacre, and the De generatione stellarum on the Lunar Substance
This article explores Bonaventure’s thinking on the lunar substance. Focusing upon his discussion of the moon’s opacity and illumination by the solar radii, and how it relates to his appropriation of Aristotelian colour theory, it shows that there is a connection between Bonaventure’s discussion of...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2024
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| In: |
Vivarium
Year: 2024, Volume: 62, Issue: 2, Pages: 120-146 |
| Further subjects: | B
quintessence
B Moon B Bonaventure B Richard Fishacre B Averroes B dubia |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article explores Bonaventure’s thinking on the lunar substance. Focusing upon his discussion of the moon’s opacity and illumination by the solar radii, and how it relates to his appropriation of Aristotelian colour theory, it shows that there is a connection between Bonaventure’s discussion of the moon in his early Dubia circa litteram magistri and that found in the Sentences commentary of the Oxford Dominican Richard Fishacre and the De generatione stellarum, often attributed to Robert Grosseteste. As we will see, Bonaventure not only seems alert to the highly unusual thesis which Fishacre and the De generatione stellarum share concerning the lunar body – namely, that it is composed of one or more of the four terrestrial elements rather than the celestial quintessence as Aristotle teaches – but he also critiques this position and repeatedly defends the Aristotelian interpretation, often by appealing to the thinking of Averroes. The argument is made that it is Fischacre’s text which Bonaventure is critiquing and that the convergences between the text of his dubium and the De generatione stellarum are to be explained through his knowledge of Fishacre’s Sentences commentary given the latter’s clear dependence on the De generatione stellarum. In turn, it is argued that Bonaventure’s theory of the lunar body shows that his natural philosophy possesses a much stronger peripatetic flavour to it than is usually acknowledged. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5349 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Vivarium
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685349-06202002 |