Evaluation

In contemplating the relationship between the soul and the body one must philosophically transcend the relationship between the physical and the spiritual. Understanding the nature of the soul poses a great strain on even the most lucid of thinkers, and Siger of Brabant answers this dilemma by breaking it up into two disciplines, finding a different answer to this ultimate question in the realms of philosophy and religion. While I understand Siger’s motivation to utilize this form of dualism, his belief in the greater importance of religious revelation makes his philosophical notions ultimately irrelevant. If a god does exist, as Siger believes, it renders his philosophical explanation of the soul as an undividable essence pointless in a larger sense. His explanation of the intellective soul, then, serves not as an explanation, but an exercise in seeking out the weaker truth so as to make the greater one more obvious. Siger makes a distinction between the two truths in the opening to his selection on the intellective soul- “For it is certain according to the truth which cannot deceive that intellective souls are multiplied according with the multiplication of human bodies.”

Siger de Brabant's daring take on Aristotelian philosophy represents a break from two important influences. Most obviously, his heresy in expounding on only pure Arisitotelianism ultimately defines his position in the history of western philosophy, as well as most of the known aspects of his biography. His dualism, however, also separates him from a good portion of the ancient Greek philosophy that preceded Aristotle. Milesian Monists, the very first group of Ancient Greek philosophers, built up the philosophies around the notion that there must be some basic building block of the universe, contesting whether it consisted of air, water, or aether. Aristotle called these philosophies “babble” and instead focused on the idea that physical and spiritual existence must have a more complicated explanation than a distilment to a single unified element.

This more complicated view of the universe allows for more room for individual interpretation. Instead of rejecting the different possibilities that abound in a universe of uncertainty, Siger instead embraces views that run contrary to his own concept of truth. Through completely explaining the soul in terms of philosophy, Siger masters it. Instead of explaining why something is not true, he explains why it is, and remains secure in his knowledge about the soul because his grater, ultimate truth comes from a higher realm.

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