Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 21, 2018

Medieval Philosophy

Platonism in Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy
(On the Work: De unitate [Dei] et pluralitate creaturarum of Achard of St-Victor)

This paper examines the influence of Platonism on the work of a twelfth-century philosopher, Achard of Saint-Victor. The development of the Plato’s doctrines, in particularly the theory of ideas, is scrutinized across the works of Latin authors that most influenced the reception of Platonic doctrine in the XIIth century (Seneca, Augustine, Erigena, and Boethius). Secondly, these are compared with the doctrine of Achard of Saint-Victor, which allows us to see the origin of some of key philosophical concepts in Achard’s writings such as eternal reasons, first form, idea and idos. The paper supplements previous research on XII century Platonism by Marie-Dominique, Chenu, John Marenbon, and Stephen Gersh.