William Of Conches
William of Conches
A twelfth-century Scholastic philosopher and theologian, b. about the year 1100. After having been a teacher of theology in Paris he became, about the year 1122, the tutor of Henry Plantaganet. Warned by a friend of the danger implied in his Platonic realism as he applied it to theology, he took up the study of philosophy and the physical science of the Arabians. When and where he died is a matter of uncertainty. There is a good deal of discussion in regard to the authorship of the works ascribed to him. It seems probable, however, that he wrote glosses on Plato’s “Timaeus”, a commentary on Boethius’s “Consolations of Philosophy”, a dialogue called “Dragmaticon”, and a treatise, “Magna de naturis philosophia”. William devoted much attention to cosmology and psychology. Having been a student of Bernard of Chartres, he shows the characteristic Humanism, the tendency towards Platonism, and the taste for natural science which distinguish the “Chartrains”. He is one of the first of the medieval Christian philosophers to take advantage of the physical and physiological lore of the Arabians. He had access to the writings of the Arabians in the translations made by Constantine the African.
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P.L., XC; DE WULF, History of Medieval Phil., tr. COFFEY (New York, 1909), 184; TURNER, Hist. of Phil. (Boston, 1903), 295 sq.
WILLIAM TURNER Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett Dedicated to the memory of William of Conches
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
William Of Conches
a philosopher of the 12th century, was a native of Conches, Normandy, and instructed at the cathedral-school of Chartres. William was famous as a grammarian, but took part in theological questions. His work, entitled Philosophia, in which he espoused Abelard’s doctrine of the Trinity, was attacked after his master’s condemnation by William of St. Thierry, and the author did not hesitate to recant his errors. William of Conches died in 1154.
His Philosophia was published three times, with different titles, and under the name of three different authors:
1. Philosophicarum et Astrono-micarum Institutionum Guilielmi, Hirsangiensis Olim Abbatis, Libri Tres (Basle, 1531);
2. sive Elementorum Philosophiae Libri IV, in Beda’s Opera, 2:311-343 (Basle 1563); 3. De Philosophia Mundi, by Honorius of Autun, in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, volume 20 (Lyons, 1667). Another work of William is Dragmaticon, in which he rejects the errors expressed in his Philosophia. The Dragmaticon, too, is extant under at least six different titles. William also wrote a commentary on Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae. See Werner, in Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch- historischen Classe der kaiserlichezn Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien (1873), 75, page 311 sq.; Haureau, in Comptes-Rendus de l’Academie des Inscriptions et des Belles-Lettres (eod.), 3d series, 1:75 sq.; Prantl, Geschichte der Logik, 2:127; Reginal L. Poole, Illustrations of the History of Mediaeval Thought, and the same in Plitt-Herzog, Real- Encyklop. s.v. (B.P.)