SOURCE: "Albert's Influence on Late Medieval Psychology," in Albertus Magnus and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays 1980, edited by James A. Weisheipl, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1980, pp. 501-35.

In the following excerpt, Park discusses Albert's theory of the soul and its importance to Medieval psychological theory, including that of his student Thomas Aquinas.

Albert wrote four major works on the soul: a commentary on De anima; Summa de homine (Book II of his Summa de creaturis); De natura et origine animae; and De intellectu et intelligibili. The first two were the most important for later psychology. In these, as in Albert's other writings on the subject, the most frequently cited philosopher, apart from Aristotle, was Avicenna, whose De anima seu Sextus de naturalibus was Albert's principal source. Albert depends on Avicenna for many of his particular doctrines and for much of his method.

Concerning his method, Albert distinguishes two...