SOURCE: Mahoney, Edward P. “Sense, Intellect, and Imagination in Albert, Thomas, and Siger.” In The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism 1100-1600, edited by Norman Kretzmann, Anthony Kenny, and Jan Pinborg, pp. 602-22. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

In the following essay, Mahoney discusses Siger in the context of the ideas of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, focusing on Averroes's interpretation of Aristotle.

Albert the Great

Albert the Great reveals the influence of Avicenna and Averroes in his psychology, though he certainly does not agree with them on all points.¹ Although he maintains that sense as such is a material and passive power, Albert admits that after it has been actualised by the sensible form, it can make judgements. However, it appears to do so only through the common sense. Albert rejects the argument that just as...