JOSE RICARDO PIERPAULI, The Importance of Divine Justice for the Political Philosophy of Albert the Great. An Attempt at Reconstructing Albert’s Political Philosophy

SUMMARY

The present paper examines the significance of divine justice and its importance for Albert’s exposition of Aristotle’s Politics. According to Albert, divine justice is the foundation of, the most important reason for, and the final fulfillment of any political order. Even if his commentary on the Politics is only an expositio, there is enough evidence in the central assertions of Albert’s short explanations to establish a valid starting point for his political philosophy. In reconstructing Albert’s thought process, the article makes reference to his entire output, but especially to his theological positions, since the concept of divine justice is the hermeneutical key to an adequate understanding of his political theses. The article shows that Albert had already developed his peculiar theory of contracts in earlier works, and that he did so also from an onto-theological perspective.