MONIKA MANSFELD, MAREK GENSLER, Walter Burley On the “Spiritus” In the “Parva Naturalia” Commentaries

SUMMARY

The concept of the spiritus employed by Walter Burley, an English philosopher active in the first half of the fourteenth century, in his commentaries on the Parva naturalia set is presented in a scholarly manner, drawing from many sources available for Latin thinkers of his times. Burley analyses the character of the spiritus, its origin, and numerous functions it plays in living organisms. He distinguishes between the functions it plays with respect to the vegetative actions of bodies and the ones concerning the sensitive and motor actions. He also pays attention to the interesting issue of activity and rest as periods in which one or the other functions are given priority by the organism.