ORIGINS OF THE PROBLEM OF UNITY OF FORM 149 



topic, strictly speaking, was unrelated to the text. Neverthe- 

 less, because there were various opinions, Albert thought it 

 fitting to inquire into the question, together with the kindred 

 question about whether the powers of the soul are distinct or 

 identical with the essence of the soul.^^ We meet with similar 

 questions in an anonymous commentary on the Ethica nova by 

 a master of iVrts of the first half of the thirteenth century ."^^ 



But by this time, mid-thirteenth century, the debate was 

 well advanced, and the treatment of the problem was greatly 

 developed. A few years later, the genius of St. Thomas Aquinas 

 will bring its solution to full maturity. 



Daniel A. Callus, O. P. 



Blackfriars 



Oxford, England 



^^ " Quamvis considerare horum differentiam [rationabilis et irrationabilis] non 

 pertineat ad banc scientiam, sicut ipse [Aristoteles] dicit, tamen quia de hoc sunt 

 opiniones, quaeritur, utrum. . . . See G. Meersseman, " Die Einheit der mensch- 

 licheii Seele nach Albertus Magnus," Divus Thomas (Frib.), X (1932) 86 ff. 



"" These questions have been published by Dom O. Lottin, Psychologic et Morale, 

 ed. cit., I, pp. 511-12. 



