Quaestiones de divinis praedicamentis XXVIII-XXXII

Abstract

James of Viterbo (ca. 1255–1307), Augustinian friar, master of theology at the University of Paris, and archbishop of Naples, was one of the leading philosophers and theologians of the later thirteenth century. This volume completes the critical edition of his academic works and presents his last two questions De divinis praedicamentis and his three annexed questions on the will (De potentia et actu volendi). These questions, deriving from disputations James held as Augustinian regent master of theology at the University of Paris (1293–1297), offer rich discussions of important topics: whether the plurality of divine persons and attributes entails an order of priority within God and how causality may be attributed to God. The questions on the will cover issues at the core of later medieval debates on human freedom: on the unity of the will as a power of the soul, whether the will is the primary agent in human action, and whether the will is free with respect to all its acts.