Bridging the ‘Visible’ and the ‘Invisible’ in the Work of Albertus Magnus

Aristotelian “symbola” and Their Role in Natural, Theological, and Meteorological Phenomena

Abstract

During the 13th century, the relation between macrocosm and microcosm was a topic which attracted the interest of many medieval scholars. In this context, medieval philosophers were scrutinising ways of bridging the ‘visible’ and the ‘invisible’ in order to come up with a cogent explanation of the various natural and meteo­rological phenomena that were noticed in the natural world. The Aristotelian symbola (“counterparts”) offered a means of bringing the two realms of reality together and provided a sufficient exegetical tool which could account for the influence of invisible procedures in the visible world. One of the most important commentators of the Aristotelian corpus in the 13th century was Albertus Magnus, who commented on Aristotle’s ‘De generatione et corruptione’ and, therefore, became well aware of the Aristotelian doctrine of symbola. This paper aims to offer a first account of the use of the Aristotelian symbola in the work of Albert and show how the Dominican master employed them so as to explain various natural, theological, and meteorological phenomena.