David of Dinant

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David of Dinant (c. 1160 – c. 1217) was a

Church in 1210 for his writing of the "Quaternuli" (Little Notebooks), which forced him to flee Paris
. When and where he died is unknown; all that can be ascertained is that he died after the year 1215, as he was condemned again in the council of 1215.

Since David's works were banned, most of what is known of him is from the writings of his contemporaries and opponents, chiefly

Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas. David's philosophy was that everything could be divided among bodies, minds, and eternal substances. The indivisible substrate or constituent of bodies is matter (hyle); of minds or souls, intellect (nous); and of eternal substances, God (Deus). These three, matter, intellect, and God, are actually one and the same. Consequently, all things, material, intellectual, and spiritual, have one and the same essence — God
.

Life and work

Little is known about the details of his life. It is not certain whether he was born at

Robert Courçon, papal legate. From a work ascribed to Albert the Great, "Compilatio de Novo Spiritu", in the Munich Library,[3]
we learn further that in consequence of the condemnation, David fled from France, and so escaped punishment. Besides the "Quaternuli", another work entitled "De Tomis, seu Divisionibus" is mentioned. It is not improbable, however, that this was merely another title for the "Quaternuli". The effect of the order issued by the council was to cause all the writing of David to disappear. Thus, his doctrines are derived from the assertions of his contemporaries and opponents, notably Albert the Great and St. Thomas as mentioned above.

Theology

From these sources we learn that David was a Pantheist. He identified God with the material substratum of all things,

Gundisalvi of Segovia
, who was well versed in Arabian philosophical literature. Whatever the source, the doctrines were pantheistic, as all authorities concur in describing them.

The

1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
takes a rather dim view of David's philosophy, and considers the harsh response understandable. It says:

((This pantheism)) of itself would justify the drastic measures to which the Council of Paris had recourse. There were, moreover, circumstances which rendered summary condemnation necessary. On the one hand the
Amalricians
to which he apparently belonged, and the unwonted harshness of St. Thomas's reference to him cannot be judged untimely or intemperate.

Historians have thought that the reason St. Albert and St. Thomas responded to David at all was not so much out of fear of David's pantheism, but rather to defend Aristotle. David strongly drew on Aristotle's thoughts on prime matter and form, and Albert and Thomas – both of whom respected Aristotle – wanted to show that Aristotle's writings need not imply pantheism. To do this, they had to dispute David, lest the banning of Aristotle's writings spread outside Paris.[1]

See also

  • Extension
  • Christian materialism

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "David of Dinant". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

  1. ^ a b Copleston, Frederick Charles. A history of philosophy
  2. ^ Bosmajian, Haig A. Burning Books
  3. ^ (MS. lat. 311, fol. 92 b)
  4. ^ (St. Thomas, Summa Theol., I, Q. iii, a. 8)
  5. ^ (St. Thomas, In II Sent., dist. xvii, Q. i; Albert the Great, Sum. Theol., II, Tract. xii, Q. lxxii, a. 2)
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