William of Conches: Philosophia Mundi (2)

This treatise in four books sets out a complete natural philosophy, from God and the world soul to the elements, the heavens, the atmosphere, the earth and the human being. It opens with Cicero’s saying that eloquence without wisdom does harm, while wisdom without eloquence helps a little but with eloquence helps most, and attacks those who call themselves masters but know nothing of philosophy and are ashamed to admit their ignorance. Each book is preceded by a list of its chapters. The sample from a later book argues against those who wish the sun always stood in Aries to keep a perpetual spring, replying that without winter the earth would not conceive seed nor would fruits ripen.

Printed by Migne among the doubtful works of Bede under the title Elementa Philosophiae, this is the Philosophia Mundi of William of Conches, the twelfth-century master associated with Chartres and Paris. Drawing on Plato’s Timaeus, Macrobius and new medical sources, it seeks natural explanations for the phenomena of the world and was widely read; its views brought criticism from William of Saint-Thierry. It is a central text of twelfth-century natural philosophy.