Nature and Status of the Human Soul – St. Bonaventure

St. Bonaventure was a philosopher, author, and theologian who lived between 1217 and 1274 AD. During his philosophical works, he developed a human soul model that was a perspective from a person’s knowledge of God with the world being presented as a side effect. The paper presents a brief description of the human soul regarding its state and nature as perceived by St. Bonaventure.

According to St. Bonaventure, the soul is a threefold structure of senses, spirit, and the mind which manifest in the exterior corporeal, self, and above the self respectively. Additionally, it has six central powers that are synchronized with six steps, and together, they enable a person to know God (Komáromi, 2021, para. 1). The steps as highlighted by the saint include sense, reason, and intellect in addition to intelligence, imagination and the synderesis spark, which he also refers to as the mind’s apex.

St. Bonaventure believed that sense perception forms the start of knowing God and the world. Intellectual supremacy coupled with the spiritual powers of the soul facilitates the evolution of such knowledge (Salvador-González, 2021, p. 164). According to the saint both the knowledge object and the knower human soul, which in his perception are shadows and vestige, and image and similitude respectively, point to God (Komáromi, 2021, para. 2). Further, the saint claimed that certain knowledge can only be acquired through divine light illumination.

In summation, St. Bonaventure perceived the human soul as a threefold structure with senses, spirit, and the mind being its components. According to the saint, sense perception is the beginning of knowing God and the world. Such knowledge is facilitated by intellectual supremacy and the spiritual powers of the soul.

References

Komáromi, A. L. (2021). St Bonaventure on mind. Philosophy Models. Web.

Salvador-González, J. M. (2021). Contemplating God from the mirror of the soul. the first level of St. Bonaventure’s introspective aesthetics from its inspiring sources. Poligrafi, 26, 153–173. Web.

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StudyCorgi. (2023) 'Nature and Status of the Human Soul – St. Bonaventure'. 9 December.

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StudyCorgi. "Nature and Status of the Human Soul – St. Bonaventure." December 9, 2023. https://studycorgi.com/nature-and-status-of-the-human-soul-st-bonaventure/.

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StudyCorgi. 2023. "Nature and Status of the Human Soul – St. Bonaventure." December 9, 2023. https://studycorgi.com/nature-and-status-of-the-human-soul-st-bonaventure/.

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