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Theodoric of Freiberg (; – ) was a German member of the
Dominican order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...
and a
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
. He was named provincial of the Dominican Order in 1293,
Albert the Great Albertus Magnus (c. 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his life ...
's old post. He is considered one of the notable philosophers and theologians of the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
based on his career and writings.


Early life

Theodoric became a Dominican friar very early on in his life, and he studied and taught at the local convent in
Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...
around the year 1271 (Teske 2003). He lived around the time of Albert the Great (1193 to 1280) (Fuhrer 1992) and was greatly inspired by him. Though other philosophers at this time followed in Albert’s footsteps as well, Theodoric “showed the most marked tendency to Albert’s universality of interests” (Fuhrer 1992). From the dates of Albert’s life, we can assume that Theodoric was still young when Albert’s career was almost at its end, and no assumption can be made to whether or not Theodoric ever met or studied under Albert. In medieval documents he is assigned the title of “magister”, which tells us he had a great deal of university training at an advanced level (Fuhrer 1992).


Career and early works

After teaching in Freiberg for some time, he journeyed to Paris to study there between the years of 1272 to 1274 (Gillispie 2008), although we do not know whom he may have studied with. In a book titled “Treatise on the Intellect and the Intelligible” translated by M.L. Fuhrer, Fuhrer writes that in the second part of a treatise Theodoric talks about a “solemn master” in Paris. Fuhrer goes on to say that
Henry of Ghent Henry of Ghent (c. 1217 – 29 June 1293) was a scholastic philosopher, known as '' Doctor Solemnis'' (the "Solemn Doctor"), and also as Henricus de Gandavo and Henricus Gandavensis. Life Henry was born in the district of Mude, near Ghent. He ...
was known as “doctor solemnis” by his students, but ultimately states that there can be no certainty that they actually met or knew each other. Theodoric then returned home to Germany for a while before coming back to Paris. Here he began his lectures on Sentences in 1281 (Pasnau 2010). Exactly how long he remained in Paris in not clear, but it is agreed that he was made the prior of the Dominican convent in Wurzburg around 1293 (Fuhrer 1992). Further sources indicate that he was appointed provincial of Teutonia in 1293 as well (Somerset, Fiona 1998). Theodoric was then “promoted”, to the Provincial Superior for the
province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
of Germany, the position previously held by Albert the Great (Pasnau 2010, Fuhrer 1992). Around the years of 1296 and 1297 he was named “master of theology’ in Paris, where he taught up to around 1300 (Teske 2008). Theodoric became one of the two Germans - the other being Abertus Magnus) - to earn this title of magister in the thirteenth century. Theodoric was also present for the general chapter of the Dominican order at
Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...
and his name appears in the general chapter of the order in
Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
. The last position Theodoric was appointed to was Vicar provincial of Germany in 1310 (Gillispie 2008). His name does not appear in any kind of document after this time.


Physics

While 13th century authors failed to provide an accurate explanation for the
rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
, at the turn of the fourteenth century Theodoric was able to give one of the first correct
geometrical Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
analyses of this phenomenon, which was ''"probably the most dramatic development of 14th- and 15th-century
optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...
"''. Drawing from his two earlier works on light and colour, he wrote ''De iride et radialibus impressionibus'' (''On the Rainbow and the impressions created by irradiance'', c. 1304-1311), relying on geometry,
experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
, falsification and other methods. Among other properties he explained in detail: * the colors of the primary and secondary rainbows * the positions of the primary and secondary rainbows * the path of sunlight within a drop: light beams are
refracted In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomeno ...
when entering the atmospheric droplets, then reflected inside the droplets and finally refracted again when leaving them. * the formation of the rainbow: he explains the role of the individual drops in creating the rainbow * the phenomenon of color reversal in the secondary rainbow Using spherical flasks and glass globes filled with water, Theodoric was able to simulate the water droplets during rainfall. Still in its early stages, experimental instrumentation would later expand to be used primarily for making measurements, extending the human senses and creating and isolated environment for the experimenter. During his experimentation with these glass globes, he was correct in asserting that the colors formed by the interaction of sunlight with the water droplets. Recently, scientists have found evidence of the experimental instrumentation used by him. Currently on loan to universities in Providence, Rhode Island, the instrumentation does, indeed, simulate a droplet of water by which sunlight is reflected and refracted, thereby creating a rainbow. He studied refraction and reflection using transparent and opaque bodies (e.g. magnifying glasses, plane, convex and concave mirrors, prisms, and transparent crystal spheres and beryls. His experiments led to an explanation of the reflection/refraction phenomenon of drops of water in clouds that form the rainbow. One of Theodoric's contemporaries, Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, offered the same experimentally-established explanation of the rainbow (without any contacts between them) in his ''Kitab tanqih al-manazir'' (''The Revision of the Optics''). Both authors however relied on the ''
Book of Optics The ''Book of Optics'' ( ar, كتاب المناظر, Kitāb al-Manāẓir; la, De Aspectibus or ''Perspectiva''; it, Deli Aspecti) is a seven-volume treatise on optics and other fields of study composed by the medieval Arab scholar Ibn al- ...
'' by
Ibn al-Haytham Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the pr ...
(Alhacen)/
Alhazen Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the prin ...
.


Theology

Theodoric's theological works tend to be heavily
Neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
, while his more secular philosophical works are more Aristotelian. Dietrich disagreed with
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino, Italy, Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest who was an influential List of Catholic philo ...
on certain metaphysical issues, and seems to have written in opposition to particular works by Aquinas. He had a remarkable influence on the 10 years younger
Meister Eckhart Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart, Master Eckhart One of his extraordinary contributions to
medieval philosophy Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...
was a theory of the
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...
that equalled the Aristotelian notion of "
agent intellect The active intellect (Latin: ''intellectus agens''; also translated as agent intellect, active intelligence, active reason, or productive intellect) is a concept in classical and medieval philosophy. The term refers to the formal (''morphe'') aspec ...
" and the Augustinian notion of "abditum mentis" (i.e. the hiddenness, or hidden place of the soul). The theory of the agent intellect says that in knowing, the mind is not merely passive, it has to work on producing a conception of its object, a conception which is then received and retained by the passive part of the mind. The hiddenness of the soul, in turn, is the ground of the soul in which God's image is imprinted, a spiritual apex of man's being by which he transcends space and time.


Works


Theological works

* ''De visione beatifica'' * ''De corpore Christi mortuo'' * ''De dotibus corporum gloriosorum'' * ''De substantiis spiritualibus et corporibus futuræ resurrectionis''.


Philosophical works

* ''De habitibus'' * ''De ente et essentia'' * ''De magis et minus'' * ''De natura contrariorum'' * ''De cognitione entium separatorum et maxime animarum separatarum'' * ''De intelligentiis et motoribus cælorum'' * ''De corporibus cælestibus quoad naturam eorum corporalem'' * ''De animatione cæli'' * ''De accidentibus'' * ''De quiditatibus entium'' * ''De origine rerum prædicamentalium'' * ''De mensuris'' * ''De natura et proprietate continuorum'' * ''De intellectu et intelligibili''.


Scientific works

* ''De luce et ejus origine'' * ''De coloribus'' * ''De iride et radialibus impressionibus'' * ''De miscibilibus in mixto'' * ''De elementis corporum naturalium''.


Modern editions

* ''Opera omnia'' = ''Corpus Philosophorum Teutonicorum Medii Ævi'', Hamburg, Felix Meiner Verlag, vol. 1-4: ** Burckhard Mojsisch (ed.), ''Schriften zur Intellekttheorie'', Hamburg, 1977. ** Ruedi Imbach, Maria Rita Pagnoni-Sturlese, Hartmund Steffan et Loris Sturlese (eds.), ''Schriften zur Metaphysik und Theologie'', Hamburg, 1980. ** Jean-Daniel Cavigioli, Ruedi Imbach, Burckhard Mojsisch, Maria Rita Pagnoni-Sturlese, Rudolf Rehn et Loris Sturlese (eds.), ''Schriften zur Naturphilosophie und Metaphysik. Quæstiones'', Hamburg, 1983. ** Maria Rita Pagnoni-Sturlese, Rudolf Rehn, Loris Sturlese et William A. Wallace (eds.), ''Schriften zur Naturwissenschaft. Briefe'', Hambourg, 1985.


English translations

* Dietrich of Frieberg ( 1992). “Treatise on the Intellect and the Intelligible”, Milwaukee: Marquette University Press


See also

*
Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ...
*
Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophe ...
* Berthold of Moosburg *
List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...


References


Further reading

* Calma, Dragos. ''Le poids de la citation. Etude sur les sources arabes et grecques dans l'œuvre de Dietrich de Freiberg'', Fribourg, Academic Press, 2010, , 388 p. * Colli, Andrea. ''Tracce agostiniane nell'opera di Teodorico di Freiberg'', Marietti 1820, Milano-Genova 2010. * Flasch, Kurt. ''Dietrich von Freiberg. Philosophie, Theologie, Naturforschung um 1300'' (Frankfurt /M.: Vittorio Klostermann, 2007). * Fűhrer, Markus & Gersh, Stephen. ''Dietrich of Freiberg and Berthold of Moosburg'', in Stephen Gersh (ed.), ''Interpreting Proclus from Antiquity to the Renaissance'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 299–317. * Gillispie, Charles Coulston. "Dietrich Von Freiberg." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 4. Detroit, Scribner, 2008. * * Gracia, Jorge J. E. and Timothy B. Noone (eds.). ''A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages'', Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003. * Lindberg, David C.
''Roger Bacon's Theory of the Rainbow: Progress or Regress?''
''Isis'' Vol. 57, No. 2, 1966, pp. 235–248. * * Pasnau, Robert. ''The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy'', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010. * Somerset, Fiona. "Dietrich of Freiberg." ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. Vol. 2. London: Routledge, 1999. * Wallace, W. A. ''The Scientific Methodology of Theodoric of Freiberg. A Case Study of the Relationship Between Science and Philosophy''. Studia Friburgensia, N.S. 26. Fribourg: The University Press, 1959.


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theodoric 13th-century German philosophers 13th-century German scientists German Dominicans 1250 births 1310 deaths German Christian monks 14th-century Latin writers Catholic clergy scientists German male writers 13th-century Latin writers 13th-century German writers 14th-century German writers 14th-century German philosophers 14th-century German scientists