FACULTÉ DE THÉOLOGIE
INSTITUT D ́ETUDES DOMINICAINES
AV. DE L ́EUROPE 20, CH-1700 FRIBOURG
UNIFR.CH/DOGME

Albert the Great on the Human Being
An Inter-disciplinary Colloquium

April 28-29, 2023

The imago Dei
Epistemology
Man as a social animal
Virtue and human finality
Contemplation and beatitude

Friday, April 28

9:00 Welcome Addresses
Session 1: Imago Dei
9:15 Isabelle Moulin (University of Strasbourg): Le vestige comme l’“autre” image
chez Albert le Grand
9:45 Sebastien Milazzo (University of Strasbourg): L’imago Dei dans le traité
De angelorum creatione
10:15 Discussion
10:45 Break

Session 2: The Limits of Nature
11:00 Fabio de Gregorio (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science):
Albert the Great’s Physics of the Human Soul in Judah Romano’s
Commentary on Genesis 1,1-2,4 (1330)
11:30 Amos Bertolacci (Scuola IMT Alti Studi, Lucca): Strategies of Human
Divinization: Avicenna and Albert the Great
12:00 Discussion
12:30 Lunch

Session 3: Platonic Themes
15:00 Alessandra Beccarisi (Università degli Studi di Foggia): Neoplatonic
Theories in Albert the Great’s Gospel of Matthew
15:30 Dominic Dold (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science):
Albert the Great on Meno’s Paradox
16:00 Discussion
16:30 Break

Session 4: Epistemology
16:45 Paul D. Hellmeier (LMU, Munich): Of Bats and Eagles. What they See and
what they Do Not See: Two Key Metaphors for Human Knowledge in
Albertus Magnus
17:15 Thérèse Scarpelli Cory (Univ. of Notre Dame, USA): The Self-knowing Soul in
Albert the Great
17:45 Discussion
18:30 End of Day 1

Saturday, April 29

Session 5: Empirical Knowledge
9:00 Katja Krause (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science): Albert and
Scientific Experience
9:30 Paloma Hernández Rubio (Univ. Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico): Grasping
the Naked Individual: Albert the Great on Common Sensation in De homine
10:00 Discussion
10:30 Break

Session 6: The Social Animal
11:00 Hans-Joachim Schmidt (University of Fribourg): Social Cohesion and the
Defense of Private Life
11:30 Bernhard Blankenhorn (University of Fribourg): L’homme comme être social
et ecclésial selon Albert le Grand
12:00 Discussion
12:30 Lunch

Session 7: Virtue and Perfection
14:45 Tobias Hoffmann (Sorbonne, Paris): Albert the Great’s Early Account of
Prudence
15:15 Tracy Wietecha (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science): Becoming a
Moral Subject: civilitas in Albert the Great’s Ethical Commentaries
15:45 Discussion
16:15 Break

Session 8: God and Human Knowledge
16:30 Franklin Harkins (Boston College): Divine Providence and Human Knowledge
in Albert’s Super Iob
17:00 Meghan Duke (Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.): God’s
Infinitude in Albert’s Thought on the Beatific Vision
17:30 Discussion
18:00 Concluding Remarks and Discussion of Future Steps
18:30 End of the Colloquium

Principal Organizer: Bernhard Blankenhorn
Institut d’études dominicaines (IED),
Theology Faculty (University of Fribourg)

Co-sponsor: The Thomistic Institute, Pontifical
University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Rome)

Information:
bernhard.blankenhorn@unifr.ch
dominic.spiekermann@unifr.ch

Translation: 
Interventions in French and English
Script available in English

Location: University of Fribourg (CH) – Miséricorde 03 – room 3115