色と音声のパラレリズム : アルベルトゥス・マグヌスの聴覚論

Abstract

Albert the Great, one of the most representative natural philosopher and natural scientist in the Western history of ideas, considered the similarity between light and the rational power in the context of the Aristotelian sense perception theory. I will investigate this consideration in this paper in order to find any key to know why light has been extremely important all through the Western history of natural science and natural philosophy. According to Albert, light in itself is not the proper object of the sense of sight because light in itself is not a color, which is the proper object of sight. Light is the main cause of a color. For, when light is received not in transparent bodies, like air, water, or glass, but in various kinds of opaque bodies, the actuality of light is limited, so that light becomes this or that particular kind of color. On the other hand, the proper object of the sense of hearing is a sound and the main cause of it is the overflowing of air. However, the overflowing of air is different from light because, when a sound is heard, the actuality of the overflowing of air is usually not limited as in the case of light. Although a voice is also a kind of sound, the main cause of a voice as such is rather a man's rational power, and when a voice is heard, a man's rational power is limited in the same way as light. For, light is participated and limited in various kinds of opaque bodies, that is to say, in almost all of terrestrial bodies, and thereby makes them colorful, or perceptible. Likewise, a man's rational power, which is essentially eternal, is limited temporarily in syllables so as to be voices, and the voices signify almost all of things, and thereby make them audible in a sense, or perceptible. Thus, for Albert, light and a man's rational power are very similar to one another.