Denken im Disput

Albertists and Thomists, two philosophical schools of the late Middle Ages, debated the origin of the concepts that underpin argumentation. Is it rooted in thought or in things? For both parties, it was clear that when debating about things, thought cannot exist without things, and things cannot exist without thought. After all, argumentation is about how things should be understood. In this respect, they both addressed the same issue. However, each approached this theme from their own perspective. The Albertists understood humanity in terms of divine potential in its thinking, seeing things in the eternal Word. In contrast, the Thomists viewed humanity in its physical constitution, according to which it can grasp the divine Word not directly, but only in the form of sensory and temporal creation. This contribution examines the debate against the backdrop of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas and places it within a framework shaped by André Breton and Martin Buber, thereby enriching both the Middle Ages and the present.