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SIGER DE BRABANT [SIGhIER, SIGIERI, S...

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 60 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIGER DE See also:

BRABANT [SIGhIER, SIGIERI, SYGERIUS] , See also:French philosopher of the 13th See also:century. About the facts of his See also:life there has been much difference of See also:opinion. In 1266 he was attached to the See also:Faculty of Arts in the University of See also:Paris at the See also:time when there was a See also:great conflict between the four " nations." The papal See also:legate decided in 1266 that Siger was the ringleader, and threatened him with See also:death. During the succeeding ten years he wrote the six See also:works which are ascribed to him and were published under his name by P. Mandonnet in 1899. The titles of these See also:treatises are: De anima intellectiva (1270); Quaestiones logicales; Quaestiones naturales; De aeternitate mundi; Quaestio utrum &tee sit' See also:vera; Homo est See also:animal nullo homine existente; Impossibilia. In 1271 he was once more involved in a party struggle. The minority among the " nations " See also:chose him as See also:rector in opposition to the elected See also:candidate, Aubri de Rheims. For three years the strife continued, and was probably based on the opposition between the Averroists, Siger and See also:Pierre See also:Dubois, and the more orthodox schoolmen. The See also:matter was settled by the Papal Legate, See also:Simon de Brion, afterwards See also:Pope See also:Martin IV. Siger retired from Paris to See also:Liege. In 1277 a See also:general condemnation of Aristotelianism included a See also:special clause directed against See also:Boetius of See also:Denmark and Siger of Brabant.

Again Siger and Bernier de See also:

Nivelles were summoned to appear on a See also:charge of See also:heresy, especially in connexion with the Impossibilia, where the existence of See also:God is discussed. It appears, however, that Siger and Boetius fled to See also:Italy and, according to See also:John See also:Peckham, See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, perished miserably, The manner of Siger's death, which occurred at See also:Orvieto, is not known. A Brabantine See also:chronicle says that he was killed by an insane secretary (a clerico suo quasi dementi). See also:Dante, in the Paradiso (x. 134-6), says that he found " death slow in coming," and tome have concluded that this indicates death by See also:suicide. A 13th-century See also:sonnet by one See also:Durante (xcii. 9-14) says that he was executed at Orvieto: a ghiado it fe' morire a gran dolore, Nella See also:corte di See also:Roma ad Orbivieto. The date of this may have been 1283–1284 when Martin IV. was in See also:residence at Orvieto. In politics he held that See also:good See also:laws were better than good rulers, and criticised papal See also:infallibility in temporal affairs. The importance of Siger in See also:philosophy lies in his See also:acceptance of Averroism in its entirety, which See also:drew upon him the opposition of Albertus See also:Magnus and See also:Aquinas. In See also:December 1270 Averroism was condemned by ecclesiastical authority, and during his whole life Siger was exposed to persecution both from the See also:Church and from purely philosophic opponents. In view of this, it is curious that Dante should See also:place him in See also:Paradise at the See also:side of Aquinas and Isidore of See also:Seville.

Probably Dante knew of him only from the chronicler as a persecuted philosopher. See P. Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant et l'Averroisme (See also:

clan du XIIIe siecle (See also:Fribourg, 1899) ; G. Paris, " Siger de Brabant " in La Poesie du moyen See also:age (1895); and an See also:article in the Revue de Paris (See also:Sept. ISt, 1900).

End of Article: SIGER DE BRABANT [SIGhIER, SIGIERI, SYGERIUS]

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