The One and the Other. Proccessio and emanatio in Metaphysics Works of Dominicus Gundissalinus (12th c.)

Abstract

Processio and emanatio go together from the twelfth century on, to explain that all that exists has a cause, and that this cause does not become itself when it produces the world. The first principle’s permanence in itself entails its distinction with respect to the world. Thus, this period echoes Plotinian thought: the first principle remains still when it produces the world, it remains in itself and in its perfection, and so it cannot be confused with the world. Both concepts are throughout the works De unitate et uno and De processione mundi by Dominicus Gundissalinus in the XII^th century. The article will explain how these notions account for the first cause and then for the second causes, and therefore multiplicity; thus responding to strictly Parmenidean philosophies. This latter current of thought will invoke a Logos-sapientia at the beginning of the world as the principle from which that beginning is explained in terms of processio and emanation. It is a Logos-principle which, keeping its simplicity, will not be able to exclude otherness from itself. This thesis will cause finite diversity to maintain distinction from and dependence on the first Logos, at the same time.