The medieval Christian philosophy was influenced by the translations of the writings of the ancient philosophers from Arabic into Latin. Among them was also Liber de causis. In his commentary to this book Albert the Great examines Avicebron’s theory of universal matter and universal form, offering his own interpretation of the latter. The conclusions of the author’s analysis of Albert’s commentary are as follows: 1. In Albert’s commentary the theory of Avicebron is not represented adequately. 2. Albert’s objections against Avicebron’s (...) theory are not identical with his approach to Platonism in general. 3. Dividing philosophers into two groups, Platonists and Aristotelians, as usually found in contemporary analyses, can not be applied when analyzing Albert’s commentary, while the two approaches differ substantially. (shrink)

Saadia Gaon never thought much of academic discussions. His interest was rather in his contemporary, living in doubt and religious uncertainty. The author focuses on three conceptions - the backbone of his picture of a religious human being, namely belief, intellect and interpretation. Saadia's interpretation of belief and human intellect, based on the principles of Hebrew religion, underlines the specific Jewish understanding of belief, intellect and the interpretation itself.