Alberto Magno commentatore di Physica II.8: il finalismo dei processi naturali e le nascite mostruose

Chapter 2 of Book 2 of Physics offers one of Aristotle's most sophisticated arguments in favour of the finalism of natural processes and living organisms. The text has attracted scholarly attention, leading to different, if not conflicting, interpretations. In his commentary on the Physics (II.3.1-4), Albert the Great (1200-1280) not only elucidates this chapter in light of Averroe's commentary, but also sets out his analysis of natural finalism, which includes both a scathing critique of the Empedoclean zoogony and a rich and complex teratological catalogue aimed at explaining monstruos births naturally in terms of the interaction between the virtus formativa and matter. For Albert, the first origin of teleologism is the emanation of the intellectual form from the First Cause which produces a hierarchy of descending ontological levels, thus ensuring that nature is inherently rational, and thus end-oriented: opus naturae est opus intelligentiae.