The Concept of Nature in the Metaphysical Theology of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

Abstract

In intellectual terms, Bernard of Clairvaux is one of the most important men of his time, the twelfth century. His texts (writings) influenced contemporary minds. It is, therefore, crucial to study his work in order to determine the intellectual degree of pre scholastic thinkers, who have written philosophical treatises – in our case the interest is the concept of Nature, one of the most traditional in Philosophy. Thus, our proposal is to understand how Bernardo developed this concept in his work, from his more humanistic Christian definitions (such as “all men are equal by nature”) to more specific metaphysical definitions as, for example, how his considerations about the imperative of collaboration with Nature’s Grace (because, in his opinion, the powers of Nature, equal for all, are useless without Grace).