Two of Alcuin’s pupils are known for their philosophical interests. The more celebrated of them, Fredegisus, wrote in 800 or later a letter De substantia nihili et tenebrarum (On the Substance of Nothing and of Darkness) (Fredegisus of Tours 1895). Fredegisus believes that God created names as well as the things named, and that he did not institute any names which lacked an object. He therefore believes that there must be some thing which corresponds to the names ‘‘nothing’’ and ‘‘darkness.’’ A controversy from later - the only record of it is a letter of Agobard of Lyons from about 830 - suggests that Fredegisus speculated about the origin of human souls and believed that they preexisted the body (cf. Marenbon 1981:64-66).
Alcuin’s other philosophical pupil was Candidus, who was also very probably the companion of Theodulf of Orleans when he went to Rome in 800-801 (Freeman and Meyvaert 2001:126). Candidus was probably the compiler of a set of philosophical passages (some original compositions, some extracts from ancient or patristic texts), that have been labeled the ‘‘Munich Passages,’’ and he probably wrote one of them, labeled as ‘‘Dicta Candidi” (ed. and discussion in Marenbon 1981, to be corrected by Bullough 1991:178-181 and Dolbeau 1997:162-165; an excellent study of the composition, contents, and influence ofthis material has been made in Lebech and McEvoy 2009). Among the passages are some which show an interest, like Alcuin’s, in the ten categories, and others which show a fascination for techniques of logical argument reminiscent of Theodulf. One passage consists of a dialogue-form argument for the existence of God, based on Augustine’s De libero arbitrio but with some of its own, often simplistic argumentative moves. There is also an extract from Calcidius’ Commentary to the Timaeus.
World History
