Les deux totalités. Naissance et éclipse d’un concept dans le Commentaire des Sentences d’Albert le Grand

The first occurrence of the Latin word ‘totalitas’ can be dated back to the 12^th century. ‘Totalitas’ is not quite synonymous with the Aristotelian signification of whole’s quiddity. In fact, in his Commentary on the Sentences, Albert the Great hesitates between a pseudo-Augustinian definition of totalitas and a Peripatetic one. According to the first definition, totalitas is beyond the classical relationship between a whole and its parts; on the contrary, it refers to the capacity of the soul to be present to itself without being a whole that is composed of parts. By contrast, according to the second definition, totalitas is to be identified with universitas. Although this second signification became the standard one in 13^th century, Albert the Great attempts to juxtaposing the pseudo-Augustinian and the Peripatetic significations by means of the notion of totum potestativum. This notion allows the identity between ‘whole’ and ‘perfect’. While the first menaning of totalitas was not consequential on later Scholasticism, it still plays an important role in Albert’s Commentary on the Sentences. It is in fact helpful for settling some difficulties in the Albertinian arguments concerning the soul’s structure.