Tomasz Maziarka: “The Emergence of the Soul. Andreas Nordlander's Interpretation of St. Augustine's Potentialism and the Question of the Creation of the Human Soul in an Evolving Universe"
The article addresses the issue of the creation of the human soul in the context of evolution, using the interpretative framework of St. Augustine's views, as drawn by Andreas Nordlander. The Bishop of Hippo argues for the gradual emergence of the world and the richness of things from the potentialities contained in materia informis and rationes seminales, created ex nihilo. This vision of the development of nature fits very well into the evolutionary picture of the world outlined by the natural sciences, which reveals the emergence of new phenomena as a result of the formation of increasingly complex structures. The creation of the human soul requires detailed consideration. Augustine's classic solution says that only the human body could have been created through natural development, while the soul was brought into existence by a separate act and then “poured” into the body. From a natural point of view, this solution encounters certain difficulties. However, it turns out that the heuristic tools provided by Augustine allow these problems to be avoided, and a scenario is conceivable in which the whole human being, with soul and body, arises through evolution. This solution goes beyond the framework of St. Augustine's anthropology, but it is entirely consistent with his idea of potentialism. This more radical potentialism resolves the tensions within Augustine's anthropology and, at the same time, through its consistency with the natural sciences, makes a valuable contribution to the dialogue between science and religion.
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