Western Culture Global Presents

The Top 100 Heroes of Western Culture
These individuals have most contributed to replacing ignorance with knowledge, savagery with civilization, disease with health, tyranny with liberty, poverty with abundance, and despair with happiness.



#23: Albertus Magnus (1206-1280)

Albertus Magnus (1206-1280) was a German Dominican, scientist and philosopher who played a role in ending the European Dark Age.

Magnus succeeded, along with his famous student Thomas Aquinas, in reintroducing the the pro-reason, pro-science, pro-this-world philosophy of Aristotle to Europe after nearly a 1,000 year absence. This reintroduction would be the driving force behind the coming Renaissance which would change much of the world forever.

In addition, Magus in many ways boldly immersed himself in this world and this life, as opposed to turning away from them in favor of otherworldliness and the next life as dozens of generations before him had done. Like his contemporary, Roger Bacon (1214-94), Magnus had a powerful fascination with nature -- an exceedingly uncommon (and arguably heretical) characteristic to posses in the Christian-dominated 1200s. Magnus made contributions to the fields of meteorology, mineralogy, and zoology among others.

His ground-breaking and contagious scientific spirit would help contribute in transforming Europe from a religion-dominated continent to one that has considerable respect for reason and science.



Go to #24: Galen


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