Ronald Delio Rodriguez

3/12/10 EN102

Blog on Frankenstein using Albertus Mangus

Albertus Magnus who lived from ca. 1193/1206- November 15^th 1280 was a bishop who advocated for the coexistence of science and religion. He was a self taught natural scientist and was involved in the discovery of the philosopher’s stone, and with this he created metals and materials unknown to this world. One specifically was a project he named android which was given speech, taught and even a soul supposedly. The project was destroyed by a student of his who claimed it to be a diabolic being. Upon reading this I reflected back to the story I read by Mary Shelley called “Frankenstein” were she mentions one of Frankenstein’s influences in creation was Mangus. Mangus was considered the greatest philosophers and theologian of his time during the Middle Ages before the story was written so it is very possible he influenced her in writing the story. She talks about making an artificial being threw lab experiments which is the exact same thing Mangus was said to have done. The path of her story was very similar to his as well, in that Frankenstein and the android were both rejected upon creation. I found this part very interesting and the way it was done as well in that they both used strange materials in their creations. Today in day I am sure many people are still trying to create an artificial being, much progress has been made threw science to achieving it. Robots as of now are the first step.