much can be said about what the early twelfth-century debate on universals is not. For instance, it is not a discussion of which genera or species grasp the truth of things, or which genera or species a certain individual belongs to, or how one knows that this is so. Twelfth-century magistri thought that the genera and species for which nouns are found in ordinary language, such as 'animal' or 'man,' "cut the world at its joints." They considered it unproblematic both (...) that Socrates belongs to the genus Animal and the species Man and that one knows that he does.1 Similarly, the debate is not about properties of all sorts, or about things of all sorts. It focuses, rather, on substantial properties to the detriment of... (shrink)

This paper investigates Abelard’s first argument against the ‘material essence’ realist view on universals in the Logica ‘Ingredientibus’. It analyses three different interpretations of the argument, those of Alain de Libera, Peter King and Martin Tweedale. Much depends on the manuscript reading ‘iam corpus’ in a crucial passage. The paper argues against the manuscript reading and in favour of the emendation ‘non corpus’ suggested by the editor, Bernhard Geyer. The emended reading is supported by comparison with similar arguments of Abelard (...) and his school found in published and unpublished sources. (shrink)

From the nineteenth century onwards, the so-called ‘Debate over Universals’ from the time of Peter Abelard is regarded as one of the major problems of medieval philosophy. This paper t...

Oxford, Exeter College Library, Ms. 23, ff. 195va-198ra, transmits a miscellany of psychological texts, divided into various sections. This article shows that the first sections of the miscellany reproduce most of Achard of Saint-Victor's De discretione animae, spiritus et mentis, but arrange its material in a different order from DASM and express similar ideas with different wording or word-order. OxDASM would seem to be, or derive from, an unknown version of DASM. The text in Oxford, Exeter College Library, Ms. 23 (...) certainly must be added to the medieval dissemination of DASM, of which before now only four manuscripts-and no indirect tradition-were known. This article has four parts. In the first part, I give an outline of Achard's works and their dissemination. Secondly, I discuss the content of DASM and some of choices made by the editor of the text, Nikolaus Häring. Thirdly, I present the Oxford manuscript, with particular reference to the relatio... (shrink)

L’ Isagoge de Porphyre a été l’un des textes fondamentaux pour l’enseignement de la logique dans l’Occident latin. Cet article veut montrer son importance, à partir de l’étude des manuscrits, pour la période 800-980. L’introduction générale est suivie d’un catalogue des manuscrits qui transmettent l’ Isagoge, ou bien l’un des commentaires de Boèce à l’ Isagoge. Pour chaque manuscrit, sont indiqués la datation, le contenu général, les gloses et les diagrammes liés à l’ Isagoge.

The debate on universals is, generally speaking, a well-known subject in the history of philosophy, but views on universals from the end of the sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century—the object of Heider’s welcome contribution—are quite neglected. Such views are extremely sophisticated, drawing on the established traditions of Thomism and Scotism, in particular, but bringing them to a new level of technicality. Heider investigates three major positions: those of Francisco Suárez, João Poinsot, and the joint position of Bartolomeo Mastri and Bonaventura (...) Belluto. The three views are chosen to.. (shrink)