English Logic and Semantics, from the End of the Twelfth Century to the Time of Ockham and Burleigh.: Acts of the 4th European Symposium on Mediaeval Logic and Semantics, Leiden-Nijmegen, 23-27 April 1979

480 Pages·1981·15.04 MB·English

by  H.A.G. Braakhuis

ENGLISH LOGIC AND SEMANTICS
ARTIST ARIUM
A Series of Texts on Mediaeval Logic, Grammar & Semantics
EDITORS
L. M. de RIJK H. A. G. BRAAKHUIS
& &
E. P. BOS C.H.KNEEPKENS
Leiden Nijmegen
Vol. I: L. M. de Rijk, Anonymi auctoris franciscani Logica ,,Ad rudium" (edited
from the MS Vat'. lat. 946), Nijmegen 1981
in preparation:
E. P. Bos, Johannes Hollandrinus, Logica: A Critical Edition of the Suppositiones,
Fallacie, Obligationes, and Consequentie
H. A. G. Braakhuis, Nicholas of Paris (?), Summe Metenses: A Complete Edition
C. H. Kneepkens, Ralph of Beauvais, Opera grammaticalia
L. M. de Rijk, Some 14th Century Tracts on the Probationes terminorum. An Edition
of Four Current Textbooks with an Introduction and Indexes
SUPPLEMENTA to ARTISTARIUM:
Vol. I: English Logic and Semantics, from the End of the Twelfth Century to the Time
of Ockham and Burleigh, Nijmegen 1981
ARTISTARIUM
SUPPLEMENT A
I
ENGLISH LOGIC AND SEMANTICS
FROM THE END OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY TO THE TIME OF
OCKHAM AND BURLEIGH
ACTS OF THE 4TH EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM ON MEDIAEVAL LOGIC AND
SEMANTICS, LEIDEN-NIJMEGEN, 23-27 APRIL 1979
EDITED BY
H. A. G. BRAAKHUIS, C. H. KNEEPKENS, L. M. de RIJK
Nijmegen
lngenium Publishers
1981
ISBN 90 70419 02 5
Copyright 1981 by lngenium Publishers, P.O. BOX 1342, 6501 BH Nijmegen, The
Netherlands.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form,
by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written
permission from the publisher.
PRINTED by KRIPS REPRO MEPPEL, THE NETHERLANDS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pref ace VII
List of Participants VIII
L.M. de Rijk (Leiden): Abailard's Semantic Views in the Light
of Later Developments
Notes 53
C.H. Kneepkens (Nijmegen): Robert Blund and the Theory of
Evocation 59
Notes 82
Klaus Jacobi (Koln): Wilhelm von Shyreswood und die Dialectica
Monacensis 99
Notes and Appendix 116
H.A.G. Braakhuis (Nijmegen): English Tracts on Syncategorematic
Terms from Robert Bacon to Walter Burley 131
Notes and Appendix 150
Karin Margareta Fredborg (K\'lbenhavn): Roger Bacon on "Impositio
vocis ad significandum" 167
Notes and Appendix 180
Alain de Libera (Paris): Roger Bacon et le probleme de
l'annellatio univoca. 193
Notes 222
Osmund Lewry (Oxford): The Oxford Condemnations of 1277 in
Grammar and Logic 235
Notes 254
N.J. Green-Pedersen (K\'lbenhavn): Walter Burley, De Consequentiis
and the Origin of the Theory of Consequence 279
Notes 298
J. Pinborg (K\'lbenhavn): Walter Burley on Exclusives 305
Notes and Appendices 321
Sten Ebbesen (K\'lbenhavn): Suprasegmental Phonemes in Ancient
and Mediaeval Logic 331
Notes and Appendix 345
Paul Desmond Henry (Manchester): Suppositio and Significatio in
English Logic 361
Notes 381
Elizabeth Karger (Paris): Would Ockham Have Shaved Wyman's
Beard? 389
Notes 408
H. Hubien (Liege): Buridan and Le~niewski on the Copula 415
Ria van der Lecq (Leiden): Buridan on Modal Propositions 427
Notes and 440
Graziella Federici Vescovini (Torino): A la recherche du
mysterieux Buser 443
Notes 455
Indexes
Index of Manuscripts 461
Index of Ancient and Mediaeval Names 465
PREFACE
Twelfth century education was a., European affair and the
Parisian schools of logic were its centre. Masters and students
flocked together on the banks of the Seine and on the Montagne Ste.
Genevieve and, after a long or short stay there, returned home to
occupy all kinds of intellectual positions.
An entirely different picture is offered by the 14th and
15th centuries. English logicians, especially the Oxford masters,
w~re via their textbooks highly influential on the Art courses of
many Universities on the Continent. Their teaching was clearly
felt, indeed, to belong to a tradition which was different from
the continental approach.
Modern scholarship generally acknowledges that this insular
tradition of logic held sway in the late Middle Ages, but has good
reasons so far to doubt whether this was the situation in the fore
going centuries.
So the IVth European Symposium on Mediaeval Logic and Seman
tics was intended to clarify the early development of "English
Logic". The present volume, which contains all the papers read,
presents the results of such an attempt. The Editors strongly hope
that these Acta will be a stimulus for further research in this
field.
The publication of this volume has been made possible through
the generous financial help of the Leids Universiteitsfonds (LUF)
and the Stichting Nijmeegs Universiteitsfonds (SNUF).
Thanks are due to the Filosofisch Instituut of the Catholic
University of Nijmegen and especially to Mrs. Ingeborg Hut-Scheep
maker and Alien Lim-Tan, who undertook the difficult typographical
composition of the text with diligence and care.
Leiden - Nijmegen. March 1981. The Editors
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
E.P. Bos, Filosofisch Instituut, Witte Singel 71, 2311 BN Leiden,
Netherlands
H.A.G. Braakhuis, Filosofisch Instituut, Thomas van Aquinostraat 3,
P.O. Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, Netherlands
S. Ebbesen, Institut for Graesk og Latinsk Middelalderfilologi, Njals
gade 90, DK 2300 K6benhavn S, Denmark
K.M. Fredborg, Institut for Graesk og Latinsk Middelalderfilologi, Njals
gade 90, DK 2300 K6benhavn S, Denmark
N.J. Green-Pedersen, Institut for Graesk og Latinsk Middelalderfilologi,
Njalsgade 90, DK 2300 K6benhavn S, Denmark
D.P. Henry, Department of Philosophy, The University, Manchester Ml3
9PL, England
H. Hubien, Avenue des Tritons 28, B-1170 Bruxelles, Belgium
K. Jacobi, Thomas-Institut, Universitatstrasse 22, 5 Koln 41, FR Germany
E. Karger, 12, Rue Masseran, F 75007, Paris, France
C.H. Kneepkens, Instituut Oude Letteren, Erasmusplein I, P.O. Box 9103,
6500 HD Nijmegen, Netherlands
C. Kopp, Thomas-Institut, Universitatsstrasse 22, 5 Koln 41, FR Germany
R. van der Lecq, Filosofisch Instituut, Witte Singel 71, 2311 BN Leiden,
Netherlands
O. Lewry, Blackfriars, Oxford Ox I 3LY, England
A. de Libera, 34, Rue de Provence, F 75009 Paris, France
A. Maieru, Viale Pinturicchio 45, I-00196 Roma, Italy
G. Nuchelmans, Filosofisch Instituut, Witte Singel 71, 2311 BN Leiden,
Netherlands
J. Pinborg, Institut for Graesk og Latinsk Middelalderfilologi, Njals
gade 90, DK 2300 K6benhavn S, Denmark
L.M. de Rijk, Filosofisch Instituut, Witte Singel 71, 2311 BN Leiden,
Netherlands
H. Schepers, Rothenburg 32, D 4400, Munster/i.W., FR Germany
P.M.J.E. Twnmers, Filosofisch Instituut, Thomas van Aquinostraat 3, P.O.
Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, Netherlands
G. Federici Vescovini, Lungopo Antonelli II, Torino, Italy
N.B.:
The Logic of John Buridan, Acts of the 3rd European Symposium on Medie
val Logic and Semantics, Copenhagen 16 - 21 November 1975, ed. by Jan
Pinborg, Museum Tusculanum, Copenhagen 1976 (= Opuscula Graecolatina, 9)
ABAILARD'S SEMANTIC VIEWS IN THE
LIGHT OF LATER DEVELOPMENTS
L. M. de Rijk, Leiden
1
Semantics in Abailard's solution of the problem of universals
Abailard's attempt at solving the problem of universals may be char
acterized as a remarkable achievement in the field of semantics. The
procedure of this solution found in his most mature work, the Glosses
2
on Porphyry can be divided into two stages: first, the extensive
discussion of the formal distinction between vox and sermo, then the
semantic analysis of the intensional act of intellection.
I.I Vox and sermo formally distinguished
As is well-known Abailard makes an important distinction between vox
(word) and sermo (significant word). Contrary to the Realists he
considers vox and sermo materially identical, following in this re
spect his former master Roscelin of Compiegne. However, in order to
solve the problem of universals he lays much stress upon their formal
diversity (or: non-identity). To his mind, there is a formal distinc
tion, indeed, between 'being predicable of many' and 'that which is
predicable of many'. Well, it is predicability that must belong to a
word (vox) for it to be a universal. He tries to elucidate this dis
tinction in contraposing the following propositions:
(I) Genus est vox
and
(2) Vox est genus,
the former of which is true, the latter false. In fact, (I) is equiv
alent to
(I') Generale vocabulum est vox,
and this is true, no doubt. Abailard points to similar sets of prop-
ositions. I pick out two of them:
(3) Haec materia Socratis est Socrates (true)
(4) Utrumque istorum est aliquid (true)
as contradistinguished with
(5) Socrates est haec materia Socratis (false)
and
(6) Aliquid est utrumque istorum (false).
How should we understand this? For (3) to be true the subject phrase
'haec materia Socratis' should_ be taken as 'this material thing
Socrates' (where Socratis is an explicative genitive). Now, what
about its converse
(5) Socrates est haec materia Socratis?
Nothing seems to prevent us from translating: 'Socrates is this ma
terial thing Socrates', except for Abailard's most explicit assertion
that (5) is false (negamus omnino). So we have no other choice than
rendering it by
(5) Socrates is this matter belonging to Socrates,
where the genitive case Socratis is a possessive one. However, is
this not done quite arbitrarily? Before giving an answer we pass on
to the second set:
(4) Utrumque istorum est aliquid,
as opposed to
(6) Aliquid est utrumque istorum.
No difficulty at all, this time. For whenever (4) is true, (6) is
obviously false.
What is, however, far more interesting is that the term 'aliquid'
has changed its meaning together with its syntactic position. Indeed
in (4) the distributive force of the subject term 'utrumque' obviously
has its bearing on aliquid, whereas such influence is absent in (6).
Now, it seems obvious that we should look for a similar change of
syntax as effecting the falsity of (5):
(5) Socrates est haec materia Socratis.
I think we have to rephrase our original question this way: Is there
2