The Quarrel over Future Contingents (Louvain 1465–1475)

465 Pages·1989·11.85 MB·English

by  N. Kretzmann

THE QUARREL OVER FUTURE CONTINGENTS
(LOU VAIN 1465-1475)
SYNTHESE mSTORICAL LmRARY
TEXTS AND STUDIES IN THE mSTORY OF
LOGIC AND PHll..OSOPHY
Editors:
N. KRETZMANN, Cornell University
G. NUCHELMANS, University ofL eyden
Editorial Board:
J. BERG, Munich Institute of Technology
L. M. DE RllK. University ofL eyden
D. P. HENRY, University ofM anchester
J. HINTIKKA, Florida State University. Tallahassee
B. MATES, University of California. Berkeley
J. E. MURDOCH, Harvard University
G. PA'IZIG, University ofGottingen
VOLUME 36
THE QUARREL
OVER
FUTURE CONTINGENTS
(LOUVA IN 1465-1475)
Unpublished Texts Collected by
Leon Baudry
Translated by
Rita Guerlac
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Querelle des futurs contingents. English.
The quarrel over future contingents: Louvain, 14S5-1475 :
unpublished texts I collected by Leon Baudry ; translated by Rita
Guerlac.
p. cm. -- (Synthese historical library; v. 3S)
Translation of: Querelle des futurs contingents.
ISBN·13:978·94·01O·6959·5 e·ISBN·13:978·94·009·1039·3
DOl: 10.1007/978·94·009·1039·3
1. Future contingents (Loglc)--History--Sources. 2. Logic,
Medieval--Hlstory--Sources. 3. God--Omnisclence--Hlstory of
doctrlnes--Mlddle Ages, SOO-1500--Sources. 4. Predestlnatlon
-History of doctrlnes--Middle Ages, SOO-1500--Sources. 5. Free will
and determinism--History--Sources. I. Baudry, Leon. II. Title.
III. Series.
SC35.F8SQ4514 1989
123--dc20 89-39147
ISBN·13:978·94-0l0-6959·5
English Translation of: Leon Baudry, La querelle des futurs contingents, Paris, Vrin, 1950.
Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
P.O. Box 17,3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates
the publishing programmes of
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In all other countries, sold and distributed
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printed 011 acidfree paper
All Rights Reserved
© 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1989
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any fonn or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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Contents
Introduction
1. The Problem
2. The Historical Context 3
3. Dramatic Personae 10
4. The Quarrel 14
5. The Conclusion 29
6. The Doctrinal and Historical Interest 30
Part One
Statute of the Uhiversity of Louvain in the Year 1447 33
Quodlibetal Question Disputed at Louvain in 1465 by Peter de Rivo 36
Another Treatise of Peter de Rivo (1) 46
Another Treatise of Peter de Rivo (2) 53
Fragments from Peter de Rivo 56
Petition of Peter de Rivo 61
Peter de Rivo's Theses 62
Replies of Peter de Rivo 65
Record of the Time of Events 74
A Brief Treatise on Future Contingents by Francis, Cardinal of
St Peter in Chains 80
An Anonymous Treatise on the Subject of Future Contingents 91
Treatise of Master Fernand of Cordova 99
An Anonymous Treatise on the Truths of Future Contingents Against
Peter de Rivo 135
Interrogations 171
Replies of Peter de Rivo 172
Sentence of the Rector against Henry de Zomeren 177
Conclusion of the Faculty of Theology at Cologne 197
vi CONTENTS
Conclusion of the Theologians at Louvain 199
Conclusion of the Paris Theologians 204
Part Two
Henry de Zomeren's Treatise 213
Propositions of Peter de Rivo Assembled by Henry de Zomeren 281
Treatise of Peter de Rivo in Reply to a Certain Little Work of
Henry de Zomeren 290
Additional Replies by Peter de Rivo 351
Another Version 380
An Anonymous Defense of the Sentence of the University 397
A Defense of the Sentence against Henry de Zomeren 402
Letter of the University of Louvain to Pope Sixtus IV 409
Superscription of the Letter sent to the University of Louvain
in Recommendation of Peter de Rivo 415
Appendix I. Explanations by Peter de Rivo of Certain
Objections Concerning about Future Contingents 416
Appendix II. A Probable Plan for a Quodlibetal 425
Appendix III. Fragment from Peter de Rivo to Paul of Middelbourgh 426
~~s 4~
Index 439
Abstract
The Latin texts collected by Leon Baudry on the late fifteenth-century
debate at the University of Louvain over the subject of future contingents,
between the theologians who held fast to the belief in predetermination and the
Aristotelians in the Arts Faculty who supported the doctrine of free choice,
contain a wealth of material on this subject of perennial interest to philoso
phers. The texts have never before been translated into English, and so have
been inaccessible to most students and many philosophers. Apart from their
philosophical significance, they shed light on late scholastic methods in
teaching and disputation, on university politics of the period in relation to
the Vatican, the Court of the Duke of Burgundy, and the faculties of other
great universities, and on legal procedures both secular and ecclesiastical.
The human drama that develops as the debate proceeds should hold the interest
even of the non-specialist.
vii
Preface
The Latin texts collected by Leon Baudry present the late fifteenth
century debate at the University of Louvain over the truth-value of proposi
tions about future contingent events, a subject of perennial interest in
phil osophy. The theologians held fast to divine predetermination, and the
Aristotelians in the Arts Faculty supported the doctrine of free choice based
on indeterminism.
Although the issues in the debate are still argued in philosophy, this
rich collection of the theories and arguments has been neglected. Peter de
Rivo and Henry de Zomeren, the principal antagonists, are cited in the recent
literature, but only on the basis of slight, mostly second-hand information.
The full collection of texts has never before been translated into English (or
any other modern language), leaving them inaccessible to the majority of
students, or any others who are not equipped to work their way through 450
pages of fifteenth-century scholastic Latin.
Apart from their philosophical significance, the texts shed light on
late scholastic methods in teaching and disputation, on university politics of
the period in relation to the Vatican, the Court of the Duke of Burgundy, and
the faculties of other great universities, and on legal procedures both secular
and ecclesiastical. The human drama that develops as the debate proceeds
should hold the interest of even the non-specialist.
Linguistically the texts are interesting, because while the Latin is
formulaic, it is obviously influenced by the vernacular and new usages are
developing. There are also rhetorical passages suggesting the influence of the
humanists in university circles.
Besides the treatises, attacks, and counter-attacks of Peter de Ri vo
and Henry of Zomeren, the texts contain material by Francisco della Rovere
(Pope Sixtus IV), the polymath Fernand of Cordova, and official decisions by
the theological faculties of Cologne, Louvain, and Paris.
Baudry's texts comprise four manuscripts from the fond latin of the
Bibliotheque Nationale, Mss latin 3169, 4152, 12390, and 1179, each consisting
of a number of documents in different hands, on fifteenth-century paper.
Baudry arranged them in chronological order, with one or two exceptions which
he explains in a section devoted to a detailed description of the manuscripts,
ix
x PREFACE
which I have not thought necessary to include here. Baudry's book, published
in Paris (Vrin) in 1950, is still available for those who would like to consult
the Latin.
In translating the texts I have not included Baudry's editorial notes,
comparing different versions of the same text, or noted my own fairly rare
corrections of typographical errors. I have kept Baudry's reference and source
notes, with very few additions, and his bibliography, with no attempt to
include more recent work. For the few renderings of Aristotle I have used the
Revised Oxford Translation, edited by Jonathan Barnes.
Norman Kretzmann suggested this translation and has provided continual
advice and encouragement in its preparation. I wish also to thank Stephen
D. Dumont of the Pontifical Institute in Toronto, James J. John of Cornell
University, and Eleonore Stump of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute for their
help with esoteric problems, and Roderick Long for preparing the Index.
Rita Guerlac
Ithaca, New York
Introduction
Albert the Great set himself no easy task when he undertook to
make Aristotle 'intelligible to the Latin West'. With its concept of a God who
produces material things through natural necessity, who thinks only of himself
and ignores the whole universe, with its theory that the soul derives its
individuality from matter and loses it when the body disintegrates, Peripatetic
philosophy came into manifest contradiction wi th dogma. Admi rers of the
Philosopher knew this, and so did those of their colleagues who declined to
baptize the pagan. But they considered it possible to reconstruct his doctrine
and transcend it, while holding fast to his principles. Still a greater number
were convinced they could safely use his works on physics and his logical
writings, considering that in these matters, as William of Ockham was to
remark, 1) doctrine leaves everyone free to say what he pleases. This was
perhaps to overlook the fact that Aristotle's system is a highly structured
one; that, furthermore, one does not easily elaborate a natural science, nor
even a logic, without mixing in a little, not to say a great deal, of philo
sophy, and that, finally, Aristotle imbues everything he talks about with his
own cast of mind. Thus the least important of the Philosopher's texts, charged
as they were, so to speak, with all his thought, could give rise to serious
difficulties. The problem of the knowledge of future contingents affords an
example.
The Problem. In different passages of his works, especially in
the Categories, in the De Interpretatione, and in various chapters of his
Metaphysics ,2) Aristotle had elaborated a doctrine of truth, the broad outline