In the course of the long debate on the nature and the classification of signs, from Boethius to Ockham, there are at least three lines of thought: the Stoic heritage, that influences Augustine, Abelard, Francis Bacon; the Aristotelian tradition, stemming from the commentaries on De Interpretatione; the discussion of the grammarians, from Priscian to the Modistae. Modern interpreters are frequently misled by the fact that the various authors regularly used the same terms. Such a homogeneous terminology, however, covers profound theoretical (...) differences. The aim of these essays is to show that the medieval theory of signs does not represent a unique body of semiotic notions: there are diverse and frequently alternative semiotic theories. This book thus represents an attempt to encourage further research on the still unrecognized variety of the semiotic approaches offered by the medieval philosophies of language. (shrink)

Giles of Rome developed his personal positions about signification in general and linguistic signification discussing contemporary and immediately preceding authors’ views, such as Robert Kilwardby’s, Albert the Great’s and probably various authors of the Modistic milieu. In this article, Giles’ positions on signs and linguistic signification will be shortly described, his discussions about homonymy will be linked to contemporary debates, and finally some of Giles’ positions that were discussed, criticized and sometimes misunderstood by later Modists, such as Simon of Faversham, (...) the Anonymous of Prague and Radulphus Brito, in their commentaries on the Sophistical Refutations around the end of XIIIth century, will be commented upon. (shrink)

L'A. esamina la teoria egidiana delle passioni, sviluppata in quattro declarationes in apertura del suo commento al II libro della Retorica. I temi analizzati sono la definizione di passio animae, la distinzione tra la facoltà irascibile e la concupiscibile, le passioni della facoltà concupiscibile e dell'irascibile. Fonte principale e punto costante di riferimento nella trattazione egidiana è la dottrina dell'Aquinate. L'A. mette costantemente a confronto le posizioni dei due filosofi evidenziando i tentativi di Egidio di staccarsi da Tommaso e criticarne (...) la dottrina, in particolare rispetto alla trattazione dell'ira. (shrink)

In his commentaries on Porphyry and Aristotle’s Organon and in his other works, John Duns Scotus shows his knowledge of both the modistic theory of language and the theory of supposition. My contribution sheds some light on the relationship between Scotus’ philosophy of language and the theory of supposition, collecting and commenting on all the passages in which he makes use of it or discusses some theoretical points. I take into special account the almost unknown commentary on the Topics, which (...) is preserved in a Vatican manuscript. (shrink)

The notion of 'symbol' in Eriugena's writing is far from clear. It has an ambiguous semantic connection with other terms such as 'signification', 'figure', 'allegory', 'veil', 'agalma', 'form', 'shadow', 'mystery' and so on. This paper aims to explore into the origins of such a semantic ambiguity, already present in the texts of the pseudo-Dionysian corpus which Eriugena translated and commented upon. In the probable Neoplatonic sources of this corpus, the Greek term symbolon shares some aspects of its meaning with other (...) words inherited from the ancient tradition, such as synthēma , eikōn , homoiotēs. Some of them, such as eikōn and homoiotēs, belong to the field of images and are associated with linguistic semantics in the Neoplatonic commentaries not only to Plato but also to Aristotle's logical works. Among the late ancient Neoplatonists, particular attention is paid to Proclus and to his use of the term agalma. In fact, the textual history of this word seems to be a privileged perspective from which to reconstruct the Neoplatonic semantic blending of symbol and image, as well as the main role played by linguistic issues in this conflation. (shrink)

Il genere della _medieval crime fiction_ ha preso il volo dall ’ inizio degli anni ’ 80 del secolo scorso, grazie ai romanzi di Ellis Peters e soprattutto di Umberto Eco. Da allora a oggi oltre 150 tra autrici e autori hanno proposto storie di indagine criminale ambientate nel Medioevo. In questo articolo saranno esaminati alcuni casi interessanti che stanno a cavallo tra romanzo storico medievale e _medieval crime fiction_, in cui le autrici o gli autori hanno fatto ricorso a (...) personaggi impegnati a vario titolo nella riflessione filosofica, teologica o medica medievale. Oggetto di analisi saranno in particolare sia le descrizioni del loro aspetto fisico che i rispettivi ruoli attanziali e narrativi. _The genre of _medieval crime fiction_ took off from the beginning of the 1980s, thanks to the novels of Ellis Peters and especially by Umberto Eco. Since then, more than 150 authors have proposed criminal investigation stories set in the Middle Ages. In this article we will examine some interesting cases that straddle medieval historical novel and _medieval crime fiction_, in which the authors have resorted to characters engaged in various capacities in philosophy, theology or medicine. In particular, both the descriptions of their physical aspect and their actantial and narrative roles will be analyzed_. (shrink)

Giles of Rome developed his personal positions about signification in general and linguistic signification discussing contemporary and immediately preceding authors’ views, such as Robert Kilwardby’s, Albert the Great’s and probably various authors of the Modistic milieu. In this article, Giles’ positions on signs and linguistic signification will be shortly described, his discussions about homonymy will be linked to contemporary debates, and finally some of Giles’ positions that were discussed, criticized and sometimes misunderstood by later Modists, such as Simon of Faversham, (...) the Anonymous of Prague and Radulphus Brito, in their commentaries on the Sophistical Refutations around the end of XIIIth century, will be commented upon. (shrink)

In the Posterior Analytics Aristotle contrasts demonstrations with syllogisms through signs. In the Prior Analytics he defines a sign as a demonstrative premise. One is thus led to ask: is a sign a demonstration? This book reconstructs the history of the notion of "demonstration through signs" from roughly the third through to the thirteenth century. It examines the work of Aristotle's Greek, Arabic, and Latin commentators, both within and outside the tradition of the Posterior Analytics.