In the Aristotelian tradition, some propostitions need no further evidencce to be proved: they are "per se nota". This work discusses the conditions that make a proposition "per se noat" according to Thomas Aquinas, focussing on the historical background and the philosophical context of Aquinas' position.

In two respects this edition of Kilvington's Sophismata is a major event in the study of medieval philosophy. First, this important work throws light on the special logico-analytic character of the intellectual enterprise of Oxford Calculatores, who are justifiably credited with advancing natural philosophy and mathematics. Secondly, it contributes to the recent efforts to trace the development of medieval formal disputation, the obligatio, from the "old response" represented by Sherwood, Burley, and Ockham, to the "new response" espoused by Richard Swyneshed, (...) Lavenham, Fland, and others. (shrink)

The lead-question of Hülsen's investigation is stated in his introduction: What is the role of those pronouns which are used not demonstratively but anaphorically, that is, in relation to, or in dependence on, another expression? For example, "Socrates is old, and he is wise"; "A man is old, and he is wise." The author considers in detail three possibilities: such pronouns are convenient devices to spare us a repetition of the antecedent expression; such pronouns are basically a means for building (...) predicates, as variables in modern logic; they can be referring in relation to objects signified by their antecedents. (shrink)