La conocida obra Muʿǧam al-buldān (Diccionario de los países), terminada por el geógrafo y erudito Yāqūt al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (m. 626/1229) un año antes de su muerte, ofrece una valiosa información sobre los múltiples topónimos recogidos por este autor. Dicha información no se limita solo a los aspectos geográficos, sino también a los literarios y biográficos, y ha sido abordada en trabajos relacionados con al-Andalus. Mi propósito en el presente artículo es realizar una primera aproximación a la imagen que Yāqūt proyecta (...) del Mágreb a través de algunos ejemplos concretos, realizando un breve recorrido de las fuentes que empleó, entre las cuales destacó especialmente el geógrafo andalusí Abū ʿUbayd al-Bakrī (m. 487/1094), muy citado en toda la obra. (shrink)

In this study, after a short introductory information on the etymology, origin, and transition of botanical knowledge in Medieval Islamic Civilisation, we made a comparison of illustrated botanical works in Maghreb and Masriq through two illustrated books. We studied on randomly selected illustrations from Kitab al- Hashaish at-Tibb li-Diskuridus al-Aynzarbi translated by Istefan ibn Basil & Hunayn ibn Ishaq from Dioscorides’ Materia Medica, and Kitab al-Adwiyat al-Mufradat of Abu Ja’far Ahmad al-Ghafiqi, the Andalusian physician, pharmacist, and herbalist. We made (...) comparisons on the illustrations of nine plants and one lichen, chosen from Codex Osler of al-Ghafiqi, and Codices Ayasofya of Istefan-Hunayn, with real photos of plants and lichen, via the methods used currently in the science-art of botanical illustration. With this «botanical illustrative method», we conclude that in the same century, the work of al-Ghafiqi has been copied in a more accurate way than that of Istefan-Hunayn translation. -/- تخصص هذه الدراسة - بعد تقديم معلومات تمهيدية موجزة عن علم أصل الكلمات، وأصول وتطور المعرفة النباتية في الحضارة الإسلامية في العصور الوسطى - للتحليل المقارن للمؤلفات في علم النبات المصور في المغرب والمشرق، من خلال كتابين مصورين. و لهذه الغاية، قمنا بتحليل سلسلة من الرسوم، إختيرت بشكل تلقائي، أُخذت من كتاب النباتات الطبية لصاحبه دِيُسوفُورِيدس، و من ترجمة ابن استيفان ابن باسل و حنين ابن إسحاق لدراسة المادة الطبية لديسوفوريدس، و من كتاب الأدوية البسيطة لأبو جعفر أحمد الغافقي، و هو طبيب و صيدلي و عشاب أندلسي. لقد أجرينا مقارنات لرسوم تسعة نباتات و أشنة وقع الإختيار عليها من كتاب أوسلر للغافقي و من كتب أياصوفيا لإستيفان و حنين، مع صور حقيقية لعينات من هذه الأنواع، باستخدام الطرق المطبقة في وقتنا الراهن في فن وعلم الرسوم النباتية. و بعد تطبيق هذا المنهج التصويري النباتي، نستطيع أن نخلص إلى أنه، و على الرغم من إنتاجها في نفس القرن، فإن نسخ رسوم الغافقي النباتية كانت أكثر دقة من تلك الموجودة في ترجمة استيفان - حنين. الكلمات المفتاحية دِيُسوفُورِيدس، الغافقي، تاريخ علم النبات، الأندلس -/- Este estudio –tras una breve información introductoria sobre etimología, orígenes y evolución del conocimiento botánico en la civilización islámica medieval– está dedicado a un análisis comparativo de los tratados botánicos ilustrados en el Magreb y en el Máshreq, a través de dos libros ilustrados. Para ello, hemos analizado una serie de ilustraciones, elegidas al azar, extraídas del Libro de plantas medicinales de Dioscórides por Anazarba, traducción de Istefan ibn Basil y Hunayn ibn Ishaq del tratado De materia medica de Dioscórides, y del Libro de los medicamentos simples de Abu Ya'far Ahmad al-Gafiqi, médico, farmacéutico y herbolario andalusí. Hemos llevado a cabo comparaciones de las ilustraciones de nueve plantas y un liquen, escogidos del códice Osler de al-Gafiqi y de los códices Ayasofya de Istefan-Hunayn, con fotografías reales de especímenes de dichas especies, acudiendo a los métodos aplicados actualmente en el arte y ciencia de la ilustración botánica. Tras este «método ilustrativo botánico», podemos concluir que, aunque llevadas a cabo en el mismo siglo, las copias de ilustraciones de al-Gafiqi han resultado más precisas que las de la traducción de Istefan-Hunayn. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza los aspectos retóricos y rituales de la exhortación piadosa (wa,z) practicada en al-Andalus y el Magreb, tomando como base documental dos fuentes homiléticas. Los textos se analizan a la luz de noticias hagiográficas y jurídicas con el fin de determinar el papel social de los wu,,az y el impacto de sus sermones. El poder seductor del sermón se halla en función del carisma del predicador, sus dotes de oratoria y su afán en involucrar activamente a su auditorio (...) en su propia experiencia carismática. Los textos hagiográficos examinados presentan al wa,iz como testigo de la omnipotencia divina, propiciando la conversión religiosa, incluso de individuos situados al margen de la sociedad. (shrink)

Este trabajo estudia las figuras de Abū Ya῾zà y al-Yuḥānisī desde la perspectiva de su educación y formación intelectuales. Los dos personajes analizados pueden ayudarnos, por un lado, a revisar en profundidad las características de aquellos que se consideran awliyā’ o «amigos de Dios» así como a sugerir la posibilidad de la existencia de dos modelos de santidad en el occidente islámico, uno típicamente magrebí y el otro andalusí. Los dos modelos propuestos muestran características comunes pero también claras diferencias, especialmente (...) en lo relativo a su educación y formación intelectual. De esta forma, el estudio presta especial atención a factores como la enseñanza recibida por parte de los sujetos de estudio y sus maestros, la presencia de la lengua bereber en esta enseñanza así como el fenómeno de la rihla a las tierras orientales como parte inseparable de la propia formación intelectual. (shrink)

La presente versión del tratado De Bono Habitu Liber o El libro sobre la buena condición, de Galeno de Pérgamo, se presenta al lector de habla hispana como un acercamiento a la prolífca obra flosófca de quien fuera reconocido en su época como un notable médico anatomista y físico. Los argumentos expuestos por el autor acerca de la ‘buena condición’ dan cuenta de la infuencia retórica de Platón y Aristóteles, al mismo tiempo, de las enseñanzas médicas de Hipócrates. Junto al (...) texto original y la traducción al español, se ofrece una versión en latín empleada en el proceso de traducción como un apoyo para resolver las difcultades textuales y léxicas que presentaba el texto griego, al permitir confrontar una recepción medieval del tratado. (shrink)

Este artículo pasa revista a la presencia de salihat en cuatro documentos hagiográficos del Magreb medieval, así como a la manera de calificarlas. Intenta una reflexión sobre las formas de la experiencia religiosa y las modalidades de presencia de estas santas en la vida de la ciudad. La walaya femenina en este espacio-tiempo del islam medieval (V-IX (IV-XV) está marcada por la ambivalencia, oscilando entre aislamiento y vida comunitaria, sedentaridad y peregrinación, inqibad (retraimiento) y inbisat (apertura) a las (...) preocupaciones y expectativas de sus contemporáneos. Sugiere que se debe ver en este sufismo, no desprovisto de originalidad, materia para una nueva aproximación a la santidad femenina en el Islam. (shrink)

El tasyīr o «prorrogación» es un procedimiento astrológico por el que se hace avanzar de forma imaginaria un indicador para conocer las influencias celestes. El tasyīr fue una de las herramientas fundamentales del astrólogo en el levantamiento de un horóscopo. Este artículo analiza la información que contiene el capítulo “Sobre el tasyīr” de la obra al-Bāri‘ de Ibn Abī-l-Riŷāl : los métodos, las técnicas y los recursos que utilizaba. Su estudio nos muestra las vías por las que la ciencia se (...) transmitía, el modo en el que el astrólogo elaboraba su obra, la importancia del al-Bāri‘ como introductor en el Magreb y en la Europa medieval de fuentes y conocimientos nuevos importados de Oriente y la vigencia de su astrología hasta el siglo XV. El cotejo del capítulo mencionado con su traducción castellana nos da pruebas de la forma de trabajar de los traductores de Alfonso X. (shrink)

En primer lugar, el autor de este documento presenta superficialmente las nueve iglesias del Magreb y, a continuación, describe las características que definen la forma de concebir y vivir la misión eclesiástica. El documento termina con algunas sugerencias y una conclusión clara: el diálogo interreligioso no es opcional, sino inevitable.

Introduction to Medieval Philosophy combines and updates the scholarship of the two highly successful volumes Early Medieval Philosophy (1983) and Late Medieval Philosoph y (1986) in a single, reliable, and comprehensive text on the history of medieval philosophy. John Marenbon discusses the main philosophers and ideas within the social and intellectual contexts of the time, and the most important concepts in medieval philosophy. Straightforward in arrangement, wide in scope, and clear in style, this is the (...) ideal starting point for students beginning the subject. (shrink)

Students of Thomas Aquinas have so far lacked a comprehensive study of his doctrine of the transcendentals. This volume fills this lacuna, showing the fundamental character of the notions of being, one, true and good for his thought. The book inquires into the beginnings of the doctrine in the thirteenth century and explains the relation of the transcendental way of thought to Aquinas's conception of metaphysics. It analyzes 'Being', 'One', 'True', 'Good' and 'Beautiful' individually and discusses their importance for the (...) philosophical knowledge of God. Medieval Philosophy and the Transcendentals: The Case of Thomas Aquinas is intended as a contribution to the question 'What is philosophy in the Middle Ages?' It argues that the doctrine of the transcendentals is essential for understanding medieval philosophy. (shrink)

Central topics in medieval logic are here treated in a way that is congenial to the modern reader, without compromising historical reliability. The achievements of medieval logic are made available to a wider philosophical public then the medievalists themselves. The three genres of logica moderna arising in a later Middle Ages are covered: obligations, insolubles and consequences - the first time these have been treated in such a unified way. The articles on obligations look at the role of (...) logical consistence in medieval disputation techniques. Those on insolubles concentrate on medieval solutions to the Liar Paradox. There is also a systematic account of how medieval authors described the logical content of an inference, and how they thought that the validity of an inference could be guaranteed. (shrink)

The encounter of the medieval Muslims with Greek philosophy undeniably shaped the course of their philosophical and theological thought. This encounter led to the complex and contentious issue of ‘philosophy versus theology’. Medieval Muslim thinkers needed to develop a response to the issue of philosophy versus theology. The present article will first highlight the response of the Islamic theologians to their encounter with Greek philosophy in the form of three major trends in medieval Islamic theology: (1) strong (...) opposition to the application of reason and rationalist approach to Islamic doctrines, and strict adherence to the actual text of the Qur’an and the Hadith, (2) the adoption of Greek philosophy, and the application of reason and rationalist approach to explain and defend Islamic religion and (3) acknowledging the significance of reason in exploring the matters related to the natural world but, at the same time, stressing the subordination of reason to revelation. This article will discuss Atharism, Muʿtazilism and Ashʿarism as the representatives of the first, second and third trends, respectively. The response of the medieval Islamic theologians to the issue of philosophy versus theology serves as a context in which medieval Muslim philosophers carried out their philosophy–theology debate. The article will proceed to show that some medieval Muslim philosophers, such as Abu Bakr Al-Razi, subordinated religion or revelation to philosophy or reason. Other medieval Muslim philosophers, such as Al-Ghazali, subordinated philosophy to theology. The third group of medieval Islamic philosophers represented by Alfarabi argued for the reconciliation and harmonious co-existence of philosophy and religion. Contribution: This article highlights the response of medieval Islamic theologians and philosophers to the issue of philosophy versus theology that was caused by their encounter with Greek philosophy. (shrink)

Propositions are items that play certain theoretical roles: (among other things) they serve as objects of belief, fundamental bearers of truth-value, and the semantic contents of sentences. In this paper, I examine the key role Ockham played in the development of later medieval debates about propositions. Unlike contemporary philosophers, who typically assume that propositions are abstract entities of some sort, Ockham holds a nominalist view of propositions according to which token entities—namely, token mental representations—play the proposition role. While Ockham's (...) view generates a great deal of controversy and discussion I argue that it isn't his nominalism about propositions per se that proves objectionable. Indeed, insofar as few medieval philosophers countenance abstract objects, the view that token mental representations function as fundamental bearers of truth and as the semantic content of sentences is fairly standard. What does prove controversial, I claim, is Ockham's contention that token mental states—what he refers to as ‘mental sentences’—serve as objects for propositional attitudes. My discussion in the paper explores both (i) the reasons why Ockham’s attempt to treat mental representations as objects for belief and knowledge proved controversial and (ii) what alternative positions emerged in the subsequent debate about propositional attitudes. -/- . (shrink)

During the 13th century, several logicians in the Latin medieval tradition showed a special interest in the nature of impossibility, and in the different kinds or ‘degrees’ of impossibility that could be distinguished. This discussion resulted in an analysis of the modal concept with a fineness of grain unprecedented in earlier modal accounts. Of the several divisions of the term ‘impossible’ that were offered, one became particularly relevant in connection with the debate on ars obligatoria and positio impossibilis: the (...) distinction between ‘intelligible’ and ‘unintelligible’ impossibilities. In this article, I consider some 13th-century tracts on obligations that provide an account of the relation between impossibility and intelligibility and discuss the inferential principles that are permissible when we reason from an impossible – but intelligible – premise. I also explore the way in which the 13th-century reflection on this topic survives, in a revised form, in some early 14th-century accounts of positio, namely, those of William of Ockham, Roger Swineshead and Thomas Bradwardine. (shrink)

These selections from Le système du monde, the classic ten-volume history of the physical sciences written by the great French physicist Pierre Duhem (1861-1916), focus on cosmology, Duhem's greatest interest. By reconsidering the work of such Arab and Christian scholars as Averroes, Avicenna, Gregory of Rimini, Albert of Saxony, Nicole Oresme, Duns Scotus, and William of Occam, Duhem demonstrated the sophistication of medieval science and cosmology.

The papers gathered in this volume offer precise investigations of the historical and philosophical grounds for the first medieval commentaries on the ...

This chapter deals with medieval logic from the time when it first had full resources for systematic creative contributions onward. It focuses on the era when the ancient heritage was available and medieval logic was able to add something substantial to it, even to surpass it in some respects. The chapter explains that characterization such as this cannot be adequately expressed with years or by conventional period denominations; however, it is hoped that the grounds for drawing boundaries will (...) become clearer during the course of the story. (shrink)

The central recommendation of this article is that philosophers trained in the analytic tradition ought to add the sensibilities and skills of the historian to their methodological toolkit. The value of an historical approach to strictly philosophical matters is illustrated by a case study focussing on the medieval origin of conceivability arguments and contemporary views of modality. It is shown that common metaphilosophical views about the nature of the philosophical enterprise as well as certain inference patterns found in thinkers (...) from Descartes to Chalmers have their origin in the theological concerns of the Scholastics. Since these assumptions and inference patterns are difficult to motivate when shorn of their original theological context, the upshot is that much post-Cartesian philosophy is cast in an altogether unfamiliar, and probably unwelcome, light. The methodological point, however, is that this philosophical gain is born of acquaintance with the history of ideas. (shrink)

Central to the western theistic understanding of divine providence is the conviction that God is the sovereign Lord of nature. He created the physical universe and continually conserves it in existence. What's more, He is always and everywhere active in it by His power. The operations of nature, be they minute or catastrophic, commonplace or unprecedented, are the work of His hands, and without His constant causal influence none of them would or could occur.

In this Ph.D. dissertation, completed at the Sorbonne, it is shown that the whole of medieval philosophy was not reduced to a realist stance: in the 13th-14th centuries, an idealist stance emerged and was developed into a full-fledged epistemological idealism, personified in the philosophers Eckhart von Hochheim and Dietrich von Freiberg. This dissertation deviates from most works in the history of philosophy by proposing to see this as a taxonomy.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections (...) in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. (shrink)

Historians of medieval philosophy have always paid attention to the topic of intentionality. This is not surprising. For medieval authors, the analysis of the metaphysics and the mechanisms of human cognition became over time one of the most important instruments for approaching a bundle of basic philosophical and theological questions, such as the nature of universals, the mind-world relation, the explanation of divine knowledge, and the like. For this and other reasons, theories of cognition have been a crucial (...) theme for historians of medieval philosophy and a privileged subject in the literature. The present volume presents a collection of articles devotes to later medieval perspectives on intentionality. Chronologically speaking, they cover the period from Thomas Aquinas to John Buridan. The reason is easy to explain: in this period, historians of medieval philosophy encounter accounts of intentionality of such a structure and sophistication that they can be compared, in a philosophically suitable way, with modern and contemporary explanations of the intentionality of mind. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to advance our understanding of medieval approaches to consciousness by focusing on a particular but, as it seems to me, representative medieval debate. The debate in question is between William Ockham and Walter Chatton over the existence of what these two thinkers refer to as “reflexive intellective intuitive cognition”. Although framed in the technical terminology of late-medieval cognitive psychology, the basic question at issue between them is this: Does the mind (or (...) “intellect”) cognize its own states via higher-order (or “reflexive”) representational states? Their debate is representative both because it highlights the central dialectical issues and alternatives at play in medieval discussions of consciousness generally and because it showcases the two main types of approach to consciousness one finds in the later medieval period, namely, those that explain consciousness in terms of intentionality (typically, higher-order intentionality), and those that understand consciousness as a non-intentional, sui-generis mode of awareness. (shrink)

This book provides for the first time a complete history of the doctrine of the transcendentals and shows its importance for the understanding of philosophy in the Middle Ages.

The purpose of this entry is to provide a systematic introduction to medieval views about the nature and ontological status of relations. Given the current state of our knowledge of medieval philosophy, especially with regard to relations, it is not possible to discuss all the nuances of even the best known medieval philosophers' views. In what follows, therefore, we shall restrict our aim to identifying and describing (a) the main types of position that were developed during the (...) Middle Ages, and (b) the most important considerations that shaped their development. We shall have occasion along the way, however, to examine in detail certain aspects of the views of important representatives of all the main medieval positions, including Peter Abelard (1079 1142), Gilbert of Poitiers (1085 1154), Albert the Great, (1200 1280), Thomas Aquinas (1225 1274), John Duns Scotus (1265 1308), Henry Harclay (1270 1317), Peter Auriol (1280 1322), and William Ockham (1285 1347). (shrink)

Emotions are the focus of intense debate both in contemporary philosophy and psychology, and increasingly also in the history of ideas. Simo Knuuttila presents a comprehensive survey of philosophical theories of emotion from Plato to Renaissance times, combining rigorous philosophical analysis with careful historical reconstruction. The first part of the book covers the conceptions of Plato and Aristotle and later ancient views from Stoicism to Neoplatonism and, in addition, their reception and transformation by early Christian thinkers from Clement and Origen (...) to Augustine and Cassian. Knuuttila then proceeds to a discussion of ancient themes in medieval thought, and of new medieval conceptions, codified in the so-called faculty psychology from Avicenna to Aquinas, in thirteenth century taxonomies, and in the voluntarist approach of Duns Scotus, William Ockham, and their followers. Philosophers, classicists, historians of philosophy, historians of psychology, and anyone interested in emotion will find much to stimulate them in this fascinating book. (shrink)

The recovery of Aristotle’s logic during the twelfth century was a great stimulus to medieval thinkers. Among their own theories developed to explain Aristotle’s theories of valid and invalid reasoning was a theory of consequence, of what arguments were valid, and why. By the fourteenth century, two main lines of thought had developed, one at Oxford, the other at Paris. Both schools distinguished formal from material consequence, but in very different ways. In Buridan and his followers in Paris, formal (...) consequence was that preserved under uniform substitution. In Oxford, in contrast, formal consequence included analytic consequences such as ‘If it’s a man, then it’s an animal’. Aristotle’s notion of syllogistic consequence was subsumed under the treatment of formal consequence. Buridan developed a general theory embracing the assertoric syllogism, the modal syllogism and syllogisms with oblique terms. The result was a thoroughly systematic and extensive treatment of logical theory and logical consequence which repays investigation. (shrink)

This book presents novel formalizations of three of the most important medieval logical theories: supposition, consequence and obligations. In an additional fourth part, an in-depth analysis of the concept of formalization is presented - a crucial concept in the current logical panorama, which as such receives surprisingly little attention.Although formalizations of medieval logical theories have been proposed earlier in the literature, the formalizations presented here are all based on innovative vantage points: supposition theories as algorithmic hermeneutics, theories of (...) consequence analyzed with tools borrowed from model-theory and two-dimensional semantics, and obligations as logical games. For this reason, this is perhaps the first time that these medieval logical theories are made fully accessible to the modern philosopher and logician who wishes to obtain a better grasp of them, but who has always been held back by the lack of appropriate ‘translations' into modern terms.Moreover, the book offers a reflection on the very nature of logic, a reflection that is prompted by the comparisons between medieval and modern logic, their similarities and dissimilarities. It is thus a contribution not only to the history of logic, but also to the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of language and semantics.The analysis of medieval logic is also relevant for the modern philosopher and logician in that, being the unifying methodology used across all disciplines at that time, logic really provided unity to science. It thus presents a unified model of scientific investigation, where logic plays the aggregating role. (shrink)

This book explores noteworthy approaches to modal syllogistic adopted by medieval logicians including Abélard, Albert the Great, Avicenna, Averröes, Jean Buridan, Richard Campsall, Robert Kilwardby, and William of Ockham. The book situates these approaches in relation to Aristotle's discussion in the Prior and Posterior Analytics, and other parts of the Organon, but also in relation to the thought of Alexander of Aphrodisias and Boethius on the one hand, and to modern interpretations of the modal syllogistic on the other. Problems (...) explored include: Aristotle's doctrine of modal conversion, the pure and mixed necessity-moods, modal ecthesis, the pure and mixed contingency-moods, and Aristotle's use of counter-examples. Medieval logicians brought various concepts to bear on these problems, including the distinction between per se and per accidens terms, the notion of essential predication, the distinction between ut nunc and simpliciter propositions, the distinction between de dicto and de re modals, and the notion of ampliation. All these are examined in this book. (shrink)

Terence Parsons presents a new study of the development and continuing value of medieval logic, which expanded Aristotle's basic principles of logic in important ways. Parsons argues that the resulting system is as rich as contemporary first-order symbolic logic.

This collection of readings with extensive editorial commentary brings together key texts of the most influential philosophers of the medieval era to provide a comprehensive introduction for students of philosophy. Features the writings of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Boethius, John Duns Scotus and other leading medieval thinkers Features several new translations of key thinkers of the medieval era, including John Buridan and Averroes Readings are accompanied by expert commentary from the editors, who are leading scholars in the field.

This paper presents a unique manuscript copy of a fifth/eleventh-century Maghribī commentary on al-Bāqillānī’s Kitāb al-Tamhīd. The work, entitled al-Tasdīd fī sharḥ al-Tamhīd, was written by ‘Abd al-Jalīl b. Abī Bakr al-Dībājī —also known as Ibn al-Ṣābūnī— who had studied the Kitāb al-Tamhīd with al-Bāqillānī’s disciples in Qayrawān. The present study first reviews the transmission of al-Bāqillānī’s work to the Islamic west. It then continues to present the author of the commentary, to reconstruct the work’s genesis and to describe its (...) content. The final section focuses on a sample chapter and argues that al-Dībājī follows al-Bāqillānī’s later position on a specific theory —the so-called theory ofaḥwāl— of which the Tamhīd strongly disapproved. The Tasdīd is one of the oldest texts of Maghribī Ash‘arism that has come down to us and provides valuable new insights into the school’s early history in the Islamic west. (shrink)

The traditional Square of Opposition consists of four sentence types. Two are universal and two particular; two are affirmative and two negative. Examples, where ‘S’ and ‘P’ designate the subject and the predicate, are: ‘every S is P’, ‘no S is P’, ‘some S is P’ and ‘some S is not P’. Taking the usual sentences of the square of opposition, quantifying over their predicates exhibits non-standard sentence forms. These sentences may be combined into non-standard Squares of Opposition , and (...) they reveal a new relationship not found in the usual Square. Medieval logicians termed ‘disparatae’ pairs of sentences like ‘every S is some P’ and ‘some S is every P’, which are neither subaltern nor contrary, neither contradictory nor subcontrary. Walter Redmond has designed a special language L to express the logical form of these sentences in a precise way. I will use this language to show how Squares of Opposition, standard and non-standard, form a complex network of relations which bring to .. (shrink)

Later Medieval Philosophy (1150-1350) provides an introduction to philosophy in the Latin West between 1150 and 1350. Part I describes the medieval thinker's intellectual and historical context, by examining the structure of courses in the medieval universities, the methods of teaching, the forms of written work, and the translation and availability of ancient Greek, Arab, and Jewish philosophical texts. Part II examines the nature of intellectual knowledge by explaining the arguments given by Aristotle, his antique commentators, and (...) the Arab philosophers, Avicenna and Averroes. (shrink)

Peter Adamson presents a lively introduction to six hundred years of European philosophy, from the beginning of the ninth century to the end of the fourteenth century. The medieval period is one of the richest in the history of philosophy, yet one of the least widely known. Adamson introduces us to some of the greatest thinkers of the Western intellectual tradition, including Peter Abelard, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and Roger Bacon. And the (...) medieval period was notable for the emergence of great women thinkers, including Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite Porete, and Julian of Norwich. Original ideas and arguments were developed in every branch of philosophy during this period - not just philosophy of religion and theology, but metaphysics, philosophy of logic and language, moral and political theory, psychology, and the foundations of mathematics and natural science. (shrink)

Medieval Damascus: Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic Library. The Ashrafīya Library Catalogue. By Konrad Hirschler. Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016. Pp. x + 525. $140, £85.

Medieval philosophy is primarily associated today with university-based disputations and the authorities cited in those disputations. In their own time, however, scholastic debates were recognized as just one part of wide-ranging philosophical and theological discussions. A Hidden Wisdom breaks new ground by drawing attention to another crucial component of these conversations: the Christian contemplative tradition. The thirteenth–fifteenth centuries in particular saw a dramatic increase in the production and consumption of mystical and contemplative literature in the ‘Christian West’, by laypeople (...) as well as religious scholars, women as well as men. A Hidden Wisdom focuses on five topics of particular interest to both scholastics and contemplatives in this period—namely, self-knowledge, reason and its limits, love and the will, persons, and immortality and the afterlife. This focus centers on the (often overlooked) contributions of medieval women and demonstrates that when we reunite scholasticism with its contemplative counterpart, we gain not only a more accurate understanding of the scope of medieval Christian philosophy and theology but also an increased awareness of a deeply practical tradition that builds up as well as tears down, generates as well as deconstructs. The book’s treatment of topics and figures is meant to be representative rather than exhaustive—a tasting menu rather than a comprehensive study. The choice of topics offers a series of ‘hooks’ for philosophers to connect their own interests to issues central to medieval contemplative philosophy, while also providing medievalists in other disciplines a fresh lens through which to view these texts. (shrink)

The meaning of the noun 'creation', and the verb 'to create', range from the traditional theological idea of God creating ex nihilo to a more recent sense of the process of artistic conception. This collection of thirteen essays, written by scholars of music, literature, the visual arts, and theology, explores the complicated relationship between medieval rituals and theology, and the development of an idea of human artistic creation, which came to the fore in the sixteenth century. The volume concentrates (...) on the period from the Carolingians to the Counter-Reformation but also includes some twentieth-century musicians. Each essay is dedicated to a particular topic concerned with ritual or artistic beginnings, inventions, harmony and disharmony, as well as representations or celebrations of creation. Central themes include the interplay of the ideas of God as creator, of God acting and recreating in medieval liturgy, of God as artist - the deus artifex of the Pythagorean cosmology, which was occasionally referred to as recently as the early nineteenth century -and, finally, of the homo creator, a concept in which man reflected (and eventually replaced) God in his artistic creativity. This book therefore features new, significant, individual contributions from a range of scholarly disciplines, but, taken as a whole, it also constitutes a complex interdisciplinary study, with large-scale historical constructions. (shrink)