Duns Scotus's Doctrine of Categories and Meaning: (Studies in Continental Thought)

Duns Scotus's Doctrine of Categories and Meaning is a key text for the origins of Martin Heidegger's concept of "facticity." Originally submitted as a postdoctoral thesis in 1915, it focuses on the 13th-century philosopher-theologian John Duns Scotus. Heidegger first analyzes Scotus's doctrine of categories, then offers a meticulous explanation of the Grammatica Speculativa, a work of medieval grammar now known to be authored by the Modist grammarian Thomas of Erfurt. Taken together, these investigations represent an early foray into Heidegger's lifelong philosophical concerns, "the question of being in the guise of the problem of categories and the question of language in the guise of the doctrine of meaning." This new and unique translation of one of Heidegger's earliest works offers an important look at his early thinking before the question of being became his central concern and will appeal to readers exploring Heidegger's philosophical development, medieval philosophy, phenomenological interpretations of the history of philosophy, and the philosophy of language.

Table of Contents:
Translator's Preface Acknowledgments Foreword to the First Edition of Frühe Schriften (1972) Duns Scotus's Doctrine of Categories and Meaning Foreword Introduction: The Necessity of Examining Scholasticism from the Perspective of the History of Problems Part I: The Doctrine of Categories First Chapter: The Unum: Mathematical, Natural, and Metaphysical Reality Second Chapter: The Verum: Logical and Psychic Reality Third Chapter: Linguistic Form and Linguistic Content: The Domain of Meaning Part II: The Doctrine of Meaning First Chapter: Meaning and Meaning Function: Principles of the Doctrine of Meaning Second Chapter: The Doctrine of the Forms of Meanings Conclusion: The Problem of Categories Author's Notice Bibliographical References Editor's Afterword English-German Glossary German-English Glossary Index of Names Subject Index

About the Author :
Joydeep Bagchee is the author of The Nay Science: A History of German Indology and Philology and Criticism. He specializes in German and Indian philosophies. He lives and teaches in Berlin.  Jeffrey D. Gower is Byron K. Trippett Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Wabash College. His research focuses on questions of sovereignty, economy, and ecology in Agamben, Derrida, Heidegger, and Aristotle.

Review :
"Heidegger's early engagement with medieval philosophy via neo-Kantian logic foreshadows his later explorations of being, truth, and meaning. He concludes by challenging himself to grapple with "historical spirit." Bagchee and Gower's meticulous translation brings this formative phase of Heidegger's thought to English-speaking readers."—Richard Polt, Xavier University "Heidegger's Habilitationsschrift, submitted to the University of Freiburg in 1915, at the age of twenty-six, takes up themes central to scholastic ontology and logic: the categories of reality and the differentiations of meaning. Quite traditional topics, these are not themes that one might suspect would help open the way to the revolutionary work of 1927, Being and Time. And yet: here one sees the phenomenological gifts already at work in the young Heidegger. Here one finds the early formulations of the hermeneutics of facticity and the first hints of the notion of formal indication – one finds the earliest signs of the revolutionary work to come. Ably translated, this text offers insights into key problems of scholasticism as well as into the genesis of the philosophical revolutionary that Heidegger would soon become."—Dennis Schmidt, Western Sydney University "With this careful and scholarly translation of Heidegger's postdoctoral thesis, Bagchee and Gower have provided an indispensible resource for anyone seeking to understand the trajectory of Heidegger's early thinking. A splendid achievement."—William McNeill, DePaul University