Categories and Logic in Duns Scotus: An Interpretation of Aristotle’s Categories in the Late Thirteenth Century(77 Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters)

This volume deals with thirteenth-century interpretations of Aristotle’s Categories, providing at the same time an introduction to some main themes of medieval philosophical logic. It analyzes various answers to the question whether the Aristotle’s short and influential treatise is a logical or a metaphysical work, and to the connected question, whether categories are words, concepts, or things. It also presents the doctrine of the so-called ‘second intentions’, and traces the influence that it had on the interpretation of the Categories in authors such as Thomas Aquinas, Peter of Auvergne, Simon of Faversham, Radulphus Brito, and Duns Scotus. The last two chapters, entirely devoted to Duns Scotus’s reading of the Categories, provide a systematic introduction to Scotus’s commentary on Aristotle’s treatise, which has hitherto been largely neglected.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction 1. Categories and Logic in the Thirteenth Century 2. Intentions and Modes of Understanding in Thomas Aquinas 3. Second Intentions in Henry of Ghent, Simon of Faversham and Radulphus Brito 4. Second Intentions in Duns Scotus 5. Scouts on the Logical Consideration of Categories 6. Scotus' Reading of Aristotle's 'Categories' Bibliography Index of Names Index of Subjects

About the Author :
Giorgio E. Pini, Ph.D. (1997) in Philosophy, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, is currently Research Fellow at the same institution, after holding fellowships from K.U. Leuven and PIMS, Toronto. He has published several articles on late medieval logic and metaphysics.

Review :
'...the first systematic book-length study of Duns Scotus doctrine of the categories and an extremely useful sketch of his views on logic generally...a remarkable achievement in every sense...His volume should, of course, be carefully studies by specialists in medieval philosophy, but perhaps even more so by philosophers working in contemporary metaphysics.' Timothy Noone, The Review of Metaphysics, 2006. 'Pini’s book is a fine introduction to the doctrine of second intentions in the latter half of the thirteenth century as well as an authoritative presentation of Scotus’s views on the categories and on the Aristotelian writing that bears that name.' John F. Wippel, Speculum, 2004 '...well written and informative…the first full-length study of Scotus’s logical writings in well over a century.' Lloyd A. Newton, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2002.