P.J.J.M. Bakker

Is John Buridan the Author of the Anonymous 'Traité de l'âme' Edited by Benoît Patar?

In 1991, Benoit Patar published a set of anonymous commentaries (an expositio and a commentary per modum quaestionis) on Aristotles De anima. He argued that both works should be ascribed to John Buridan and, taken together, constitute the first of Buridans three series of lectures on De anima. Even though Patars proof of the authenticity of the commentaries has not been unanimously accepted, his attribution of the works to Buridan turned out to be persistent. This article examines the question of the authenticity of the two anonymous commentaries. It argues that there is no conclusive reason to attribute the works to Buridan. The texts are closely related to works by Buridan, but they bear the same relation to commentaries written by Nicole Oresme. As a consequence, the works should be considered to be exactly what they are: anonymous commentaries on Aristotles De anima, written in the same context and around the same time in which the commentaries by John Buridan and Nicole Oresme were also written.

Fifteenth-Century Parisian Commentaries on Aristotle’s Metaphysics

Fifteenth-century commentaries on Aristotles Metaphysics have received remarkably little scholarly attention. Judging from the number of extant works, the tradition of commentaries on the Metaphysics would seem to have flourished in the 15th century, especially in comparison to the second half of the 14th century, when only a handful of commentaries were produced. The commentaries can be assigned to three main geographical regions: Italy (eight commentaries), France (ten commentaries), and Central Europe (22 commentaries). The Italian works mainly came from Padua, Florence, and Bologna. This chapter focuses on the Parisian group of commentaries. For reasons of availability, attention will be given to the works by the following six authors: Georgius Bruxellensis, Johannes Hennon, Johannes le Damoisiau, Johannes Versoris, Nicolaus de Orbellis, and Petrus Tartareti. The Metaphysics commentaries produced by these six authors date to the second half of the 15th century. Keywords: Aristotles Metaphysics ; Central Europe; France; Georgius Bruxellensis; Italy; Johannes Versoris; Nicolaus de Orbellis; Nicolaus Theodorici; Parisian group; Petrus Tartareti

Three Anonymous Sets of Questions on Aristotle’s Physics Related to John Buridan’s Quaestiones super octo libros Physicorum (secundum ultimam lecturam)

This article offers a detailed presentation of three anonymous, unedited sets of questions on Aristotle’s Physics. The commentaries survive in manuscripts in Oxford, Munich and Sint Agatha (Netherlands). A comparison of the lists of quaestiones suggests that there is a close correspondence between the three commentaries, on the one hand, and the ultima lectura of John Buridan’s Quaestiones super octo libros Physicorum, on the other. Judging from the lists of quaestiones, it makes sense to attach the label secundum Buridanum to all three commentaries. However, the texts of the three commentaries differ significantly both from each other and from Buridan’s lecture. To illustrate the differences, in the Appendix I present editions of one question from Book I of the Physics and one question from Book III from each of the three commentaries. The edited questions correspond with Book I q.4 in Buridan’s ultima lectura, “Utrum in omni scientia ex cognitione principiorum, causarum et elementorum contingat alia scire et intelligere, scilicet principiata, causata et elementata,” and Book III q.18 of his ultima lectura, “Utrum in quolibet continuo infinitae sint partes.” It appears that one of the three anonymous commentators copies Buridan’s text verbatim or follows its precise structural arrangement. Buridan’s text seems to have functioned as a framework or a point of departure used by the anonymous authors to compose their own commentaries.

The Anonymous Liber de anima Ascribed to Nicholas Bonet († 1343)

Abstract: This contribution offers a detailed presentation of an anonymous book on the soul ascribed to the fourteenth-century Franciscan philosopher and theologian Nicholas Bonet. The work is conserved in two manuscripts of the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague (Cod. V.H.20 and Cod. X.H.19). In both manuscripts the work is almost certainly incomplete. It has a strong focus on the vegetative and sensitive operations of the human soul and on phenomena such as light and colour. Keywords: Fourteenth-century philosophy, Nicholas Bonet, philosophical manuscripts, philosophical psychology, the soul

Secundum intentionem Doctoris Subtilis: The Commentaries on Porphyry's Isagoge and Aristotle's De anima by Walter of Wervia (ca. 1425–1497)

This contribution offers a detailed presentation of the commentaries on Porphyry’s Isagoge and Aristotle’s De anima by Walter of Wervia (ca. 1425-1497). Walter wrote his commentaries between 1445 and 1472 at the University of Paris. Both works bear witness to the influence of John Duns Scotus and Scotism on Parisian Masters of Arts.

Psychology and the Other Disciplines

Psychology and the Other Disciplines looks at how Aristotelian psychology developed from the medieval to the early modern period, by studying its interactions with the other philosophical disciplines, medicine, and theology.

Index codicum manuscriptorum

Psychology and the Other Disciplines looks at how Aristotelian psychology developed from the medieval to the early modern period, by studying its interactions with the other philosophical disciplines, medicine, and theology.

Petrus Trapolinus on the Nature and Place of Psychology

Latin commentaries on Aristotle’s De anima generally contain a series of introductory chapters or questions on the nature of the scientia de anima — the science of the soul or psychology—and its place in the framework of the philosophical disciplines. This chapter focuses on the introductory questions from the commentary on De anima by Petrus Trapolinus. It considers two introductory questions from Trapolinus’s commentary, namely the question on whether psychology is a natural philosophical discipline and the question on the subject matter of psychology. The chapter demonstrates that, prior to the reception of the Greek commentaries, Trapolinus’s introductory questions open new fields of inquiry that were the result of the intrinsic dynamics of the Latin commentary tradition on De anima . The chapter first talks about the Petrus Trapolinus and his work, and then focuses on Trapolinus’s text. Keywords: De anima ; Petrus trapolinus; psychology

The Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima by Alphonsus Vargas Toletanus, OESA

This article examines the commentary on Aristotle’s De anima by Alphonsus Vargas Toletanus, OESA († 1366). The commentary has been preserved in one manuscript, Cremona, Biblioteca Statale, Ms. 113 (Nl-12193), written in Bologna in 1475, and in at least five editions printed between 1477 and 1609. The article presents a detailed overview of the commentary by listing its quaestiones and conclusiones and by focusing on the sources used by Vargas. It argues that the general objective of the work was to provide an overview of opinions on essential issues concerning the soul, to be used by students of the Augustinian Order.