This collective volume gives an exemplary overview over the philosophical reactions William of Ockham has provoked and also serves to better understand not only Ockham s thought in its historical context, but also the philosophy of the 14th century in general.".

This paper focuses on Olivi’s theory of representation and aims at showing that his theory does not endorse epistemological representationalism . Moreover, there is no representation without self-representation for Olivi. Therefore, his account of self-representation or inner experience resembles modern higher-order theories of consciousness. But unlike most modern authors, Olivi seems to combine a higher-order thought theory with a higher-order perception one.

The concept of inner experience in Peter John Olivi. This article discusses the notion of inner experience and self-knowledge in Peter John Olivi. According to Olivi, each act of cognition is accompanied by some sort of self-awareness or self-experience. Therefore, the problem of an infinite regress of acts of self-awareness arises. Olivi tries to solve this problem by drawing on a theory of reflection which bears a striking resemblance to modern self-representational or dispositional accounts of consciousness. Thus, in order to (...) be said to be »known« or »certain« it is not necessary for each single act of intellect to be followed by a higher-order act; Olivi argues that in many cases a simple first-order cognitive act suffices. (shrink)

L’article porte sur la notion de totalité dans la critique par Pierre de Jean Olivi des relations entre l’âme et le corps dans la psychologie thomiste. En critiquant Thomas d’Aquin, Olivi s’attaque à un point faible de sa psychologie : d’un côté, Thomas conçoit l’âme comme le principe de la vie étroitement connecté au corps humain, et de l’autre, il conçoit l’âme intellective comme un être subsistant par lui-même. Selon Olivi, l’unique manière selon laquelle l’âme est censée être essentiellement présente (...) au corps selon Thomas d’Aquin ne peut convenir à ces deux supposées propriétés de l’âme : information du corps et subsistance. Olivi abandonne donc le holenmérisme thomiste, selon lequel l’âme humaine est essentiellement présente comme un tout dans chaque partie du corps. Un résultat important du traitement olivien de la totalité est sa conception anti-aristotélicienne de l’intellect : Olivi le conçoit comme un être susceptible de plus et de moins et de mouvement, selon un mode semblable à celui des corps physiques. Cette définition d’une anima intellectiva pouvant se mouvoir par elle-même, et par conséquent libre, est au cœur d’une éthique volontariste. (shrink)

This article examines the role of the mediaeval theory of the propositio in re, as proposed by Walter Burley and others, which bears a striking resemblance to the theory of the “proposition” advocated by G. E. Moore and B. Russell. Burley’s proposition composed of real things has the function of an ultimate significate for every sentence of natural language. The main problems of such a theory are on the one hand absurdities like a bird flying between the subject and predicate (...) of a sentence, on the other hand Burley’s assumption that a relation of identity holds between subject and predicate, which might render propositiones in re tautological. Moreover, the particular nature of this relation is left unexplained. But these difficulties can be solved: The former by applying objective being, being as being cognized, to the terms of a propositio, as did Scotus and Franciscus de Prato, the latter by specifying multiple forms of real predication as being or being-in-something apart from a mere identity-relation. (shrink)

Franciscus de Prato hat sich immer wieder mit der Philosophie Ockhams auseinandergesetzt. Diese Arbeit zeigt auf, wie bedeutsam fur beide Philosophen die Sprachtheorie ist. Der Angelpunkt ist dabei die Annahme entweder eines Satzes im Geiste oder einer Proposition, die aus Dingen besteht. Diese Entscheidung wirkt sich dann auf verschiedenste Gebiete der Philosophie aus. Am Beispiel der Kategorienlehre wird dies deutlich: Kategorien sind Aussagbares. In Satzen aussagbar sind aber fur Ockham nur mentale Begriffe, keine Dinge. Also ist fur ihn die Kategorienordnung (...) keine Ordnung von extramentalen Dingen, sondern nur von mentalen Zeichen. Anders Franciscus: Fur ihn sind Gegenstande, nicht Zeichen primar aussagbar. Also ist fur ihn die kategoriale Ordnung eine reale Hierarchie. Welches Licht wirft diese Auseinandersetzung auf das Verstandnis der Philosophie Ockhams und der des Franciscus? Weitaus wichtiger als der universalientheoretische Unterschied zwischen Nominalismus und Realismus ist fur beide Denker ihre satztheoretische Ausrichtung. Ausgezeichnet mit dem Preis an Studierende der Ruhr-Universitat Bochum. (shrink)

This article reviews Dialogus, Part 1, Books 1–5 978-0-19-726694-6.

This article discusses the notion of inner experience and self-knowledge in Peter John Olivi. According to Olivi, each act of cognition is accompanied by some sort of self-awareness or self-experience. Therefore, the problem of an infinite regress of acts of self-awareness arises. Olivi tries to solve this problem by drawing on a theory of reflection which bears a striking resemblance to modern self-representational or dispositional accounts of (self-)consciousness. Thus, in order to be said to be »known« or »certain« it is (...) not necessary for each single act of intellect to be followed by a higher-order act ; Olivi argues that in many cases a simple first-order cognitive act suffices. (shrink)

In this introduction, we briefly introduce the concept of social ontology, a fertile sub-field of contemporary analytic metaphysics, and present the motivation for the present volume, which is largely though not exclusively historical in scope. We explain that philosophers in the ancient, medieval, and early modern world, with an emphasis on the medieval tradition, likewise took up questions and issues that are now discussed by philosophers working in social ontology. We then present the contents of the volume and suggest further (...) lines of research. (shrink)

This book offers a collection of contributions on medieval, early modern, and contemporary perspectives on social ontology. Since the 1990s, social ontology has emerged as a vibrant research area in contemporary analytical philosophy. Questions concerning the nature and properties of social groups, institutions, facts, and objects like money and marriage, have been thoroughly discussed. However, the historical perspective has been largely neglected. One of the central aims of this volume is to show that relevant views on social ontology can be (...) found in medieval and early modern philosophy (ca. 1200-1700 C.E.), when, for example, the ontological status of money, law, and the sacraments was hotly debated. We see, furthermore, diverging positions between Aristotelian-inspired authors, who resort to a more naturalistic view of the emergence of the social realm, and authors like Olivi and Ockham, who emphasize the role of human free will and contractualist agreements. This book is the very first to address historical and contemporary social ontologies. Both historians of philosophy and philosophers will benefit from this juxtaposition, which fosters a better understanding of historical positions and approaches by using today’s conceptual and analytical tools, and allows the contemporary debate to gain new perspectives by confronting its own medieval and early modern history. (shrink)

L’article présente l’édition critique du Traité sur l’être de raison de François de Prato, précédée d’une introduction historico-philosophique. Ce traité est une des premières réactions italiennes à la diffusion de la philosophie du langage et de la logique de Guillaume d’Occam. François y argumente contre la réduction occamiste de l’être de raison aux actes de connaissance, entendus comme des entités existant ‘subjectivement’ dans l’intellect. En suivant Thomas d’Aquin et Hervé de Nédellec, il développe au contraire une théorie relationnelle et ‘objective’ (...) de l’être de raison. (shrink)

While for a long time the study of medieval logic focused on editorial projects and reconstructions of central medieval doctrines such as the theories of signification, supposition, consequences, and obligations, nowadays the spectrum of analysis has broadened and is increasingly informed by modern logical research, whose perspective is then applied to medieval logic. Promoting this tendency, logicians and researchers concerned with semantics in the Gesellschaft für Philosophie des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (GPMR) founded a working group bringing together medieval logic (...) and modern applied logic. The present volume is a seminal document of these interests and activities. It analyzes theories in medieval logic which are useful for solving questions of recent logic and explains crucial parts of medieval logic, philosophy, and theology by applying techniques of present-day logic. (shrink)

Preview: Science and religion are complex cultural phenomena, which bear on our understanding of the world, life, consciousness, agency, morality, as well as all other fundamental issues human beings puzzle over. There exists a longstanding question about whether science and religion, and the responses they offer to these issues, are complementary or in conflict. The conflict narrative, championed for example by the New Atheists, emphasizes discrepancies between scientific and religious explanations and typically advances methodological, ethical, and ontological naturalism as providing (...) us with the only adequate means of addressing the big questions humanity faces. The complementarity narrative, without denying the advances of the natural sciences, tends to take the view that it is possible to retain elements of a religious worldview alongside the discoveries of natural science. A traditional focus in the European context has been on the viability of certain ethical ideas whose original justification was arguably based in Christianity, such as human dignity, moral equality, and the centrality of humility, compassion and sacrifice. (shrink)

Rodes establishes a new category, pilgrim law, which expands the confines of natural law and complements the traditional understanding to include an eschatological dimension.

The Meaning of Mourning brings perspectives from leading philosophers, psychologists, theologians, writers, and artists exploring different dimensions of death, loss, and grief. They together form a wide-ranging study of some of the most difficult and formative experiences in human life.

One of the core themes of Stanisław Lem’s 1961 novel Solaris is the encounter with radical otherness. The ocean planet being studied by scientists form earth is usually interpreted as a representation of radical otherness, which eludes human efforts of understanding. In this paper we argue that in Solaris Lem attempts to show not merely that the ocean is unknowable, but that the unknowability is itself impossible to adequately conceptualise and represent. However, we further argue that this impossibility is the (...) subject of an experience in which the presence of otherness is made available. We focus on the images of chaos which Kelvin discovers on Solaris to show that Lem presents the epistemic situation of the main protagonist as radically unstable. Contrary to most interpretations, however, we argue that the discursive narration in the novel engages with the presence of otherness only superficially. Rather, we suggest that the encounter with otherness is shown as something that manifests itself in bodily emotions, and is, therefore, only possible to convey non-discursively. The fear and dread inspired by the vastness and strangeness of the ocean are always presented by appeal to sensuality and bodily experience. These emotive reactions to encounters with otherness subvert its conceptual representations. We suggest that in this way Lem attempts to convey what cannot be discursively described, or even depicted. He presents radical otherness as something impossible to represent conceptually but offers a vision of the possibility of an encounter with otherness through bodily emotions. On this interpretation Solaris is not only a novel about the encounter with otherness, but also about the very possibility of representing such an encounter. (shrink)

Part I. Narratives and Norms -- 1 Tradition and development: Engaging John T. Noonan, Jr. -- 2 Creation and covenant: Engaging Stanley Hauerwas -- 3 Examples and rules-Engaging Jeffrey Stout -- Part II Love, Justice, and Law -- 4 Neighbor love and legal precedent: Engaging Gene Outka -- 5 Compassionate respect and victims' voices: Engaging Margaret Farley -- 6 Covenant fidelity and culture wars: Engaging Paul Ramsey -- Part III Legal Categories and Theological Problems -- 7 Juridical insights and theological (...) disputes: Engaging Robert E. Rodes, Jr. -- 8 Second chances and statutes of limitations: Engaging Walter Kasper -- 9 Legalism and christian ethics: Engaging Grisez and Engelhardt. (shrink)

Preview: This is the second volume of the double issue of Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture devoted to the relationship between science and religion. The contributions across these two volumes have mostly been concerned with, and argued for, various aspects of a non-reductive view of this relationship, according to which reality is not limited to what the natural sciences can tell us about it. That is the view that science and religion are not in conflict, or that the (...) advances made by the natural sciences do not undermine religion as an adequate means of addressing the big questions humanity faces. This is not only a very welcome but also exciting result confirming that after many decades of an almost complete monopoly of scientific naturalism in English language philosophy the field is beginning to open up to a more diverse range of views. This development has made it possible for philosophers in the analytic tradition to engage with topics of deep human importance in a serious and systematic way. (shrink)

It is uncommon for aestheticians to co-author books with artists, and very rare for philosophers of religion or metaphysicians to do so. As the longstanding col.

Rethinking Existentialism. By Webber Jonathan.

In this paper I revisit the debate concerning the distinction, which is sometimes made between “analytic” and “continental” philosophy. I look at the historical context in which the distinction came to prominence in the twentieth century, the reasons why it subsequently declined in popularity, and eventually had begun to be undermined. I argue that the distinction possesses intuitive content, which the recent attempts at exposing it as conceptually flawed fail to account for. I suggest that the intuitive content of the (...) distinction provides us with resources to usefully define two different ways philosophical reflection has been approached during the course of the twentieth century. I conclude by suggesting that we can bring these two ways of approaching philosophy into focus by appealing to the idea of philosophical temperament. (shrink)

The presented study aims to compare men and women, perpetrators of domestic violence in terms of psychosocial characteristics, present conditions of socialization in which the perpetrator grew and the motives for committing violent act against partners. The population of violence offenders under study and its sub-groups did not differ from the norm group in terms of personality traits and temperament. The differences were noticed only in two KSP scales: secure style and avoidance style. The comparison of women and men revealed (...) differences, in three variables: openness for experience, emotional intelligence and avoidance-ambivalence style. Moreover, study showed that despite the good relationship between the subjects’ parents, some perpetrators suffered violence from the loved ones. It should be noted that women were more affected by physical and psychological aggression in childhood. Analysis of motives to commit acts of violence indicated that they are associated with three factors: advantage over your partner, influence and control. (shrink)

In his essay, "Über Gegenstandstheorie", Meinong presents a clear formulation of his somewhat paradoxical Ontology. I have attempted to construct an explicit differentiation between Meinong's objects which are indifferent to being, and objects upon which a type of being is predicated. I argue that once a clear distinction between Meinongian objects and objects of a higher order is effected, not only do paradoxical inconsistencies fade, but also the Ontology itself gains intuitive appeal.

In his essay, "Über Gegenstandstheorie", Meinong presents a clear formulation of his somewhat paradoxical Ontology. I have attempted to construct an explicit differentiation between Meinong's objects which are indifferent to being, and objects upon which a type of being is predicated. I argue that once a clear distinction between Meinongian objects and objects of a higher order is effected, not only do paradoxical inconsistencies fade, but also the Ontology itself gains intuitive appeal.

In his essay, "Über Gegenstandstheorie", Meinong presents a clear formulation of his somewhat paradoxical Ontology. I have attempted to construct an explicit differentiation between Meinong's objects which are indifferent to being, and objects upon which a type of being is predicated. I argue that once a clear distinction between Meinongian objects and objects of a higher order is effected, not only do paradoxical inconsistencies fade, but also the Ontology itself gains intuitive appeal.