Proponents of ground, which is used to indicate relations of ontological fundamentality, insist that ground is a unified phenomenon, but this thesis has recently been criticized. I will first review the proponents' claims for ground's unicity, as well as the criticisms that ground is too heterogeneous to do the philosophical work it is supposed to do. By drawing on Aristotle's notion of homonymy, I explore whether ground's metaphysical heterogeneity can be theoretically accommodated while at the same time preserving its proponents' (...) desideratum that it be a unified phenomenon. (shrink)

Le glissement de l’attention du langage parlé vers le langage intérieur dans la philosophie médiévale est bien connu. Ce qui n’a jamais été remarqué est le rôle joué par la reconnaissance des paradoxes et problèmes de signification posés par les caractéristiques physiques du langage parlé. Cet essai examine ces paradoxes et les solutions apportées dans les écrits de Pierre Abélard, de ses contemporains, et de quelques auteurs du début du xiiie siècle.

William of Champeaux is best known as Peter Abelard's teacher and the proponent of realism of universals. In recent years, many works on the linguistic liberal arts - grammar, dialectic and rhetoric - have been attributed to him. However, at least in the case of the dialectical commentaries, these attributions have been hastily made and are probably incorrect. The commentaries themselves, correctly situated in the time and place when Abelard and William worked at Notre Dame, nonetheless deserve close attention. The (...) commentaries on Aristotle's De interpretatione are examined here: in them we find a new theory of signification which developed as a critical response to William of Champeaux's view of the vox significativa, as well as an important clue to the origins of the doctrine of the proprietates terminorum. (shrink)

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For Abelard, the notion of “intention” (intentio, attentio) plays a central and important role in his cognitive and ethical theories. Is there any philosophicalconnection between its uses in these contexts? In recent publications, Constant Mews has argued that the cognitive and ethical senses of “intention” are related(namely, the cognitive sense evolves into the ethical sense), and that Abelard is repeatedly led to focus on intentions throughout his career due to the influenceof Heloise. Here I evaluate Mews’s arguments by examining and (...) comparing the cognitive and ethical senses of the term. Although the basis for Mews’s claimseems to be false, I argue that there is nonetheless an important philosophical relationship between cognitive and ethical intentiones in Abelard’s thought, therecognition of which leads to a new and more precise understanding of his ethical theory of intention. (shrink)

For Abelard, the notion of “intention” plays a central and important role in his cognitive and ethical theories. Is there any philosophicalconnection between its uses in these contexts? In recent publications, Constant Mews has argued that the cognitive and ethical senses of “intention” are related, and that Abelard is repeatedly led to focus on intentions throughout his career due to the influenceof Heloise. Here I evaluate Mews’s arguments by examining and comparing the cognitive and ethical senses of the term. Although (...) the basis for Mews’s claimseems to be false, I argue that there is nonetheless an important philosophical relationship between cognitive and ethical intentiones in Abelard’s thought, therecognition of which leads to a new and more precise understanding of his ethical theory of intention. (shrink)

This volume explores the rich history of philosophy of language in the Western tradition, from Plato and Aristotle to the twentieth century. A team of leading experts focus in particular on key metaphysical debates about linguistic content, including questions of ontological status and metaphysical grounding.

This book examines the medieval tradition of Aristotelian logic from two perspectives.