Main description:
Mereology is the theory which deals with parts and wholes in the concrete sense, and this study follows its varied fortunes during the Middle Ages. Preliminary indications as to its metaphysical situation are followed by a brief sketch of Boethius' contribution. Peter Abelard, Gilbert of Poitiers, Clarembald of Arras, and Joscelin of Soissons are among the twelfth-century authors examined. The effect of the subsequent recovery of Aristotle's Metaphysica on Mereology is typified by sketches of the many and varied uses made of the latter by Aquinas. A brief sample of Buridanian treatment is followed by an account of those applications made under the umbrella of thirteenth-century comment on Aristotle's De Sophisticis Elenchis. The curiously original theories of Wyclif are brought to light, as also also samples from Walter Bruleigh, Nicholas of Paris, William of Ockham, and Paul of Venice. Readers interested in such subjects as logic, metaphysics, philosophy, theology, linguistics, pyschology, and their history, will find the work relevant to their studies. No logical symbolism is used in the main body of the book, but some contemporary background is appended so that those who wish to do so may follow it up.
Table of contents:
- Preface
- Coded Booklist
- 0. Introduction
- 0.1 Mereology, Ancient and Contemporary
- 0.2 Medieval Mereology and Metaphysics
- 0.3 Intimations of Speculative Grammar
- 0.4 The Grammar of Quiddity and Universals
- 0.5 The Grammar of Parthood
- 0.6 Unity of Medieval and Contemporary Approaches
- 0.7 Summary
- 1. The Early Medieval Inheritance
- 1.1 Aims and Method
- 1.2 Assets for Exploitation
- 1.3 Boethius on Division
- 1.4 X-parts and Parts-of-X
- 1.5 The Scandal of the Non-Discrete Singular
- 1.6 Temporal Parts
- 1.7 Conclusion
- 2. Abelard and his Contemporaries
- 2.1 Historical Preliminary
- 2.2 Some Crucial Distinctions
- 2.3 Parts-of-X and X-Parts
- 2.4 Identity and Principal Parts
- 2.5 Increase and Decrease
- 2.6 The Temporal Dimension
- 2.7 Master Peter's Mereology
- 2.8 Porretan Mereological Scandals
- 2.9 Concluding Remarks on Section 2
- 3. Aquinas
- 3.1 Metaphysical Background
- 3.2 Wholes and Parts
- 3.3 Further Precisions
- 3.4 Anatomy of the Soul
- 3.5 Attributions and Actions
- 3.6 Resurrection and Identity
- 3.7 Natural and Artificial
- 4. Some Buridanian Theses
- 5. The DE Sophisticis Elenchis in the Thirteenth Century
- 5.1 Introduction
- 5.2 Integral and Universal
- 5.3 Attributions
- 5.4 Mereology and Manifolds
- 5.5 Around the Liar Paradox
- 6. Wyclif's Deviant Mereology
- 6.1 A Wycliffian Work on Universals
- 6.2 Parallels and Innovations
- 7. Categorematic and Syncategorematic
- 7.01 Transitional Introduction
- 7.1 Syncategoremata as Functors
- 7.2 Examples from Earlier Syncategoremata- Treatises
- 7.3 Nicholas of Paris on totus, 6;whole'
- 7.4 Nicholas of Paris on Exceptives
- 7.5 Ockham on Integral Wholes
- 8. Venetian Harvest
- 8.01 Paul of Venice
- 8.02 Scope of the Present Treatment
- 8.03 References and Cross-References
- 8.04 Edition and Translation Policies
- 8.05 The Categorematic/Syncategorematic Distinction
- 8.06 General Remarks on 6;Whole' taken Syncategorematically
- 8.1 Truths Derived from the Syncategorematic 6;Whole'
- 8.2 Falsehoods Derived from the Syncategorematic 6;Whole'
- 8.31 Argument Against the Truth of [8.12]
- 8.32 Argument Against the Truth of [8.11]
- 8.33 Argument Against the Falsehood of [8.23]
- 8.41 Reply to Objection [8.31]
- 8.42 Reply to Objection [8.32]
- 8.431 First Reply to [8.33]
- 8.4311 Criticism of [8.431]
- 8.4320 Second Reply to [8.33]
- 8.4321 First Counter-reply to the Destructivism of [8.4320]
- 8.4322 Second Counter-reply to [8.4320]
- 8.4323 Third Counter-reply to [8.4320]
- 8.4324 Final Three Counter-replies to [8.4320]
- 8.433 Third Reply to [8.33]
- 8.5 Objections to this Last Reply
- 8.6 Replies to these Last Objections
- 8.7 Final Reply
- 8.81 On 6;Whole' taken Categorematically
- 8.82 Arguments against the Proposed Conventions
- 8.83 Replies to these Objections
- 8.9 Postscript to Paul of Venice
- 9. Situational Review
- 10. Presuppositional Explicitation
- 10.01 Prospectus
- 10.1 Some Protothetical Functors
- 10.2 Ontological Axiom, Definitions, and Theses
- 10.3 Mereology
- 10.4 Conclusion
- Index of Names and Topics
Mereology is the theory which deals with parts and wholes in the concrete sense, and this study follows its varied fortunes during the Middle Ages. Preliminary indications as to its metaphysical situation are followed by a brief sketch of Boethius' contribution. Peter Abelard, Gilbert of Poitiers, Clarembald of Arras, and Joscelin of Soissons are among the twelfth-century authors examined. The effect of the subsequent recovery of Aristotle's Metaphysica on Mereology is typified by sketches of the many and varied uses made of the latter by Aquinas. A brief sample of Buridanian treatment is followed by an account of those applications made under the umbrella of thirteenth-century comment on Aristotle's De Sophisticis Elenchis. The curiously original theories of Wyclif are brought to light, as also also samples from Walter Bruleigh, Nicholas of Paris, William of Ockham, and Paul of Venice. Readers interested in such subjects as logic, metaphysics, philosophy, theology, linguistics, pyschology, and their history, will find the work relevant to their studies. No logical symbolism is used in the main body of the book, but some contemporary background is appended so that those who wish to do so may follow it up.
Table of contents:
- Preface
- Coded Booklist
- 0. Introduction
- 0.1 Mereology, Ancient and Contemporary
- 0.2 Medieval Mereology and Metaphysics
- 0.3 Intimations of Speculative Grammar
- 0.4 The Grammar of Quiddity and Universals
- 0.5 The Grammar of Parthood
- 0.6 Unity of Medieval and Contemporary Approaches
- 0.7 Summary
- 1. The Early Medieval Inheritance
- 1.1 Aims and Method
- 1.2 Assets for Exploitation
- 1.3 Boethius on Division
- 1.4 X-parts and Parts-of-X
- 1.5 The Scandal of the Non-Discrete Singular
- 1.6 Temporal Parts
- 1.7 Conclusion
- 2. Abelard and his Contemporaries
- 2.1 Historical Preliminary
- 2.2 Some Crucial Distinctions
- 2.3 Parts-of-X and X-Parts
- 2.4 Identity and Principal Parts
- 2.5 Increase and Decrease
- 2.6 The Temporal Dimension
- 2.7 Master Peter's Mereology
- 2.8 Porretan Mereological Scandals
- 2.9 Concluding Remarks on Section 2
- 3. Aquinas
- 3.1 Metaphysical Background
- 3.2 Wholes and Parts
- 3.3 Further Precisions
- 3.4 Anatomy of the Soul
- 3.5 Attributions and Actions
- 3.6 Resurrection and Identity
- 3.7 Natural and Artificial
- 4. Some Buridanian Theses
- 5. The DE Sophisticis Elenchis in the Thirteenth Century
- 5.1 Introduction
- 5.2 Integral and Universal
- 5.3 Attributions
- 5.4 Mereology and Manifolds
- 5.5 Around the Liar Paradox
- 6. Wyclif's Deviant Mereology
- 6.1 A Wycliffian Work on Universals
- 6.2 Parallels and Innovations
- 7. Categorematic and Syncategorematic
- 7.01 Transitional Introduction
- 7.1 Syncategoremata as Functors
- 7.2 Examples from Earlier Syncategoremata- Treatises
- 7.3 Nicholas of Paris on totus, 6;whole'
- 7.4 Nicholas of Paris on Exceptives
- 7.5 Ockham on Integral Wholes
- 8. Venetian Harvest
- 8.01 Paul of Venice
- 8.02 Scope of the Present Treatment
- 8.03 References and Cross-References
- 8.04 Edition and Translation Policies
- 8.05 The Categorematic/Syncategorematic Distinction
- 8.06 General Remarks on 6;Whole' taken Syncategorematically
- 8.1 Truths Derived from the Syncategorematic 6;Whole'
- 8.2 Falsehoods Derived from the Syncategorematic 6;Whole'
- 8.31 Argument Against the Truth of [8.12]
- 8.32 Argument Against the Truth of [8.11]
- 8.33 Argument Against the Falsehood of [8.23]
- 8.41 Reply to Objection [8.31]
- 8.42 Reply to Objection [8.32]
- 8.431 First Reply to [8.33]
- 8.4311 Criticism of [8.431]
- 8.4320 Second Reply to [8.33]
- 8.4321 First Counter-reply to the Destructivism of [8.4320]
- 8.4322 Second Counter-reply to [8.4320]
- 8.4323 Third Counter-reply to [8.4320]
- 8.4324 Final Three Counter-replies to [8.4320]
- 8.433 Third Reply to [8.33]
- 8.5 Objections to this Last Reply
- 8.6 Replies to these Last Objections
- 8.7 Final Reply
- 8.81 On 6;Whole' taken Categorematically
- 8.82 Arguments against the Proposed Conventions
- 8.83 Replies to these Objections
- 8.9 Postscript to Paul of Venice
- 9. Situational Review
- 10. Presuppositional Explicitation
- 10.01 Prospectus
- 10.1 Some Protothetical Functors
- 10.2 Ontological Axiom, Definitions, and Theses
- 10.3 Mereology
- 10.4 Conclusion
- Index of Names and Topics