Handbook of the History of Logic: - Fordham University Faculty

448 Catarina Dutilh Novaes
consider for example the crucial material vs. formal distinction with respect to
consequence. Blaise of Parme is, in any case, an essential author for the understanding
of the development of logic in Italy.
John Dorp, working at the very end of the 14 th century, is most famous for his
commentary on Buridan’s logic (John Dorp 1499), which in 1393 became required
reading material for a student to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Paris
(cf. [Lorenz, 1996, 148]). Dorp’s commentary consisted of the main text from
Buridan’s Summulae (the parts supposedly taken from Peter of Spain, but with
significant modifications), and Buridan’s own commentary was replaced by Dorp’s
more concise commentary (this was indeed the form of the early printed editions
of Buridan’s Summulae, that is, in fact with Dorp’s commentary — cf. [Klima,
2001, xxxii]). Dorp deals with and even solves many of the tensions that could
be felt in Buridan’s logical doctrines, for example with respect to the effect of
the negation over the personal supposition of terms (cf. [Karger, 1993]) — his
ingenious solution to this problem will be discussed in the section on supposition
below.
1.3 Conclusion
From the foregoing considerations, the picture that emerges of the 14 th century is
of an extremely active period of intellectual and academic activity, in particular
with respect to logic. Many were the authors involved in these activities, and
many were their contributions to the field. We will now see that the result of all
these activities was exceptionally sophisticated logical analysis.
2.1 Supposition
2 SEMANTICS
While at the beginning of the 14 th century the concept of supposition and the doctrines
built upon it were already respectable and mature elements of the terminist
logic tradition, one can surely speak of a further development of these doctrines in
the 14 th century. The concept of supposition was one of the most important conceptual
tools used in fields as wide-ranging as natural philosophy and theology;
another typical place to capture the development of the concept of supposition
and its uses is in the sophismata literature. But here, I will focus on treatises on
supposition properly speaking.
Moreover, for reasons of space, the discussion to follow is not intended to be
comprehensive in a historical sense: it is impossible to mention the doctrines held
by every single significant author, or to discuss all the important aspects concerning
the concept of supposition of this period. Rather, the discussion here is thematic
in that it focuses on a few interesting conceptual developments concerning the
notion of supposition, and particular authors are mentioned only insofar as they
are representative of a given position.