Handbook of the History of Logic: - Fordham University Faculty

646 Petr Dvoˇrák
2 CARAMUEL’S LOGIC
“Rational Theology”, an anthology of sorts, brings together more or less independent
logical treatises, some of which were published separately either prior to 1654
or later. 1 Designating a set of works in the fields of formal and applied logic, the
title appears to be misleading for two reasons: first, the relation of the content
to Aquinas and his principal Summa is rather unclear and vague at best. Second,
the title intended by the author, Philosophia Rationalis, was changed at will
by the printer, as Caramuel reports in the printed list of his works composed in
Vigevano. 2
Theologia Rationalis consists of two main parts, Praecursor Logicus 3 and Metalogica.
4 Let us introduce briefly the former part first. From the standpoint of
formal logic, not all works included in the first part of “Rational Theology” are
of equal interest. Grammatica Audax (“The Bold Grammar”) 5 deals with grammar
and contains only a brief summary of the standard logic of the time. 6 On
the other hand, Logica Vocalis, Scripta et Mentalis (“Spoken, Written and Mental
Logic”) is a fully-fledged logical work presenting a scholastic Aristotelian-style
“upright” logic (logica recta). 7 Logic treats of language and the emphasis is put
on its spoken form. Hence, “Spoken Logic”, presenting the material in the classic
order of term-proposition-argument, is the most extensive. By contrast, “Written
and Mental Logics” add issues peculiar to their specific modes of language, either
written or mental. The view that logic primarily deals with language rather than
concepts clearly betrays a nominalist approach. The formal organization of the
material into the levels of language — spoken, written and mental — appears to
be novel.
It is only Logica Obliqua, however, (abbreviated as LO below) which marks a
truly original contribution to the field in its content. It amounts to a systematic
1Theologia Rationalis was published under two full titles: “Juan Caramuel’s Rational Theology
or Liberal, Philosophical and Scholastic Meditations, Notes and Observations on the Golden
Summa of the Angelic Doctor in Two Volumes”, and “Rational Theology Explaining The Bold
Grammar, Spoken, Written, Mental, Upright, Oblique and Herculean Dialectics as well as Metalogic
through Examples Human and Divine and Making Clear the Entire First Part of the Angelic
Doctor[’s Summa] in the Same Course and Work”.
2J. Caramuel, Ioannis Caramuelis [...] opera omnia, quae prodierunt in lucem: interseruntur
etiam libri aliqui, qui ultimam manum subierunt, et lucem opportunam exspectant, vol. XVI,
Miscellanea in-folio, in Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia.
3Praecursor Logicus proper consists only of Grammatica Audax: Caramuelis Praecursor Logicus
Complectens Grammaticam Audacem, cuius Partes Sunt Tres... Caramuel speaks, however,
of Herculis Logici Labores Tres as Praecursoris Logici Pars Altera, so one can assume that Grammatica
Audax and the various “Logicae” form Praecursoris Logici Pars Prima. Hence the entire
four-volume structure could be rightly denominated Praecursor Logicus.
4Re-issued independently in 1682 as Metalogica Scholastica with book X omitted from the
volume.
5Published independently in 1651.
6Grammatica Audax, Pars III Critica, med. I Logica, pp. 65–74. One should notice the
quantification of the predicate term in the part devoted to contemporary logic, for this is an
important presupposition of Caramuel’s own relational logic.
7Re-issued separately under the title Logica vocalis, scripta, mentalis, obliqua, Vigevano 1680.