Medieval Commentators on Future Contingents in De Interpretatione 9

Vivarium ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 75-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simo Knuuttila
Keyword(s):  
Future Contingents ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Peter Abelard ◽  
Duns Scotus ◽  
The World ◽  
Future Contingent ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
De Interpretatione ◽  
New Interpretation

AbstractThis article considers three medieval approaches to the problem of future contingent propositions in chapter 9 of Aristotle’s De Interpretatione. While Boethius assumed that God’s atemporal knowledge infallibly pertains to historical events, he was inclined to believe that Aristotle correctly taught that future contingent propositions are not antecedently true or false, even though they may be characterized as true-or-false. Aquinas also tried to combine the allegedly Aristotelian view of the disjunctive truth-value of future contingent propositions with the conception of all things being timelessly present to God’s knowledge. The second approach was formulated by Peter Abelard who argued that in Aristotle’s view future contingent propositions are true or false, not merely true-or-false, and that the antecedent truth of future propositions does not necessitate things in the world. After Duns Scotus, many late medieval thinkers thought like Abelard, particularly because of their new interpretation of contingency, but they did not believe, with the exception of John Buridan, that this was an Aristotelian view.

Abelard’s Treatment of Logical Determinism in Its Twelfth-Century Context

Vivarium ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Irene Binini
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Future Contingents ◽  
Truth Values ◽  
Future Contingent ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
De Interpretatione ◽  
Standard Strategy

AbstractThis article investigates Abelard’s defence of the compatibility between universal bivalence and the existence of future contingent events. It first considers the standard strategy put forward by twelfth-century commentators to solve Aristotle’s dilemma in De Interpretatione 9, which fundamentally relies on Boethius’ distinction between definite and indefinite truth values. Abelard’s own position on the dilemma is then introduced, focusing on a specific deterministic argument considered in his logical works that aims to demonstrate that, given the determinacy of present-tense propositions such as ‘“that Socrates will eat tomorrow” is true’, future contingent events such as that Socrates will eat tomorrow are determinate in advance. In addition to presenting Abelard’s reply to the argument, the article offers an analysis of his notions of contingency, determinacy, and future events, and a comparison between Abelard’s position and other twelfth-century discussions on future contingents.

Staging the World: The Devils as Theatrum Mundi

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-514
Author(s):  
Christophe Van Eecke
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Tidal Wave ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Mise En Abyme ◽  
Political Allegory ◽  
The World

When Ken Russell's film The Devils was released in 1971 it generated a tidal wave of adverse criticism. The film tells the story of a libertine priest, Grandier, who was burnt at the stake for witchcraft in the French city of Loudun in the early seventeenth century. Because of its extended scenes of sexual hysteria among cloistered nuns, the film soon acquired a reputation for scandal and outrage. This has obscured the very serious political issues that the film addresses. This article argues that The Devils should be read primarily as a political allegory. It shows that the film is structured as a theatrum mundi, which is the allegorical trope of the world as a stage. Rather than as a conventional recreation of historical events (in the tradition of the costume film), Russell treats the trial against Grandier as a comment on the nature of power and politics in general. This is not only reflected in the overall allegorical structure of the theatrum mundi, but also in the use of the film's highly modernist (and therefore timeless) sets, in Russell's use of the mise-en-abyme (a self-reflexive embedded play) and in the introduction of a number of burlesque sequences, all of which are geared towards achieving the film's allegorical import.

Nous, Motion, and Teleology in Anaxagoras

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhodes Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Living Things ◽  
The World ◽  
New Interpretation

This paper advances a new interpretation of the manner in which Anaxagoras regards nous as producing motion and, in so doing, explains Anaxagoras’ emphasis on nous’s purity and offers a major reassessment of the explanatory value of nous. Based on a fresh examination of the evidence, I argue that Anaxagoras holds that considerable difference between things is itself productive of motion. On account of nous’s purity there is always a difference between nous and the mixture (comprising everything else) such as to produce motion, with the specific sort of motion being determined by nous’s intent (based on its judgement) or affect. Taking into account what nous brings about, including the cosmic vortex that orders the world and the preservation of living things (by being present in them as their soul), Anaxagoras can be recognized as having offered the framework for a wide-reaching teleology with his conception of nous.

Pleasure, Judgment and the Function of the Painter-Scribe Analogy

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
The World ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Independent Assessment

Abstract This paper puts forward a new interpretation of the argument at Philebus 36c–40d that pleasures can be false. Protarchus raises an objection at 37e–38a, and in response Socrates presents the elaborate painter-scribe analogy (38e–40c). Most previous interpretations do not explain how the analogy answers Protarchus’ objection. On my account, Protarchus’ objection relies on the plausible intuition that pleasure is simply not in the business of assessing the world, and so it cannot be charged with doing so incorrectly. Socrates responds by demonstrating that pleasure can be mistaken about the world, despite not making an independent assessment of it. The painter-scribe analogy demonstrates how pleasure comes to be mistaken about the world by reproducing the mistake of a judgment. Socrates persuades Protarchus that pleasure can be mistaken in part by preserving his intuition that pleasure itself is not the source of the mistake.

Time and the Testator, 1370–1540

2002 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 133-144
Author(s):  
Judith Middleton-Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Past ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Perception Of Time ◽  
Limited Duration ◽  
At Will

There were many ways in which the late medieval testator could acknowledge time. Behind each testator lay a lifetime of memories and experiences on which he or she drew, recalling the names of those ‘they had fared the better for’, those they wished to remember and by whom they wished to be remembered. Their present time was of limited duration, for at will making they had to assemble their thoughts and their intentions, make decisions and appoint stewards, as they prepared for their time ahead; but as they spent present time arranging the past, so they spent present time laying plans for the future. Some testators had more to bequeath, more time to spare: others had less to leave, less time to plan. Were they aware of time? How did they control the future? In an intriguing essay, A. G. Rigg asserts that ‘one of the greatest revolutions in man’s perception of the world around him was caused by the invention, sometime in the late thirteenth century, of the mechanical weight-driven clock.’ It is the intention of this paper to see how men’s (and women’s) perception of time in the late Middle Ages was reflected in their wills, the most personal papers left by ordinary men and women of the period.

The ‘wild hunt’ in the long story by V. Korotkevich. A new interpretation of the medieval legend

2021 ◽  
pp. 154-167
Author(s):  
A. V. Khokhlova
Keyword(s):  
Eastern European ◽  
Fixed Set ◽  
The World ◽  
Western European ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Late Modern

The article considers a transformation of the Western European motif of the ‘wild hunt’ in V. Korotkevich’s story King Stakh’s Wild Hunt. The author gives an overview of folklore motifs typical of the ‘wild hunt’ phenomenon in the Western and Eastern European traditions. With origins in folklore, the ‘wild hunt’ motifs find their way into works of many writers in the late modern to contemporary period: the ‘wild hunt’ is localised on the edge of the mythological space and retains a fixed set of meanings. Most commonly, the ‘wild hunt’ features at the intersection of two domains. The first one is a complex of motifs inherited from the ancient myths and legends of the Germanic ‘Wütendes Heer.’ The second consists of the attributes of actual hunting. Taking a cue from The Hound of the Baskervilles — an obvious inspiration behind the story — and making use of the motifs traditionally associated with the legend, Korotkevich deconstructs the medieval myth, reducing it to an adventurous technique, only to reinstate it with new and unique meanings. The ‘wild hunt’ becomes a symbol of the ignorance, fear and despondency that have the world in their grip.

scholarly journals Thinking in colors

2021 ◽  
pp. 12-38
Author(s):  
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kormin
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Color Harmony ◽  
Color Determination ◽  
The World ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
First Time ◽  
Philosophy Of Arithmetic

This article reveals the philosophical grounds of the aesthetics of color, analyzes the correlation between the structures of philosophical and artistic comprehension of coloristics. Interaction of philosophy and art as the forms of cultural identity manifests in the sphere of intellectual understanding of the perception of color and its semantics in painting. In the hidden logic of contemplation of color, can be traced the outlines of the problematic of transcendental and intelligible in art conditions for the aesthetic approach towards chromatic space. Color creates the visual beauty, thus it is apparent why the aesthetic knowledge seeks to clarify to which extent we can assess the experience of color – the result of coloration of light. The art itself creates the so-called color ontology of the world. First the first time, the beauty of color and its perception are analyzed in the context of correlation between art and transcendental traditions of philosophizing  (Descartes, Kant, early Husserl –  his work “The Philosophy of Arithmetic”) that allows matching the key to a new interpretation of the tradition of color. Determination of its meaning requires comparing history and structure of the philosophical and artistic metaphor of color. It is demonstrated that the phenomenon of color is of crucial significance for the aesthetics, as it implies not only comprehension of the problem of correlation between nature and art, but also cognition of the beauty of color, its universal value for all forms of art, profound structures of perception of coloristic phenomena, picturesque unveiling of the color harmony of the painting.

scholarly journals Zulu Empire Decolonised: The Epic Story of the Zulu from Pre-Colonial Times to the 21st Century by Shalo Mbatha Johannesburg, South Africa: iZigi Publishing, 2021, p. 392. ISBN: 978-0-620-89782-2

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. p23
Author(s):  
Berrington X. S. Ntombela
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
The World

The Zulu Empire is one of the well-known empires in Africa and the world. It is well-known for having resisted and militarily defeated the English army in the battle of Isandlwana. However, history writers who predominantly wrote from the outsider perspective distorted a lot of historical events. This article reviews a book written by Shalo Mbatha entitled “Zulu Empire Decolonised: The Epic Story of the Zulu from Pre-colonial Times to the 21st Century”. The article argues how the title remains true to the project of decolonisation. It further demonstrates how Shalo reverses the popular history created by colonisers by presenting events as known by those who lived through them. Her greatest success is in writing the history in the language of the colonised, thus restoring their dignity and having them rewrite their own history.  

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