University of Oxford
Faculty of Philosophy
DPhil, 1978
St Andrews, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Interest
Medieval Logic
  •  1
  •  19
    The unity of the fact
    Philosophy 80 (3): 317-342. 2005.
    What binds the constituents of a state of affairs together and provides unity to the fact they constitute? I argue that the fact that they are related is basic and fundamental. This is the thesis of Factualism: the world is a world of facts. I draw three corollaries: first, that the Identity of truth is mistaken, in conflating what represents (the proposition) with what is represented (the fact). Secondly, a popular interpretation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, due to Steinus, whereby false propos…Read more
  •  9
    The Medieval Theory of Consequence
    Synthese 187 (3): 899-912. 2012.
    The recovery of Aristotle’s logic during the twelfth century was a great stimulus to medieval thinkers. Among their own theories developed to explain Aristotle’s theories of valid and invalid reasoning was a theory of consequence, of what arguments were valid, and why. By the fourteenth century, two main lines of thought had developed, one at Oxford, the other at Paris. Both schools distinguished formal from material consequence, but in very different ways. In Buridan and his followers in Paris,…Read more
  •  12
    The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Logic (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2016.
    This volume, the first dedicated and comprehensive companion to medieval logic, covers both the Latin and the Arabic traditions, and shows that they were in fact sister traditions, which both arose against the background of a Hellenistic heritage and which influenced one another over the centuries. A series of chapters by both established and younger scholars covers the whole period including early and late developments, and offers new insights into this extremely rich period in the history of l…Read more
  •  11
    A. Broadie: George Lokert, Late‐Scholastic Logician (review)
    Philosophical Books 26 (3): 137-140. 1985.
  •  13
    Semantic pollution and syntactic purity
    Review of Symbolic Logic 8 (4): 649-661. 2015.
    Logical inferentialism claims that the meaning of the logical constants should be given, not model-theoretically, but by the rules of inference of a suitable calculus. It has been claimed that certain proof-theoretical systems, most particularly, labelled deductive systems for modal logic, are unsuitable, on the grounds that they are semantically polluted and suffer from an untoward intrusion of semantics into syntax. The charge is shown to be mistaken. It is argued on inferentialist grounds tha…Read more
  •  177
    The philosophy of alternative logics
    In Leila Haaparanta (ed.), The development of modern logic, Oxford University Press. pp. 613-723. 2011.
    This chapter focuses on alternative logics. It discusses a hierarchy of logical reform. It presents case studies that illustrate particular aspects of the logical revisionism discussed in the chapter. The first case study is of intuitionistic logic. The second case study turns to quantum logic, a system proposed on empirical grounds as a resolution of the antinomies of quantum mechanics. The third case study is concerned with systems of relevance logic, which have been the subject of an especial…Read more
  •  3
    Quotation and Reach's Puzzle
    Acta Analytica 12 9--20. 1997.
  •  6
    `Exists' is a predicate
    Mind 89 (355): 412-417. 1980.
  •  5
    Best Paper Award
    History and Philosophy of Logic 32 (3): 197-197. 2011.
  •  3
    Logics and languages
    Philosophical Books 15 (2): 1-3. 1974.
  •  2
    The Syllogism
    Philosophical Books 24 (1): 14-15. 1983.
  •  9
    Preface
    Philosophia Scientiae 15 1-5. 2011.
    This volume would not exist without the help of all those who contributed to the organisation of the MacColl centenary meeting (Boulogne-sur-Mer, 9--10 October 2009). We are especially grateful to Bruno Béthouart, Jacques Dubucs, Gerhard Heinzmann, and Shahid Rahman. We would also like to thank Michael Astroh, Sandrine Avril, Anny Bégard, Christian Berner, Pierre-Édouard Bour, Peggy Cardon, Emmanuelle Jablonsky, Christian Mac Coll, Tony Mann, Gildas Nzokou, Max Papyle, Bernard Quéh...
  •  6
    Identity and reference
    Mind 87 (348): 533-552. 1978.
  •  15
    The Bounds of Logic. A Generalized Viewpoint (review)
    Philosophical Books 34 (3): 158-160. 1993.
  •  50
    Square of Opposition: A Diagram and a Theory in Historical Perspective
    History and Philosophy of Logic 35 (4): 315-316. 2014.
    We are pleased to present this special issue of the journal History and Philosophy of Logic dedicated to the square of opposition.The square of opposition is a diagram and a theory of opposition re...
  •  96
    Merely Confused Supposition
    Franciscan Studies 40 (1): 265-97. 1980.
    In this article, we discuss the notion of merely confused supposition as it arose in the medieval theory of suppositio personalis. The context of our analysis is our formalization of William of Ockham's theory of supposition sketched in Mind 86 (1977), 109-13. The present paper is, however, self-contained, although we assume a basic acquaintance with supposition theory. The detailed aims of the paper are: to look at the tasks that supposition theory took on itself and to use our formalization to…Read more
  •  32
    Paradoxes of Signification
    New Content is Available for Vivarium. 2018.
    _ Source: _Page Count 21 Ian Rumfitt has recently drawn our attention to a couple of paradoxes of signification, claiming that although Thomas Bradwardine’s “multiple-meanings” account of truth and signification can solve the first of them, it cannot solve the second. The paradoxes of signification were in fact much discussed by Bradwardine’s successors in the fourteenth century. Bradwardine’s solution appears to turn on a distinction between the principal and the consequential signification of …Read more
  •  28
    How Is Material Supposition Possible?
    Journal of Nietzsche Studies 8 (1): 1-20. 1999.
    I. SUPPOSITION AND SIGNIFICATIONIn an insightful article on the medieval theory of supposition, Elizabeth Karger noted a remarkable development in the characterization of the material mode of supposition between William of Ockham and his contemporaries in the early fourteenth century and Paul of Venice and others at the turn of the fifteenth century.1. E. Karger, “La Supposition Materielle comme Supposition Significative: Paul de Venise, Paul de Pergula,” in A. Maierú, ed., English Logic in Ital…Read more
  •  2
    Concepts and Meaning in Medieval Philosophy
    Philosophy and Theology 8 1-20. 1999.
    In his recent study, Concepts, Fodor identifies five nonnegotiable constraints on any theory of concepts. These theses were all shared by the standard medieval theories of concepts. However, those theories were cognitivist, in contrast with Fodor’s: concepts are definitions, a form of natural knowledge. The medieval theories were formed under two influences, from Aristotle by way of Boethius, and from Augustine. The tension between them resulted in the Ockhamist notion of a natural language, con…Read more
  •  1
    Marilyn McCord Adams, "William Ockham"
    Philosophical Quarterly 40 (161): 537. 1990.
  • HUGHES, G. E.: "John Buridan on Self-Reference" (review)
    Australasian Journal of Philosophy 62 (n/a): 423. 1984.
  •  10
    Johannes Buridanus: Summulae de Practica Sophismatum (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 45 (1): 157-158. 2007.
    Stephen Read - Johannes Buridanus: Summulae de Practica Sophismatum - Journal of the History of Philosophy 45:1 Journal of the History of Philosophy 45.1 157-158 Muse Search Journals This Journal Contents Reviewed by Stephen Read University of St. Andrews Fabienne Pironet, editor. Johannes Buridanus: Summulae de Practica Sophismatum. Artistarium 10–9. Turnhout: Brepols 2004. Pp. xlix + 193. Paper, €40.00. John Buridan was an unusual figure in fourteenth-century logic and philosophy. Logic was at …Read more