Timothy Brian Noone

En este artículo el autor examina qué teoría de la voluntad se delinea en el Tractatus de actibus humanis escrito por Juan Iribarne Uraburu. La discusión abierta por Juan Iribarne acerca de la voluntad se sitúa en el contexto de los planteamientos tomistas de la península ibérica en el siglo XVII y manifiesta tanto continuidad como innovación dentro de la tradición escotista. La conclusión que se alcanza es que la teoría de Juan Iribarne muestra desacuerdos fundamentales que distinguen las teorías escotistas respecto de otras teorías escolásticas acerca de la voluntad, sean de corte tomista o suareciano, y, por tanto, es un ejemplo muy instructivo para el actual debate filosófico.

While working on various medieval philosophers, I have noticed an affinity between their remarks on the reasonableness of accepting propositions that are not matters of proof and strict deduction and St. John Henry Newman’s remarks that we accept unconditionally and rightly everyday ordinary propositions without calibrating them to demonstrable arguments. In particular, Cardinal Matthew of Aquasparta and Blessed John Duns Scotus both claim there is a sense in which assent to everyday propositions is tantamount to knowledge, even though there is no adequate argumentation or demonstrative reasoning compelling us to assent to such propositions. Newman’s distinction between notional and real apprehension of propositions, notional and real assents, and his insistence on the existence of real assents to propositions that are not necessarily proved, or in some cases provable, seem, at first glance, a case parallel to that of the medieval philosophers we have mentioned.

In this outstanding work, Fr. Armand Maurer has produced a study of Ockham’s philosophy that is evidently the product of years of reflection and analysis. The masterful command that Maurer has of the relevant primary and secondary sources, the adroit manner in which he marshals those sources to argue for a particularly delicate point of interpretation, and, above all, the clarity of his English prose distinguish the work as both a contribution to scholarship and an excellent resource for those just beginning the study of Ockham’s philosophy. Clearly years of study and disciplined inquiry underlie the gracefulness of any such book.

In this delightful and handy introduction, Professor Richard Cross of Oriel College, Oxford University, has provided students, researchers, and general readers with a guided tour to the theology of John Duns Scotus. Written in a direct and concise style, the volume allows readers to follow Scotuss rather sophisticated argumentation with remarkable ease. As Cross himself remarks in his preface to the volume, his intention is to construct an overview of Scotuss theological thought for the ordinary reader who is correctly presumed to be more acquainted with the ideas of Thomas Aquinas than with Scotuss immediate historical interlocutors: Henry of Ghent, Godfrey of Fontaines, and Giles of Rome. Yet, in a manner that can only be described as enviable, Cross strikes the proper balance between losing the salient elements of Scotuss doctrines in a welter of details bearing on historical background and failing to give enough historical and systematic context to render Scotuss nuanced objections and counterpositions intelligible. Indeed, what Cross manages to do is to give an accurate though perforce brief sketch of the relevant dialectical setting for Scotuss major theological teachings. Furthermore, since Aquinas is kept to the forefront for most of the comparisons drawn, the average reader will find the book a quite useful guide for further study of Scotuss texts. Altogether the volume must be accounted a major success, as it brings much of the recent historical scholarship on Scotuss theology into dialogue with contemporary discussions in the philosophy of religion.

In this book, John Rist aims to give a "fresh perspective" on the entire range of Augustine's thought so that Augustine may speak to us more readily. To the mind of the present reviewer, Rist has indeed succeeded in doing just that, although the contemporary perspective provided is largely one derived from the renewed interest taken by Anglo-American philosophers in the history of ancient and medieval philosophy; within the programmatic limits of such a perspective, the author has accomplished his task masterfully.

In this preliminary volume of the forthcoming edition of Richard Fishacre’s opus magnum, his Commentary on the Sentences, Professor Long and Dr. O’Carroll review in an informative and engaging manner Fishacre’s life and writings. Composed of five chapters supported by a substantial bibliography and graced with an appendix, the volume treats successively Fishacre’s life, painstakingly reconstructed from local archival, episcopal, and royal records, the range of his writings, the scope of the Sentences in particular, and the manuscripts in which that work is preserved as well as the general editorial principles for the edition.

In this, the second edition of his classic study, Albert Zimmermann has once again provided scholars with a remarkable collection of otherwise unavailable texts along with penetrating studies on that perennial metaphysical question: what is the subject of metaphysics. As indicated by the title, Zimmermann’s treatment of the medieval discussion on the object of metaphysical knowledge ranges over the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, covering authors from the generation of Richard Rufus and Roger Bacon up to John Buridan. The new edition takes account of most of the considerable literature that has appeared since the original publication in 1965. Inaugurating the Bibliotheca series being edited under the direction of the illustrious review Recherches de théologie et philosophie médiévales, this volume sets an exceptionally high standard for remaining volumes in the series, which appears likely to produce studies of enduring significance for the study of medieval philosophy.

In this slim volume, Klocker intends to offer a different and more sympathetic reading of Ockham's philosophical and theological ideas than that afforded by what Klocker terms the "traditional view." According to the latter view, chiefly found in the writings of Etienne Gilson and Anton Pegis, Ockham's thought is fundamentally skeptical, a medieval precursor of the philosophical skepticism of Hume in the eighteenth century. Klocker proposes instead to present Ockham's thought as inspired by the condemnations of 1270 and 1277 and concerned, as were the authors of the condemnatory documents, to preserve the freedom of the Christian God. Accordingly, the central thesis of this book is that the unity in the often negative and critical thought of Ockham is the constructive goal of articulating a philosophical vision of the universe in which the freedom of God both to create the universe and to intervene for His own purposes in the created order is assured.

This comprehensive reference volume features essays by some of the most distinguished scholars in the field. Provides a comprehensive "who's who" guide to medieval philosophers. Offers a refreshing mix of essays providing historical context followed by 140 alphabetically arranged entries on individual thinkers. Constitutes an extensively cross-referenced and indexed source. Written by a distinguished cast of philosophers. Spans the history of medieval philosophy from the fourth century AD to the fifteenth century.

In this brief volume, Alexander Broadie makes available to the philosophical public a valuable, if succinct, account of late Scholastic epistemology. Focusing his attention on eight philosopher-theologians who taught at Paris around 1500 A.D., Broadie presents their discussions of notions and objects, modes of sense and intellectual cognition, and theories of apprehension, judgment, and assent. Throughout the entire work, Broadie amply demonstrates his command both of the historical sources relevant to his topic and the philosophical and logical issues with which those sources are concerned.