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52The Noblest Complexion: Semimaterialist Tendencies in a Late Medieval Bohemian Reading of John WyclifVivarium 61 (3-4): 318-359. 2023.This article examines an uncommon materialist argument preserved in late medieval Prague quodlibets by Matthias of Knín (1409) and Prokop of Kladruby (1417). The argument connects the Galenic claim that the human body has the noblest and best-balanced complexion possible with the Alexandrist claim that the human rational soul emerges from such well-balanced matter without any supernatural intervention. Of the various medieval renderings of these claims, John Wyclif’s De compositione hominis is s…Read more
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186Buridan Wycliffised? The Nature of the Intellect in Late Medieval Prague University DisputationsIn Marek Gensler, Monika Michalowska & Monika Mansfeld (eds.), The Embodied Soul: Aristotelian Psychology and Physiology in Medieval Europe between 1200 and 1420, Springer. 2022.The paper delves into manuscript sources connected with various disputations held at Prague University from around 1390 to 1420 and singles out a set of hitherto unknown quaestiones dealing with the nature of the human intellect and its relation to the body. Prague disputations from around 1400 arguably offer a unique vantage point on late medieval anthropological issues, since they encompass an entanglement of numerous doctrinal influences from Buridanian De anima commentaries to John Wyclif’s …Read more
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49An Eastward Diffusion: The New Oxford and Paris Physics of Light in Prague Disputations, 1377-1409Recherches de Theologie Et Philosophie Medievales 89 (2): 449-516. 2022.This paper inquires into how the new techniques of 14th-century physics, especially the doctrines of the maxima and minima of powers and the latitudes of forms, were applied to the issue of propagation of light. The focus is on several Prague disputed questions, originating between 1377 and 1409, dealing with whether illumination has infinite or finite reach and whether illumination’s intensity remains constant (uniformis) or is rather uniformly decreasing (uniformiter difformis). These question…Read more
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220The Aims of Perspectiva in 1360s Paris: Investigating Texts Written in the Hand of Reimbotus de CastroIn Pavlína Cermanová & Václav Žůrek (eds.), Books of Knowledge in Late Medieval Europe: Circulation and Reception of Popular Texts, Brepols. pp. 299-329. 2021.This paper investigates how later medieval intellectuals dealt with perspectiva – the medieval discipline of optics, which had seen considerable popularity in Latin Europe since the 13th century and was epitomized in several “books of knowledge” of differing scopes, levels of difficulty and intended audience. This paper is focused narrowly on one of these intellectuals – Reimbotus de Castro (fl. 1350s–1380s), who was not only personal physician to the Roman Emperor Charles IV but was also a dili…Read more
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415Studying and Discussing Optics at the Prague Faculty of Arts: Optical Topics and Authorities in Prague Quodlibets and John of Borotín’s Quaestio on ExtramissionIn Ota Pavlicek (ed.), Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia: Production, Reception and Transmission of Knowledge, Brepols. pp. 251-303. 2021.The paper presents a preliminary estimation of the extent of dissemination of optical texts, ideas, and issues among the masters connected with the Prague faculty of arts in the late 14th and early 15th century. Investigation of this topic, so far rather neglected, is based chiefly on manuscript research. The paper brings evidence that perspectiva was taught in Prague at least since the 1370s. It suggests that investigation of Prague quodlibetal disputations (ca. 1390s – 1410s) and consideration…Read more
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202Medieval Theories of Perception and the Activity of Senses in the Franciscan Context (in Czech). A book-length study (175.000 words) on Roger Bacon's, Peter Olivi's, and Peter Auriol's philosophy of perception.
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23Pohled šlehající z očí: františkáni 13. století a Augustinova autorita v otázce extramisní teorie viděníIn Petr Hlaváček (ed.), Proměny františkánské tradice: Od teologie a filosofie ke kultuře a umění, Ff Uk – Filosofia. 2019.[Sight Darting Forth from the Eyes: 13th-Century Franciscans and Augustine’s Authority in the Issue of Extramissionist Theory of Vision] One of the positions sometimes ascribed to Augustine is the so-called extramissionist conception of vision, i.e. the assumption that the sight is effectuated by something being sent out from the eyes, as opposed to more intuitive receptionist understanding of sight. The paper investigates the attitudes of eleven 13th-century Franciscan thinkers (from Alexander …Read more
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558The Visual Process: Immediate or Successive? Approaches to the Extramission Postulate in 13th Century Theories of VisionIn Elena Băltuță (ed.), Medieval Perceptual Puzzles: Theories of Sense Perception in the 13th and 14th Centuries, Investigating Medieval Philoso. pp. 73-110. 2019.Is vision merely a state of the beholder’s sensory organ which can be explained as an immediate effect caused by external sensible objects? Or is it rather a successive process in which the observer actively scanning the surrounding environment plays a major part? These two general attitudes towards visual perception were both developed already by ancient thinkers. The former is embraced by natural philosophers (e.g., atomists and Aristotelians) and is often labelled “intromissionist”, based on …Read more
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106The Senses and the History of Philosophy (edited book)Routledge. 2019.The study of perception and the role of the senses have recently risen to prominence in philosophy and are now a major area of study and research. However, the philosophical history of the senses remains a relatively neglected subject. Moving beyond the current philosophical canon, this outstanding collection offers a wide-ranging and diverse philosophical exploration of the senses, from the classical period to the present day. Written by a team of international contributors, it is divided into …Read more
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58Intencionalita a pojem poznání ve středověké filosofiiStudia Neoaristotelica 15 (4): 63-125. 2018.The paper investigates relations between the notions of intentionality and cognition in medieval philosophy. (The investigation is restricted to Latin works written between ca. 1240–1320, mainly those by Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Giles of Rome, John Duns Scotus, and Peter Auriol.) It is argued that two different conceptions of intentionality (or esse intentionale) were endorsed by medieval philosophers. In the first conception (called “Aristotelian” here) “to be intentional” is a physica…Read more
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610What is in the Mirror? The Metaphysics of Mirror Images in Albert the Great and Peter AuriolIn Brian Glenney & José Silva (eds.), The Senses and the History of Philosophy, Routledge. pp. 131-148. 2019.
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39Perception in Scholastics and Their Interlocutors (edited book)Filosofia. 2017.(From editorial:) This volume aims to refute the disparaging image of scholastic philosophy as a rather homogeneous tradition of commentaries on Aristotle lacking in originality. Although Aristotelianism was, of course, a very important philosophical paradigm among the scholastics, their works also evince many features and tenets of Platonic or Augustinian origin. Several issues characteristic for Platonism and Augustinianism are discussed in this volume – for example, the role of attention in p…Read more
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352Attention, Perceptual Content, and Mirrors: Two Medieval Models of Active Perception in Peter Olivi and Peter AuriolPerception in Scholastics and Their Interlocutors. 2017.In the paper I argue that medieval philosophers proposed several notions of the senses’ activity in perception. I illustrate the point using the example of two Franciscan thinkers – Peter Olivi (ca. 1248–1298) and Peter Auriol (ca. 1280–1322). Olivi’s notion of active perception assumes that every perceptual act demands a prior focusing of the mind’s attention. Furthermore, Olivi is partially inspired by the extramissionist theories of vision and reinterprets the notion of a visual ray postulate…Read more
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728Perception and Objective Being: Peter Auriol on Perceptual Acts and their ObjectsAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 90 (1): 49-76. 2016.This article discusses the theory of perception of Peter Auriol. Arguing for the active nature of the senses in perception, Auriol applies the Scotistic doctrine of objective being to the theory of perception. Nevertheless, he still accepts some parts of the theory of species. The paper introduces Auriol's view on the mechanism of perception and his account of illusions. I argue for a direct realist reading of Auriol's theory of perception and propose that his position becomes clearer if we use …Read more
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39Supozice mentálního termínu podle Viléma OckhamaStudia Neoaristotelica 9 (3): 20-62. 2012.[Supposition of Mental Term according to William of Ockham :] This paper investigates Ockham ’s claim that there is a diversity of suppositions of a mental term. First, it summarizes the hitherto research in Ockham ’s theory of concepts and the theory of mental language ascribed to him. Secondly, it describes his theory of supposition, focusing on the interpretation of this theory which describes it as a device for interpretation of propositions. Thirdly, the paper examines the problems which ar…Read more
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309Centrum a periferie v historiografii filosofie: Petr Olivi a středověká nauka o dušiIn Marek Otisk & Adam Olech (eds.), Filosofie v provincii / Filozofia na prowincji, Ostravská Univerzita. pp. 104-119. 2016.Centre and Periphery in the Historiography of Philosophy: Peter Olivi and Medieval Psychology The paper inquiries into the (historiographical) question what does it mean to be a “marginal thinker” in the context of the medieval philosophy. The question is investigated on the example of Franciscan philosopher and theologian Peter Olivi (1248/49–1298) and his philosophical psychology. First, a preliminary option is introduced: for a thinker, being “marginal” depends on his relation to who is consi…Read more
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595Vnímání, kauzalita a pozornost Roger Bacon a Petr OliviStudia Neoaristotelica 13 (3): 1-38. 2016.[Sensation, Causality, and Attention: Roger Bacon and Peter Olivi] This paper investigates what conditions are to be met for sensory perception to occur. It introduces two diff erent theories of perception that were held by two medieval Franciscan thinkers — namely, Roger Bacon (1214/1220–1292) and Peter Olivi (ca. 1248–1298). Bacon analyses especially the causal relation between the object and the sensory organ in his doctrine of the multiplication of species. In his view, a necessary condition…Read more
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538Co je člověk? Petr Auriol a role kognitivní psychologie ve středověké definici člověkaIn Jan Herůfek (ed.), Pojetí důstojnosti člověka od antiky po současnost, Ostravská Univerzita. pp. 55-78. 2015.[What is the Human Being? Peter Auriol and the Role of Cognitive Psychology in the Medieval Definition of the Human Being: ] This paper explores how medieval philosophers used cognitive psychology in defining what the human being is, paying special attention to the Franciscan thinker Peter Auriol (c. 1280 – 1322). First, I examine the motivations of Auriol’s claim that the property of being alive is bound to the property of being cognitive (i. e. being capable of cognition). Then, the foundation…Read more
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17Esse apparens a jeho role v Auriolově výkladu smyslového vnímáníFilosoficky Casopis 62 (4): 539-557. 2014.The main aim of this paper is to propose an adequate interpretation of the concept esse ap-parens (apparent being) which was used by Franciscan philosopher and theologian Peter Auriol (c. 1280 – 1322), especially focusing on his account of sensory perception. Basing on the analysis of relevant passages of the commentary on the Sentences by Auriol, first, I introduce his famous account of sensory illusions, and then his own claims about nature of esse apparens (Auriol refuses both that it is sepa…Read more
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University of OstravaResearcher (Part-time)
Areas of Specialization
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |
Medieval Philosophy of Mind |
Medieval Philosophy of Nature |
Areas of Interest
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |