Extensive study of one of the first extant thirteenth-century commentaries on aristotle's categories.

The Rationes super Praedicamenta Aristotelis of John Pagus is one of the earliest known literary products of the Arts Faculty of the University of Paris. Written in the 1230s, it is among the first extant commentaries on Aristotle's Categories and reflects a period in which philosophers had already absorbed the full range of Aristotle's logical writings and were becoming increasingly familiar with his physical and metaphysical works. The present volume contains the first full critical edition of the text, preceded by an extensive introductory study consisting of two parts. The first part describes the life and work of John Pagus, the manuscript sources, formal features, authoritative sources, and date of his commentary, as well as its relationship to other known commentaries from the period. The second part is devoted to an analysis of some of the key features of Pagus' interpretation of the categories. The author takes account of Pagus' systematic construal of Aristotle's text, focusing particular attention on his position on perennial issues such as what categories are, which categories there are, what sort of items they collect, whether or not they can overlap, and the relationship between logical and metaphysical categories. To more appreciate and understand Pagus' approach, the volume also pays considerable attention to the views of his near-contemporaries Nicholas of Paris and Robert Kilwardby.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

About the Author
Heine Hansen has studied classics at the University of Copenhagen and holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Sydney (2010). He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen.

Reviews

This is an excellent edition of a crucial text in medieval logic. The edition is excellent because the text correctly represents the manuscript and because the editor considers the historical context, providing parallel texts from Nicholas of Paris and Robert Kilwardby.
Rega Wood, Indiana University, Bloomington, The Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 52, Number 1, January 2014

Ondanks deze kritische bemerkingen, kunnen wij alleen maar onze waardering uitspreken voor het beter toegankelijk maken van dit werk van Pagus, des te meer daar een groot deel van het werk enkel in een unicum bewaard bleef.
Jules Janssens, Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, 77/2015, nr 4

'En editant ce commentaire, H.H. a rendu un grand service a la communaute des chercheurs, car l'enseignement de la logique a Paris dans la premiere partie du 13e s. est tres mal connu. [...] L'edition critique est agrementee d'un index des citations et d'une bibliographie, le tout representant un instrument de travail d'excellente facture pour les recherches ulterieures.'
Jean-Michel Counet, Revue d'Histoire Ecclesiastique, 2018

Book Information
ISBN 9789058679130
Author Heine Hansen
Format Hardback
Page Count 476
Imprint Leuven University Press
Publisher Leuven University Press
Weight(grams) 57g