Language and Logic in the Post-Medieval Period

by E.J. Ashworth

Overview

Keckermann remarked of the sixteenth century, "never from the begin­ ning of the world was there a period so keen on logic, or in which more books on logic were produced and studies oflogic flourished more abun­ dantly than the period-in which we live. " 1 But despite the great profusion of books to which he refers, and despite the dominant position occupied by logic in the educational system of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seven­ teenth centuries, very little work has been done on the logic of the post­ medieval period. The only complete study is that of Risse, whose account, while historically exhaustive, pays little attention to the actual logical 2 doctrines discussed. Otherwise, one can tum to Vasoli for a study of humanism, to Munoz Delgado for scholastic logic in Spain, and to Gilbert and Randall for scientific method, but this still leaves vast areas untouched. In this book I cannot hope to remedy all the deficiencies of previous studies, for to survey the literature alone would take a life-time. As a result I have limited myself in various ways. In the first place, I con­ centrate only on those matters which are of particular interest to me, namely theories of meaning and reference, and formal logic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789027704641
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	09/30/1974
Series:	Synthese Historical Library , #12
Edition description:	1974
Pages:	309
Product dimensions:	8.27(w) x 11.69(h) x 0.04(d)

Table of Contents

I/Historical Introduction.- 1. The Publication of Medieval Works.- 2. Scholasticism in Italy and Germany.- 3. Scholasticism in France and Spain.- 4. Humanism.- 5. Rudolph Agricola and His Influence.- 6. Petrus Ramus and His Influence.- 7. Seventeenth Century Logic: Eclecticism.- 8. Humanism and Late Scholasticism in Spain.- 9. Other Schools of Logic.- 10. A Note on Terminology.- II/Meaning and Reference.- I. The Nature of Logic.- II. Problems of Language.- II. Supposition Theory.- III. Semantic Paradoxes.- III/Formal Logic. Part One: Unanalyzed Propositions.- I. The Theory of Consequence.- II. Propositional Connectives.- III. An Analysis of the Rules Found in Some Individual Authors.- IV/ Formal Logic. Part Two: The Logic of Analyzed Propositions.- I. The Relationships Between Propositions.- II. Supposition Theory and Quantification.- III. Categorical Syllogisms.- Appendix/Latin Texts.- 1. Primary Sources.- 2. Secondary Sources on the History of Logic 1400–1650.- Index of names.