Supposition Theory and Porretan Theology: Summa Zwettlensis and Dialogus Ratii et Everardi

• Published in: Vivarium Vol. 51; no. 1-4; pp. 119 - 144
• Main Author: Valente, Luisa
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Brill 2013
• Subjects: Communes; contextual approach; Epistemology. Philosophy of science. Theory of knowledge; Everard of Ypres; Gilbert of Poitiers; Humans; Mathematics; Naming conventions; Persona; Peter of Poitiers; Philosophy; Predicates; Proper names; Subject terms; Summa Zwettlensis; suppositio communis; suppositio confusa; suppositio discreta; suppositio simplex; Terminology; Theology; XIITH CENTURY; Knowledge theory
• ISSN: 0042-7543; 1568-5349; 0042-7543
• DOI: 10.1163/15685349-12341244

Abstract The article investigates how the problem of (linguistic) reference is treated in the theology of two pupils of Gilbert of Poitiers by means of suppo* terms (supponere; suppositus,-a,-um; suppositio). Supposition is for Gilbert an action performed by a speaker, not a property of terms, and he considers language as a system for communication between human beings: key notions are the 'sense in the author's mind' and the 'interpreter's understanding'. In contrast, the two Porretans tend to objectify language as a formal system of terms. Suppositio becomes in the Summa Zwettlensis the name itself as subject term in a proposition, and is divided into many kinds; formal rules are described which govern the influence of the predicate on the subject term's denotation. In Everard of Ypres' Dialogus Ratii et Everardi, supponere is a function (officium) of the name, and 'human is a species of individuals' is, as in some logical treatises and differently from Gilbert, a case of rhetorical transfer.