JEAN BURIDAN'S LOGIC THE TREATISE ON SUPPOSITION THE TREATISE ON CONSEQUENCES SYNTHESE HISTORICAL LIBRARY TEXTS AND STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY Editors: N. KRETZMANN, Cornell University G. NUCHELMANS, UniversityofLeyden L. M. DE RIJK, University ofL eyden Editorial Board: J. BERG, Munich Institute of Technology F. DEL PUN T A, Linacre College, Oxford D. P. HENRY, University ofM anchester J. HINTIKKA, Florida State University, Tallahassee B. MATE S, University of California, Berkeley J. E. MURDOCH, Harvard University G. P A TZ I G, University of Gottingen VOLUME 27 JEAN BURIDAN'S LOGIC THE TREATISE ON SUPPOSITION THE TREATISE ON CONSEQUENCES Translated, With a Philosophical Introduction by PETER KING University of Pittsburgh D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY A MEMBER OFTHE KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LANCASTER /TOKYO Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Buridan, Jean, 1300-1358. Jean Buridan's Logic. (Synthese historical library ; v. 27) Bibliography: p. Includes indexes. I. Logic-Early works to 1800. I. King,Peter,1955- II. Buridan, Jean 1300-1358. Tractatus de suppositionibus. English. 1985. III. Buridan, Jean, 1300 -135 8. Tractatus de consequentiis. English. 1985. IV. Title. V. Title: Logic. VI. Series. BC60.B875 1985 160 85-24383 BC60.B875 1985 Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17,3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 190 Old Derby Street, Hingham, MA 02043, U.S.A. In all othcr countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 330() AH Dordrecht, Holland. All Rights Reserved © 1985 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner ISBN -13:978-94-010-8836-7 e-ISBN -13:978-94-009-5289-8 DOl: 10,1007/978-94-009-5289-8 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1985 Et credo quod tanta fuit orta controversia inter opinantes ex defectu logicae ... - Buridan, MS B.N.lat.l6128 fo1.232 VO TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Xl INTRODUCTION. BURIDAN'S PHILOSOPHY OF LOGIC Section 1. John Buridan: Life and Times 3 Section 2. The Treatises 5 Section 3. Meaning and Mental Language 7 3.1. Levels of Language 7 3.2. Nominalist Semantics and Equiformity 8 3.3. Mental as an Ideal Language 10 Section 4. The Properties of Terms 15 4.1. Syncategorematic Terms 15 4.2. Absolute and Appellative Terms 17 4.3. Intentional Verbs 22 Section 5. Sentences 25 5.1. Sentences as Assertions 25 5.2. Categorical Sentences 5.3. Hypothetical Sentences 29 5.4. Principles of Sentential Logic 30 5.5. Truth and Sentential Signification 32 Section 6. The Theory of Supposition 35 6.1. Supposition and the Theory of Reference 35 6.2. Personal and Material Supposition 37 6.3. Discrete and Common Supposition 40 6.4. Absolute and Relative Supposition 41 6.5. Natural and Accidental Supposition 43 6.6. Determinate and Confused Supposition 45 6.7. Distributive and Non-Distributive Supposition 48 6.8. Ampliation: Time and Modality 51 6.9. Truth-Conditions 57 vii Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS Section 7. Consequences 59 7.1. Conditionals, Inferences, and Consequences 59 7.2. The Definition and Division of Consequences 61 7.3. Assertoric Consequences 63 7.4. Divided Modal Consequences 65 7.5. Composite Modal Consequences 66 Section 8. The Syllogism 69 8.1. Definition of the Syllogism 69 8.2. Syllogistic Semantic Principles 70 8.3. Reduction and Proof-Procedure 73 8.4. Assertoric Syllogistic 75 8.5. Composite Modal Syllogistic 79 8.6. Divided Modal Syllogistic 80 TRANSLATION. THE TREATISE ON SUPPOSITION Introduction 85 Chapter 1. Signification, Supposition, Verification, Appellation 86 1.1. The Aim of Chapter 1 86 1..... Signification and Supposition 86 1.J. Supposition and Verification 88 1.4. Supposition and Appellation 90 Chapter 2. Kinds of Significative Words 93 2.1. Complex and Incomplex 93 2.2. Subject and Predicate 93 2.3. Categorematic and Syncategorematic Terms 96 2.4. Complex and Incomplex Concepts 98 2.5. Perfect and Imperfect Expressions 99 2.6. Rules for Supposition 100 Chapter 3. The Kinds of Supposition 117 3.1. Proper and Improper Supposition 117 3.2. Material and Personal Supposition 118 3.3. Common and Discrete Personal Supposition 125 3.4. Natural and Accidental Supposition 125 3.5. Confused and Determinate Supposition 129 3.6. Distributive and Merely Confused Supposition 130 3.7. Rules for Distributive Confusion 131 3.8. Rules for Non-Distributive Confusion 140 TABLE OF CONTENTS lX Chapter 4. The Supposition of Relative Terms 148 4.1. The Meaning of 'Relative Term' 148 4.2. The Kinds of Relative Terms 149 4.3. Reference to the Antecedent 150 4.4. Supposition of the Antecedent 150 4.5. 'This' and 'That' 152 4.6. 'Himself' 153 4.7. 'His Own' 154 4.8. 'Such' and 'So Much' 155 4.9. Differentiating Relative-Terms 155 Chapter 5. Appellation 159 5.1. Review 159 5.2. The Appellation of Subject and Predicate 159 5.3. Appellation and Signification 162 5.4. Appellation of Particular Terms 166 Chapter 6. Ampliation and Restriction 168 6.1. The Status of a Term 168 6.2. Ampliation 168 6.3. Restriction 170 6.4. Alienation 171 6.5. The Alienation of Supposition 172 6.6. Cancelled Supposition 172 TRANSLATION. THE TREATISE ON CONSEQUENCES Book I. Consequences in General and Among Assertoric Sentences 177 1.1. The Truth and Falsity of Sentences 177 1.2. The Causes of the Truth and Falsity of Sentences 179 1.3. The Definition of 'Consequence' 181 1.4. The Kinds of Consequences 184 1.5. The Supposition of Terms 186 1.6. The Ampliation of Terms 188 1.7. The Matter and Form of Sentences 194 1.8. Theorem About Assertoric Consequences 195 Book II. Consequences Among Modal Sentences 228 2.1. Modal Sentences 228 x TABLE OF CONTENTS 2.2. Composite and Divided Modal Sentences 228 2.3. Affirmative arid Negative Divided Modals 229 2.4. Ampliated Terms in Divided Modal Sentences 231 2.5. Equipollent Modal Sentences 233 2.6. Theorems About Divided Modals 234 2.7. Theorems About Composite Modals 245 Book III. Syllogisms With Assertoric Sentences 258 3.1. The Kinds of Consequences 258 3.2. The Syllogism 260 3.3. Finite and Infinite Terms 262 3.4. Theorems 263 3.5. Sentences With Oblique Terms 278 3.6. Syllogistic Extremes and Middle 280 3.7. Theorems 281 Book IV. Syllogisms with Modal Sentences 295 4.1. Syllogisms With Composite Modal Sentences 295 4.2. Syllogisms With Divided Modal Sentences 298 4.3. Divided Contingent Modals 315 4.4. Syllogisms With Reduplicative Sentences 320 NOTES Notes. Buridan's Philosophy of Logic 327 Notes. Treatise on Supposition 336 Notes. Treatise on Consequences 343 Book I. Notes 343 Book II. Notes 347 Book III. Notes 349 Book IV. Notes 354 Bibliography 367 Indexes 369 Index of Names 369 Index of Subjects 371 Index of Rules and Theorems 377 PREFACE Buridan was a brilliant logician in an age of brilliant logicians, sensitive to formal and philosophical considerations. There is a need for critical editions and accurate translations of his works, for his philosophical voice speaks directly across the ages to problems of concern to analytic philosophers today. But his idiom is unfamiliar, so editions and trans lations alone will not bridge the gap of centuries. I have tried to make Buridan accessible to philosophers and logicians today by the introduc tory essay, in which I survey Buridan's philosophy of logic. Several problems which Buridan touches on only marginally in the works trans lated herein are developed and discussed, citing other works of Buridan; some topics which he treats at length in the translated works, such as the semantic theory of oblique terms, I have touched on lightly or not at all. Such distortions are inevitable, and I hope that the idiosyncracies of my choice of philosophically relevant topics will not blind the reader to other topics of value Buridan considers. My goal in translating has been to produce an accurate renaering of the Latin. Often Buridan will couch a logical rule in terms of the grammatical form of a sentence, and I have endeavored to keep the translation consistent. Some strained phrases result, such as "A man I know" having a different logic from "I know a man." This awkwardness cannot always be avoided, and I beg the reader's indulgence. All of the translations here are my own. I have deviated from faithful accuracy in two inconsequential ways. In place of the punctuation given by the editors I have changed the punc tuation where it seemed to me the rules of English, good sense, or good logic demanded. Since the punctuation in mediaeval manuscripts is virtually nonexistent, I have no hesitation in altering previous editorial decisions. Second, I have tried to replace Buridan's clumsy system of imprecise cross-references with an exact numerical system. I cannot believe Buridan would not have used this system were it available to him, and I make no apologies for exploiting it fully in my translation. My debts are many. I would like to thank Nadia Gerstenkorn, on whose unfamiliar French typewriter keyboard I first began translating Xl