![]() Ockham draws on the work of earlier logicians of the 13th century for this distinction. The first is discussed mainly in chapters 1-62, the second in the last fifteen chapters, 63-77. In the first 17 chapters, Ockham introduces a number of distinctions, many of which are fundamental to his whole program of nominalism.įirst, he distinguishes between the semantic property of signification, which a term possesses before it forms part of a proposition, and the property of supposition, which it acquires by being combined with another term within a proposition. Part I of the Summa presents Ockham's theory of terms. Section 1 deals with the syllogism, broadly following Aristotle's Prior Analytics, section 2 with scientific demonstration ( Posterior Analytics), section 3 with the theory of consequences, a medieval development of ideas found in Aristotle's Topics, and and section 4 with fallacies ( Sophistici Elenchi). It is divided into a further four sections. Part III is the largest and least studied. The third operation, the combination of propositions together to form arguments, is dealt with in Part III. This covers Aristotle's book on propositions, De interpretatione. The second operation, namely the combination of simple concepts into propositions, is handled in Part II. This covers Porphry's theory of the predicables, and the Aristotle's categories. The first operation, namely the understanding of simple concepts, signified by terms, is dealt with in Part I. It is in three parts, corresponding to the three Aristotelian 'operations of the understanding'. Like all logical works of the medieval period, the Summa is organised into headings that correspond, for the most part, with the books of Aristotle's logical works known as the Organon, or their derivatives. It is sometimes expressed by the maxim that we should not multiply entities beyond necessity (the so-called Ockham's Razor), but Ockham never used this formulation. This principle - nominalism in the strictest sense - has a wide range of theological and well as philosophical consequences, as Ockham suggests in his introduction. The second is that the root of such logico-linguistic errors is the tendency to multiply entities in accordance with the multiplicity of names, and that not everything that appears to be a name has an entity corresponding to it. In his preface to the work, Ockham says the book is to help young students in theology and other faculties from being overcome by such difficulties, "falling into many errors by ignoring valid argument as though it were sophistry, and mistaking sophistry for valid argument". The first is that theological and philosophical difficulties are caused by ignorance of logic, by which he means Aristotelian logic, rather than mathematical logic. ![]() His underlying purpose is to promote some radical ideas about language and logic. But Ockham's objective was more than writing a textbook. Ockham presents the book as a manual or textbook, and its organisation and framework is similar to other such medieval textbooks. The Latin word Summa is difficult to translate, and does not mean a mere summary of its subject, but rather a comprehensive handbook, or manual or compendium, intended to cover all the salient points of the subject, written authoritatively, and from a single point of view. This idea had a far-reaching influence in Western thought, and is regarded by some as the beginning of European empiricism, by others as an anticipation of twentieth century linguistic philosophy. It is introduced by Ockham as a manual or textbook of logic, but he has the more ambitious purpose of promoting a philosophical programme, according to which philosophical and theological error can be resolved by a correct understanding of logic and language. It was probably begun at the Franciscan friary at Greyfriars, London, and may have been finished while Ockham was in Avignon where he had been summoned by Pope John XXII to answer charges of heresy. Like all scholarly works of that period, it was written in Latin. ![]() Nearly a thousand pages long, it is organised in three parts according to Aristotle's three functions of the understanding, namely concepts and the terms which signify them (Part I), propositions formed by combining terms together (Part II), and argumentation (Part III). The Summa of Logic (Latin Summa Logicae) is an important work by the English philosopher-theologian and logician William of Ockham, written some time between 13. ![]()
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