When was medieval philosophy?

Typescript of an Inaugural Lecture by John Marenbon, as Honorary Professor of Medieval Philosophy in the University of Cambridge, delivered November 30, 2011.John Marenbon argues against the usual chronological division, according to which there was a period of ‘medieval philosophy’ corresponding roughly to the Middle Ages. Using as his basis an argument about why studying antiquated philosophy is valuable, he explains why such a question about chronological divisions is important

Relations in Earlier Medieval Latin Philosophy: Against the Standard Account

Medieval philosophers before Ockham are usually said to have treated relations as real, monadic accidents. This “Standard Account” does not, however, fit in with most discussions of relations in the Latin tradition from Augustine to the end of the 12th century. Early medieval thinkers minimized or denied the ontological standing of relations, and some, such as John Scottus Eriugena, recognized them as polyadic. They were especially influenced by Boethius’s discussion in his De trinitate, where relations are treated as prime examples of accidents that do not affect their substances. This paper examines non-standard accounts in the period up to c. 1100

Relativism in the long middle ages crossing the ethical border with paganism

Christians in the Long Middle Ages (ca. 200-ca. 1700 ce) in Western Europe often thought about paganism, especially that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, such as Aristotle and Virgil, who provided the foundations of their intellectual culture, but also contemporary pagans (that is to say, people who were neither Christians, Jews, nor Muslims), such as the Lithuanians, Mongols, and, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the "Indians," both of America and of India itself, the Japanese, and the Chinese. This article will set out and explore one of the surprising features of these discussions, their use of relativistic approaches, which few would associate with medieval thought. With regard to pagan knowledge, in particular, that of the ancient pagans, some writers develop a strictly relativistic approach, which becomes one of the most important (and often hardly noticed) features of medieval intellectual life. With regard to the question of the virtues of pagans (both ancient and contemporary), the approach is also relativistic, but in more subtle and looser ways. © David Graeber

Relations and the Historiography of Medieval Philosophy

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2016.117810

Mauro Zonta and the Unity of Medieval Philosophy

In memoriam Mauro Zont

Relations in Earlier Medieval Latin Philosophy : Against the Standard Account

Medieval philosophers before Ockham are usually said to have treated relations as real, monadic accidents. This "Standard Account" does not, however, fit in with most discussions of relations in the Latin tradition from Augustine to the end of the 12th century. Early medieval thinkers minimized or denied the ontological standing of relations, and some, such as John Scottus Eriugena, recognized them as polyadic. They were especially influenced by Boethius's discussion in his De trinitate, where relations are treated as prime examples of accidents that do not affect their substances. This paper examines non-standard accounts in the period up to c. 1100.Es diu que els filòsofs medievals previs a Occam van tractar les relacions com a accidents reals i monàdics. Però aquest "Relat estàndard" no encaixa amb gran part de les discussions que van tenir lloc en la tradició llatina des d'Agustí fins al final del segle XII sobre les relacions. Els primers pensadors medievals van minimitzar o negar l'estatus ontològic de les relacions, i alguns, com Joan Escot Eriúgena, les van reconèixer com a poliàdiques. Aquests filòsofs van estar fonamentalment influïts per la discussió de Boeci en el seu De trinitate, on les relacions es tracten com a primers exemples d'accidents que no afecten les seves substàncies. Aquest treball examina els relats no-estàndards en el període que arriba fins a l'any 1100.Se dice que los filósofos medievales previos a Ockham trataron las relaciones como accidentes reales y monádicos. Pero este "Relato estándar" no encaja con gran parte de las discusiones que tuvieron lugar en la tradición latina desde Agustín hasta el final del siglo XII acerca de las relaciones. Los primeros pensadores medievales minimizaron o negaron el estatus ontológico de las relaciones, y algunos, como Juan Escoto Eriúgena, las reconocieron como poliádicas. Estos filósofos estuvieron fundamentalmente influenciados por la discusión de Boecio en su De trinitate, donde las relaciones se tratan como primeros ejemplos de accidentes que no afectan a sus sustancias. Este trabajo examina los relatos no-estándares en el período que llega hasta el año 1100

A Politico-Communal Reading of the Rose

Lettura del Fiore in rapporto alle fonti retoriche e politiche di ambiente comunal

The redundancy of positivism as a paradigm for nursing research.

New nursing researchers are faced with a smorgasbord of competing methodologies. Sometimes, they are encouraged to adopt the research paradigms beloved of their senior colleagues. This is a problem if those paradigms are no longer of contemporary methodological relevance. The aim of this paper was to provide clarity about current research paradigms. It seeks to interrogate the continuing viability of positivism as a guiding paradigm for nursing research. It does this by critically analysing the methodological literature. Five major paradigms are addressed: the positivist; the interpretivist/constructivist; the transformative; the realist; and the postpositivist. Acceptance of interpretivist, transformative or realist approaches necessarily entails wholesale rejection of positivism, while acceptance of postpositivism involves its partial rejection. Postpositivism has superseded positivism as the guiding paradigm of the scientific method. The incorporation in randomized controlled trials of postpositivist assumptions indicates that even on the methodological territory that it once claimed as its own, positivism has been rendered redundant as an appropriate paradigm for contemporary nursing research