Programme
Caterina Tarlazzi
Ca' Foscari Venice
Modes and Minds in the Time of William of Champeaux and Peter Abelard
In this paper, I will investigate several discussions of the term ‘modus’ in the time of William of Champeaux and Peter Abelard, with special attention for how it interacts with mental activities (either the speaker’s or the hearer’s). I will start from how commentaries on Priscian (the Glosulae-complex and Notae Dunelmenses) discuss verbal moods as inclinationes animi. I will then move to modus as expressing affectus animi in Abelard’s treatment of complete orations. Finally – moving to modal propositions - I will investigate Abelard’s ‘syncategorematic explanation’ of modal terms connected to a ‘way of conceiving’. I argue that modus is a key tool in Abelard’s ontologically parsimonious analysis.