Questions on the Soul by John Buridan and Others

This volume features essays that explore the insights of the 14th-century Parisian nominalist philosopher, John Buridan. It serves as a companion to the Latin text edition and annotated English translation of his question-commentary on Aristotle's On the Soul. The contributors survey Buridan's work both in its own historical-theoretical context and in relation to contemporary issues. The essays come in three main sections, which correspond to the three books of Buridan's Questions. Coverage first deals with the classification of the science of the soul within the system of Aristotelian sciences, and surveys the main issues within it. The next section examines the metaphysics of the soul. It considers Buridan's peculiar version of Aristotelian hylomorphism in dealing with the problem of what kind of entity the soul (in particular, the human soul) is, and what powers and actions it has, on the basis of which we can approach the question of its essence. The volume concludes with a look at Buridan's doctrine of the nature and functions of the human intellect. Coverage in this section includes the problem of self-knowledge in Buridan's theory, Buridan's answer to the traditional medieval problem concerning the primary object of the intellect, and his unique treatment of logical problems in psychological contexts.

Gyula Klima is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, New York, NY. He is the founder-director of the international Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, and the editor of its Proceedings, published by Cambridge Scholars. Professor Klima's books include Ars Artium: Essays in Philosophical Semantics, Medieval and Modern (Hungarian Academy, 1988), John Buridan: Summulae de Dialectica (Yale, 2001); Medieval Philosophy: Essential Readings with Commentary (Blackwell, 2007), John Buridan (Oxford, 2009); Intentionality, Cognition and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy (Fordham, 2014).

Part 1. About the Science of the Soul.- Chapter 1. Buridan in the Context of Late-Medieval Cognitive Psychology (Peter King).- Chapter 2. Where should we discuss the soul? The 14th-century Unification of the Doctrines of De Anima and De Generatione (Sander W. de Boer).- Part 2. About the Nature and Powers of the Soul, and the Powers and Functions of the Sensitive Soul.- Chapter 3. The Trivia of Hylomorphism, Dualism and Materialism: Some Pointers from Buridan and Others (Gyula Klima).- Chapter 4. Buridan on the Metaphysics of the Soul (Calvin Normore).- Chapter 5. Aquinas vs. Buridan on the Substance and Powers of the Soul (Adam Wood).- Chapter 6. John Buridan on External and Internal Sensation (Peter Sobol).- Chapter 7. Durand of St.-Pourçain and John Buridan on Species: Direct Realism with and without Representation (Peter Hartman).- Chapter 8. Awareness and Unity of Conscious Experience: Buridan on the Common Sense (Henrik Lagerlund).- Chapter 9. Bero Magni de Ludosia on Parts of Sensation (Robert Andrews).- Chapter 10. Buridan on the Psychology and Morality of Appetitive Acts (Martin Pickavé).- Part 3. About the Intellect and Intellectual Functions.- Chapter 11. Intellect and Intellectual Activity in Buridan's Psychology (Jack Zupko).- Chapter 12. Scotus and Buridan on the First Known (Primum Cognitum) (Timothy Noone).- Chapter 13. Self-Knowledge and the Science of the Soul in Buridan's Quaestiones De Anima (Susan Brower-Towland).- Chapter 14. Buridan, Intentionality and Its Paradoxes (Joël Biard).- Chapter 15. Was Buridan a 'Psychologist' in His Logic? (Jennifer Ashworth).- Chapter 16. Linguistic Externalism and Mental Language in Ockham and Buridan (Claude Panaccio).