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Project

Towards a Natural History of Formal Semantics. On the Development of Supposition Theory in Post-Medieval Logic (c. 1450- c. 1650).

Supposition theory (ST) is one of the most important non-symbolic forerunners to formal semantics, a branch of linguistics and logic that is characterized by a mathematical (model-theoretic) approach to meaning. ST first emerged after the reintegration of Aristotelian thought in the later 12th c., and it disappeared with the dawn of modern logic in the later 19th c. ST was the predominant current in semantics for a period of more than 500 years, and it is one of the most important components of premodern logic. Research into supposition theory, however, is still in the early stages. To date, scholars have focused almost exclusively on the 13th and 14th c., and thus on only a fragment of the available sources. This project wants to shed new light on the history of ST by studying sources from the post-medieval period (c. 1450- c. 1650), a time frame that is hardly covered in the specialized literature. By means of historical and rational reconstructions of concrete theories, it aims to gain an insight into the many forms of ST during the post-medieval period. The core issues of the project include the relation between 'suppositio' and 'acceptio', and the principles of 'descensus', 'ascensus' and 'ampliatio'.
 

Date:1 Oct 2020 →  1 Sep 2023
Keywords:History of logic, Supposition theory, Post-medieval philosophy
Disciplines:Philosophy of language, Logic, Semantics, Latin language, History of philosophy