Zur Literaturproduktion im Buridanismus am Beispiel der anonymen Quästionen zur Ars vetus im Cod. 5461 der ÖNB Wient

This study which is to be seen in connection with the edition in vol. 3 [38](2005) of this journal, pp. 163–212, analyzes some of the 50 anonymous questions on the Ars vetus in the manuscript Vienna ÖNB 5461, fol. 90ra–119vb. This work is certainly a product of the current of late medieval Parisian nominalism or Buridanism. It also shows striking similarities to the questions on the Ars vetus extant in manuscript Tortosa AC 108, fol. 1r–42v, which are ascribed there to John Buridan. Whether this ascription is correct, cannot be proven nor disproven at present. Regarding the Vienna questions Buridan’s authorship is also just possible, although not very likely. At any rate, both works in the Vienna and Tortosa manuscripts are interesting pieces of the literary legacy of Buridanism.

Na czym polega zmiana? Filozoficzna zawartość Lamentacji Ipuwera, Proroctwa Neferti, Instrukcji Amenemhata i Lamentacji Khakheperre-sonbe

Przedmiotem niniejszej pracy jest analiza zawartości czterech egipskich tekstów filozoficznych: Lamentacji Ipuwera, Proroctwa Neferti, Instrukcji Amenemhata i Lamentacji Khakheperre-sonbe. Starożytni autorzy rozważają w nich problemy przemian społecznych i politycznych, upadku państw oraz klęsk naturalnych. Każdy z autorów prezentuję inną wizję omawianych fenomenów. Ipuwer skupia się głównie na konfliktach klasowych, Neferty zwraca uwagę na konsekwencje klęsk naturalnych i migracji, Amenemhat podkreśla wagę spisków pałacowych i przypadku, podczas gdy ostatni z autorów analizuje zmianę z epistemologicznego punktu widzenia. Za niezwykle godny uwagi należy uznać poziom dojrzałości przemyśleń tych piszących w II tysiącleciu p.n.e. autorów.

Johannes Buridan und die Professionalisierung der Artisten

The paper does not consider the contributions of the magister artium Buridanus to the Artes liberales and the Aristotelianism of the Later Middle Ages, that is the topic of some other participants of our colloquium in Katowice. It is aiming at giving a short overview over the very few data of his biography which are known to us framing them by the general social trends of his time. First of all (I.) a sketch of his biography is given which sheds some light on his social background, his milieu and career at Paris university. Secondly (II.) there follows an outline of his main income, namely church benefices, which are given to the university master by papal allowance and are registered mainly in the Vatican Archives. Thirdly (III.) the more than three decades of teaching at the Arts Faculty of Paris are considered within the framework of general social professionalization of teaching at the universities in the Later Middle Ages.

Zur Einführung

The four studies published below were originally presented as papers at the conference Philosophie, Theologie und Wissenschaft im 14. Jahrhundert. Johannes Buridan und seine Schule that took place at the Silesian University in Katowice between 12–17 September, 2004. These articles belong to a long process of exploring late medieval philosophy, particularly focused on so called via moderna. They pertain mainly to 14th and 15th century Buridanism, and above all to one of the most eminent representative of this current, i.e. Marsilius of Inghen.

Marsilius von Inghen. Christliche Ethik für das Leben in der Welt

Marsilius of Inghen develops his concept of Christian ethics in his Commentary on the Sentences. He bases his teaching on the fundament of Aristotle’s philosophy: all human beings are able to act rationally, and therefore they are able to act morally. Against contemporary philosophical rationalisms Marsilius contends that criterion of what is good was settled by God in such an infallible way that any competitive concepts of the good and evil would be vane speculations of no real value for theology. God wants virtues so decisively that they are obligatory and natural for all humans. In accordance with the spirit of his times Marsilius distinguishes common virtues from the theological ones. Faith, hope and love differ from common virtues as they refer directly to God but they cooperate with them in that they direct man’s natural life. Marsilius focuses on the question of how love to God determines the true goodness of virtues as contrasted to the goodness of the natural virtues that can be seen in actions of Pagans; those were perceived by St Augustine as seeming virtues. Marsilius choses the middle way and he acknowledges that virtues of men who do not know and love God, are virtues with God’s aid. All that can be classified as moral depends on God. Nonetheless, those and only those natural actions that provide us with authentic knowledge of God and love to Him, can be called salutary. Marsilius was a disciple of John Buridan and knew his thesis that the will and reason, without God’s influence, can produce moral actions. Marsilius did not mention Buridan but he, though evaluating his thoughts as profound and acceptable, rejected his principal thesis: nature is not able to self-realization because sins have not left it untouched. True morality requires relation to God and it becomes actual by the love of God. The space, in which this realization takes place, is natural human life. Marsilius upholds St Augustine’s notion of ordo caritatis – its direct source is probably Peter Lombard. The love of God develops in society. Marsilius defends his concept of God’s love acting within the world against the variety of objections. Christian ethics realizes within particular social structures and necessary compromises. Ordo caritatis does not pass by the world, by contrast it establishes its order. Marsilius is not a monk like theologian, instead he is a secular theologian; and this can be perceived above all in his concept of Christian ethics that is worldly biased.

The Nature of Theology According to Marsilius of Inghen

Marsilius of Inghen’s Prologue to his Commentary on the Sentences diffusely analyses the nature of theology. The crucial part of his considerations deals with the problem of theology’s theoretical or practical character. Marsilius follows generally Thomas Aquinas’ thesis claiming that theology is theoretical as well as practical but at the same time it is more theoretical than practical. Marsilius’ argumentation adopts many elements of John Buridan’s conception of practical science worked out in his Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics.

Thomas Aquinas and Natural Patterns of Virtuous Conduct

In this paper, I draw on the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas to comment on natural patterns of flourishing in human virtuous life. Through the concept of “natural goodness” borrowed from Philippa Foot, I aim to show how in light of Aquinas’s moral philosophy the realm of physical nature serves as an exemplar for human reason and action. While acknowledging a great variety of cultures and the crucial role of free choice in shaping human action, I emphasize the inherent orientation of human freedom towards moral flourishing, as I find it in Aquinas’s doctrine. The desire for happiness and the natural seeds of moral virtues, terms of which the human mind discovers from various instances of natural or morally virtuous action, provide some basic orientation to human virtuous conduct according to reason. The diversity of virtuous flourishing of human lives and cultures has an immense scope according to the degree to which ordered practical reasoning allows and fosters it. At the same time, however, virtuous flourishing depends on and keeps in congruence with the intelligible patterns of nature that reason and virtue imitate.