There was a long-standing consensus that Ockham was a Divine Command Theorist - one who holds that all of morality is ultimately grounded in God's commands. But contrary to this long-standing consensus, three arguments have recently surfaced that Ockham is not a divine command theorist. The thesis of this dissertation is that, contrary to these three arguments, Ockham is a divine command theorist. The first half of the dissertation is an analysis of the three necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for virtuous action, whereas the second half is a response to the three contemporary arguments that Ockham isn't a divine command theorist. In a way, the first half of the dissertation gives a prima facie case that Ockham is a divine command theorist; the second half concludes so ultima facie.

This thesis is devoted to the analysis of the realist view in the dispute about the nature of universals at Prague university during the reign of Wenceslas IV. At the same time, I explore the realism of the beginning of the fifteenth century in the Czech intellectual environment with regard to its international influences, with which I deal both synchronically and diachronically. I inquire into Prague realism as an original tradition of thinking, which is inspired by the philosophy and logic of foreign thinkers, but such influence is recontextualized into the Czech intellectual environment in a completely unprecedented way. My epistemological framework is based in inductive research, which I conduct by combining the results derived from the analysis of independent datasets of primary data. Such methodological choice enables me to carry out triangulation, i.e. finding the objective truth through approaching the topic from various viewpoints. I reach the conclusion that the dispute about the nature of universals at Prague university at the beginning of the fifteenth century cannot be reduced to the opposition between the nominalism of German masters and the realism of Czech masters, but realism can be apprehended as an important school of thought in terms of establishing an independent tradition of...

Alasdair MacIntyre argues in favor of a historicist Thomism in ethics and political philosophy. In his theory, sociological categories take up much of the space traditionally occupied by metaphysics. This peculiar feature of MacIntyre's Thomism, and its merits and demerits, is already a subject that has been taken up by many critics. In this thesis, these criticisms are supplemented and unified by identifying what is perhaps the most fundamental difficulty with MacIntyre's ethics: his version of Thomism is problematic because it treats epistemology as first philosophy. This misstep compromises MacIntyre's ability to provide a defense of moral objectivity, while also undermining his theory's usefulness in deriving moral rules. The result is an ethics of doubtful coherence. If Thomism is to offer a viable alternative to Enlightenment morality and Nietzschean genealogy, it must defend the priority of metaphysics with respect to epistemology.

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This thesis is a detailed examination of the logico-semantic system propounded by the English philosopher and theologian William of Ockham (c.1287 – c.1347). It provides a reinterpretation of Ockham's account of mental content and mental-language semantics, as well as of his theory of consequential goodness. It does so from the standpoint of an inferentialist theory of meaning, in rejection of previous attempts made from the standpoint of internalist and externalist theories of mental content. Chapter 1 ('The Scientic Status of Logic') provides an account of Ockham's understanding of logic as a rational, practical, ostensive science. Chapter 2 ('The Received Interpretation') presents and casts doubt upon the arguments put forward by the defenders of both externalist and internalist construals of Ockham's semantic theory. Chapter 3 ('An Inferentialist Construal') presents the central tenets of a inferentialist theory of meaning. In order to show how Ockham's system can be understood within such a semantic paradigm, we will have to set out at least three things. First, Chapter 4 ('Ockham's Propositionalism') argues that the mature Ockham actually embraced a propositionalist theory of meaning. Second, Chapter 5 ('Obligationes and the Normativity of Asserting') seeks to prove that such a theory of meaning can only be properly understood against the normative background provided by his theory of obligationes. Finally, Chapter 6 ('Consequences') argues that Ockham's theory of consequential goodness is materialist, not formalist. That is to say, that the goodness of a certain kind of consequence ultimately depends upon the meaning of its propositional parts, rather than upon its structure. It is then shown that all remaining kinds of consequences (syllogisms included) are to understood with respect to these material inferences. The main sources of this research are Ockham's Ordinatio, his Summa logicae, and his Quodlibeta septem. As regards the inferentialist theory of meaning, Robert Brandom's Making it Explicit (1994) and Wilfrid Sellars 'Inference and Meaning' (1953) were essential to this research.

Is language a tool of empire or is empire a tool of language? This thesis examines the cultivation of Carolingian hegemony on a pan-European scale; one defined by a renewed interest in the study of language and its relationship to Carolingian eagerness for moral and spiritual authority. Intended to complement previous work on Carolingian cultural politics, this thesis reiterates the emergence of active philosophical speculation during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Prior research has ignored the centrality of linguistic hermeneutics in the Carolingian literate programme. This thesis addresses this lacuna, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between spirituality, language, and politics within the Carolingian world. The work appropriates prior investigations into the connection of semiotics and Christian philosophy and proposes the development of a renewed interest into ontology and epistemology by Carolingian scholars, notably Alcuin of York and Theodulf of Orléans. The correlation between linguistic philosophy and spiritual authority is confirmed by the 794 Synod of Frankfurt, at which accusations towards both the Adoptionist movement of northern Spain and the repeal of Byzantine Iconoclasm were based on the dangers of linguistic misinterpretation. The thesis also explores the manifestation of this emergent philosophy of language within the manuscript evidence, witnessed by the biblical pandects produced by Alcuin and Theodulf. Desire for the emendation of texts, not to mention the formation of a uniform script (Caroline Minuscule), abetted the larger goal of both infusing a text with authority (both secular and divine) and allowing for broader spiritual and intellectual understanding of a text. Increasing engagement with classical philosophy and rhetoric, the nature of Carolingian biblical revision, and the cultural politics as seen at the Synod of Frankfurt depict the primacy of language to the Carolingians, not only as a tool of imperialism, but the axis of their intellectual and spiritual world.

Malgré l’acceptation théorique et pratique que l’astrologie médiévale rencontre au 13e siècle latin, son statut philosophique ambigu tient, au moins en partie, à son double partage en art mécanique et en science libérale. Plus mystérieux encore reste le fait qu’elle apparaisse en Occident sans devoir violenter les cadres philosophiques où elle s’inscrit, aussi chrétiens soient-ils. Du point de vue de l’histoire de la philosophie, ce que cette arrivée en douceur passe sous silence, c’est l’enracinement conceptuel toujours déjà préétabli du projet astrologique à l’intérieur d’un contexte philosophique plus global, dans et par lequel l’idée d’influence astrale valide sa raison d’être. En passant par la philosophie naturelle et la métaphysique de Thomas d’Aquin, ce travail veut montrer comment l’astrologie médiévale survient en terres chrétiennes à partir de la rencontre de la hiérarchie causale de l’être propre à l’arabo-aristotélisme néo-platonisant avec une théologie de la providence divine. D’aporie en aporie, la déconstruction de ce que toute astrologie présuppose prend place, de sorte qu’il devient possible de comprendre l’aspect rationnel et proprement philosophique de l’entreprise astrologique au Moyen Âge. / In spite of the theoretical and practical acceptation that medieval astrology is greeted with during the 13th century in the Latin world, its philosophically ambiguous nature is due, at least partly so, to the distinction made between mechanical arts and liberal sciences. Even more mysterious is the fact that it appears in Occident without having to violate the peripheries of Latin philosophy, as Christian as it could be. From a history of philosophy point of view, this rather smooth entrance seems to imply that the astrological project is always-already conceptually rooted in a philosophical context larger than itself, by which it validates its raison d’être. Through the study of Thomas Aquinas’ natural philosophy and metaphysics, this work demonstrates that medieval astrology could occur among the Christian world whenever the causal hierarchy of being brought forth by Arabic aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism walked hand in hand with the Christian theology of divine providence. From an aporia to another, the deconstruction of what any astrology presupposes therefore takes place, from which it becomes possible to properly understand both the rational and philosophical aspect of the astrological enterprise during the Middle Ages.

Nesta investigação tenho por fim estudar a translatio da lexicografia conceitual que parte do verbo grego ser (einai) chegando ao verbo latino ser (esse) à luz do de Hebdomadibus de Boécio. Neste percurso me deparo com a embriologia da doutrina dos transcendentais, na qual ser, bem e um são convertíveis ou coextensivos, como também me deparo com uma metafísica do bem, herdada pela Escolástica, pela qual tento especular Boécio em seu exercício filosófico, que consiste em tentar esclarecer o modo pelo qual as substâncias são boas nisto que são, contudo não são bens substanciais. / The aim of this study is the translatio of the conceptual lexicography following the Greek verb be (einai) through the Latin verb be (esse) in light of Boethius de Hebdomadibus. Throughout this journey I find myself facing the embriology of the doctrine of transcendentals, in which being, goodness and one are convertible or co-extensive, and I also face a metaphysics of goodness, inherited by the Scholastics, through which I then try to speculate Boethius in his philosophical endeavour, consisting in trying to clarify how substances are good in that they are, though they are not substantial goods.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-04-11T12:02:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Antônio Ilário Felici.pdf: 1156061 bytes, checksum: 451df83f6d6c1f8d624e46e7f3eb33cf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-11T12:02:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antônio Ilário Felici.pdf: 1156061 bytes, checksum: 451df83f6d6c1f8d624e46e7f3eb33cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-30 / The present research of philosophy deals with the presuppositions of social justice in the Summa of Theology of Thomas Aquinas in question 58 about the justice. It begins the reflection by a study of the Summa as contextualization of the subject. The study of the Summa of Theology, even in its form, allows us to understand its content as a manual of catholic doctrine for students of theology, the point of arrival of the author's theological thought, but a starting point for further study, a task assumed by the present study. Thus, it examines the articles of the question, the author's related writings and their sources in other authors as foundations for social justice, especially those that are most inclined to that direction, such as general or legal, distributive and commutative justice. Based on these bases, the research intends to infer what can be said of social justice in Thomas Aquinas / A presente pesquisa de filosofia trata dos pressupostos da justiça social na Suma de Teologia de Tomás de Aquino na questão 58 sobre a justiça. Inicia a reflexão por um estudo da Suma como contextualização do tema. O estudo da Suma de Teologia, mesmo na sua forma, permite entender o seu conteúdo, como manual de doutrina católica para os estudantes de teologia, ponto de chegada do pensamento teológico do autor, mas ponto de partida para ulteriores aprofundamentos, tarefa assumida pelo presente estudo. Assim, examina os artigos da questão, os escritos afins do autor e suas fontes em outros autores como fundamentos para uma justiça social, especialmente os que mais se inclinam para essa direção, a exemplo dos temas como justiça geral ou legal, distributiva e comutativa. Partindo dessas bases, a pesquisa pretende inferir o que se pode afirmar de justiça social em Tomás de Aquino

Malgré l’acceptation théorique et pratique que l’astrologie médiévale rencontre au 13e siècle latin, son statut philosophique ambigu tient, au moins en partie, à son double partage en art mécanique et en science libérale. Plus mystérieux encore reste le fait qu’elle apparaisse en Occident sans devoir violenter les cadres philosophiques où elle s’inscrit, aussi chrétiens soient-ils. Du point de vue de l’histoire de la philosophie, ce que cette arrivée en douceur passe sous silence, c’est l’enracinement conceptuel toujours déjà préétabli du projet astrologique à l’intérieur d’un contexte philosophique plus global, dans et par lequel l’idée d’influence astrale valide sa raison d’être. En passant par la philosophie naturelle et la métaphysique de Thomas d’Aquin, ce travail veut montrer comment l’astrologie médiévale survient en terres chrétiennes à partir de la rencontre de la hiérarchie causale de l’être propre à l’arabo-aristotélisme néo-platonisant avec une théologie de la providence divine. D’aporie en aporie, la déconstruction de ce que toute astrologie présuppose prend place, de sorte qu’il devient possible de comprendre l’aspect rationnel et proprement philosophique de l’entreprise astrologique au Moyen Âge. / In spite of the theoretical and practical acceptation that medieval astrology is greeted with during the 13th century in the Latin world, its philosophically ambiguous nature is due, at least partly so, to the distinction made between mechanical arts and liberal sciences. Even more mysterious is the fact that it appears in Occident without having to violate the peripheries of Latin philosophy, as Christian as it could be. From a history of philosophy point of view, this rather smooth entrance seems to imply that the astrological project is always-already conceptually rooted in a philosophical context larger than itself, by which it validates its raison d’être. Through the study of Thomas Aquinas’ natural philosophy and metaphysics, this work demonstrates that medieval astrology could occur among the Christian world whenever the causal hierarchy of being brought forth by Arabic aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism walked hand in hand with the Christian theology of divine providence. From an aporia to another, the deconstruction of what any astrology presupposes therefore takes place, from which it becomes possible to properly understand both the rational and philosophical aspect of the astrological enterprise during the Middle Ages.