Nicholas of Amsterdam
Subtitle: commentary on the Old Logic : critical edition with introduction and indexes
By: Egbert P. Bos
Contributors: Nicholas, of Amsterdam, approximately 1390-
Series: Bochumer studien zur philosophie -- Band 58; Bochumer Studien zur Philosophie -- Bd. 58.
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company; Benjamins Publishing Company, John
Published: 2016
Place of publication: Amsterdam; Philadelphia
Language: lat
Number of pages: 382
ISBN-13: 9789027214683; 9789027266477
Subjects: Medieval Logic; Ancient Logic; Logik; Categoriae (Aristotle); De interpretatione (Aristotle); Isagoge (Porphyry)
Description: Master Nicholas of Amsterdam was a prominent master of arts in Germany during the first half of the fifteenth century. He composed various commentaries on Aristotle's works. One of these commentaries is on the 'logica vetus', the old logic, viz. on Porphyry's 'Isagoge' and on Aristotle's 'Categories' and 'On Interpretation'. This commentary is edited and introduced here. Nicholas is a 'modernus' - as opposed to the 'antiqui', who were realists - which means that he is a conceptualist belonging to the university tradition that accepted John Buridan (ca. 1300-1360 or 1361) and Marsilius of Inghen (ca. 1340-1396) as its masters. In medieval philosophy, a parallel between thinking and reality is generally upheld. Nicholas makes a sharp distinction between the two; this may be interpreted as a step towards a separation between the two realms, as is common in philosophy in later centuries. Other characteristics of Nicholas are that he defends the position that science has its place in a proposition, and does not simply follow reality. Furthermore, he emphasizes the part played by individual things. 0Fifteenth-century philosophy has hardly been studied, mainly because that century has long been considered unoriginal. Nicholas of Amsterdam certainly deserves the historian's interest in order to evaluate how medieval philosophy prepared the way for modern philosophy.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Primarily Latin; introduction and preliminary material in English.