| Summary: |
Petrus Hispanus is surely the most important medieval Portuguese philosopher. Probably even the most influential of all time. Active
in the mid-13th Century, he is attributed authorship of works on Logic, Natural Philosophy, Psychology, Zoology, Medicine, Alchemy,
and Mysticism, as well as Sermons. During the Middle and Early Modern Ages some of these works had an extraordinary influence
and diffusion. In fact, to Petrus Hispanus are attributed: the first Latin Commentary on the De anima of Aristotle; the most
extensive and detailed treatise written in Latin on the soul; the most popular Logic textbook ever written, with hundreds of
manuscripts and editions in use in almost all the continental universities, from the 14th to the 16th Centuries; the most popular
medical prescriptions book in use until the 16th Century; one of the most extensive commentaries to the Articella (a set of Greek
and Arabic works that were central in medical university education); and one of the first Latin commentaries on the zoological work
of Aristotle. The philosopher and scientist credited with such an extensive and influential work ended his days in the highest office of
the Catholic Church, as Pope John XXI (1276-1277).
This textual corpus includes more than 50 works (with c. 60 others erroneously attributed). However, due to the problems due to
handwritten transmission (that is abundant for some works, scant for others) this scientific and philosophical corpus is an intricate
puzzle, resisting all attempts to find in it a guiding thread. There is lack of a study identifying the organizing scientific philosophical
ideas and placing it in its context of composition.
This project seeks to lay the foundations for solving these problems, offering freshly edited texts, in order to enhance the
philosophical and scientific interest of the extraordinary work attributed to Petrus Hispanus.
Most importantly, these works have intrinsic philosophical and scientific interest, wh  |
Summary
Petrus Hispanus is surely the most important medieval Portuguese philosopher. Probably even the most influential of all time. Active
in the mid-13th Century, he is attributed authorship of works on Logic, Natural Philosophy, Psychology, Zoology, Medicine, Alchemy,
and Mysticism, as well as Sermons. During the Middle and Early Modern Ages some of these works had an extraordinary influence
and diffusion. In fact, to Petrus Hispanus are attributed: the first Latin Commentary on the De anima of Aristotle; the most
extensive and detailed treatise written in Latin on the soul; the most popular Logic textbook ever written, with hundreds of
manuscripts and editions in use in almost all the continental universities, from the 14th to the 16th Centuries; the most popular
medical prescriptions book in use until the 16th Century; one of the most extensive commentaries to the Articella (a set of Greek
and Arabic works that were central in medical university education); and one of the first Latin commentaries on the zoological work
of Aristotle. The philosopher and scientist credited with such an extensive and influential work ended his days in the highest office of
the Catholic Church, as Pope John XXI (1276-1277).
This textual corpus includes more than 50 works (with c. 60 others erroneously attributed). However, due to the problems due to
handwritten transmission (that is abundant for some works, scant for others) this scientific and philosophical corpus is an intricate
puzzle, resisting all attempts to find in it a guiding thread. There is lack of a study identifying the organizing scientific philosophical
ideas and placing it in its context of composition.
This project seeks to lay the foundations for solving these problems, offering freshly edited texts, in order to enhance the
philosophical and scientific interest of the extraordinary work attributed to Petrus Hispanus.
Most importantly, these works have intrinsic philosophical and scientific interest, which makes them the object of increasing
attention, as can be seen by very recent works (Copenhaven 2014; Knuuttila-Sihvola 2014; Parsons 2014). However, the absence
of reliable editions seriously limits a comprehensive study of this gigantic work.
Almost all available editions were made with a limited knowledge of the manuscripts and contain errors which seriously distort the
thought of the author. With this project, for the first time Petrus' works from different scientific fields will be put together and
studied with accurate and up to date methodologies.
This research project extends and broadens research carried out and published by the IP and other team members in recent years
(Meirinhos; López Alcalde; Navarro Sánchez). The project is a first step of a larger and long-term enterprise. In order to consolidate
methodologies and to gain impact in the specialized academic community, the project starts with a selection of significant core
works, chosen for their philosophical, scientific, historical and cultural interest.
These are the core objectives of the project:
(1) to study central philosophical problems in the works attributed to Petrus Hispanus (form and matter, perception and intuition,
knowledge and mental content, scientific method, mystical contemplation, rhetoric and hermeneutics);
(2) to provide the academic community with critical editions or revised editions of a selected set of works;
(3) to use new dedicated electronic resources for textual research;
3 https://concursos.fct.pt/projectos/index.asp?ar... 29/01/15 16:51
(4) to untangle the question of Petrus' textual attribute |