A HISTORY - لی لی بوک

A HISTORY OF

PHILOSOPHY

A HISTORY

OF PHILOSOPHY

VOLUME III

Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy

Frederick Copleston, S.J.

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First Image Books edition of Volume III of A History of Philosophy published 1963 by special arrangement with The Newman Press.

This Image edition published April 1993

De Licentia Superiorum Ordinis: E. Helsham, S.J., Praep. Provo Ang!iae Nihil Obstat: J. L. Russel, S.J. Censor Deputatus

Imprimatur: Joseph, Archiepiscopus BirmiDgamiensis Die 4 Januarii 1952

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Copleston, Frederick Charles.

A history of philosophy / Frederick Copleston.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Contents: v.I. Greece and Rome-v. 2. Augustine to Scotus-v.

3. Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

1. Philosophy, Ancient. 2. Philosophy, Medieval. 3. Philosophy,

Renaissance. I. Title.

B72.C62 1993

190-dc20

92-34997

CIP

Volume III copyright 1953 by Frederick Copleston

ISBN 0?385?46845?8

3 5 798 6 4 2

All Rights Reserved

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

Chapter

Page

FOREWORD

VII

I. INTRODUCTION

1

Thirtecnth century-Fourtcenth century c.ontrasted with thirteenth-Philosophies .of the Rcnaissance-Hevival of Scholasticism.

PART I

THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY

II. DURA!"vents-The divine will and omnipotence.

VI I. OCKHAM (5)

96

That an immaterial and incorruptible soul is the form of the body cannot be philosophically proved-The plurality 01 really distinct forms in man-The rational soul possesses no

really distinct facultlCs-The human person-FreedomOckham's ethical theory.

VII I. OCKHAM (6)

1 II

The dispute on evangelical poverty, and the doctrine of natural rights-Political sovereignty is not derived from the

spiritual power-The relation of the people to their rull"rHow far were Ockham's political ideas novel or revolutionary? -The pope's position within the Church.

CONTENTS

Cllapt.r IX. THE OCKHAMIST MOVEMENT: JOHN OF MIRECOURT AND

NICHOLAS OF AUTRECOURT

122

The Ockhamist or nominalist movement:-John of Mirecourt -Nicholas of Autrecourt-Nominalism In the UOlversltles--

Concluding remarks,

X. THE SciENTIFIC MOVEMENT

153

Physical science in the thirteenth and fourteenth cent':lriesThe problem of motion; impetus, and ~ravlty-Nlch~llI:s Oresme; the hypothesis of the ea~th ~ rotat\(~n-The pos,slbllity of other worlds--Some ~ienbfic Implications of Donunalism; and implications of the Impetus theory,

XI. MARSILI US OF PADUA

168

Church and State, theory and practice-Life of MarsiliusHostility to the papal c1aims--The nature of the, St~te a!ld ,of law-The legislature and the executIve-Ecclesiastical Junsdiction-Marsilius and' Averroism'-Influence of the Dtfensrw

pacis,

XII. SPECULATIVE MYSTICISM ,

181

Mystical writing in the fourteenth century:-Eckhart-Tauler -Blessed Henry Suso--Ruysbroeck-Dems the Carthuslan-

German mystical speculation-Gerson,

PART II

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE RENAISSANCE

XIII. THE REVIVAL OF PLATONISM

207

The Italian Renaissance-The northern Renaissance-The

revival of Platonism.

XIV. ARISTOTELIAN ISM

21 7

Critics of the Aristotelian logic-Aristotelianism?-Stoicism

and scepticism.

XV. NICHOLAS OF CUSA

23 1

Life and works-The influence of Nicholas's leading idea on

his practical ac.tivity-The coincidenti" 0pposllorl4m-'lnstructed ignorance'-The relation of God to the world-The 'infinity' of the world-The w?rld-syst~.m and, the soul of the world-Man, the microcosm; Chnst-:-;Icholas s philosophical

aftilia tions.

XVI. PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE (1)

248

General remarks-Girolamo Cardano--Bernardino TelesioFrancesco Patrizzi-Tommaso Campanella-Giordano Bruno

-Pierre Gassendi.

XVII. PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE (2)

265

Agrippa von Nettesheim-Paracel~us-T~e two Van Hel-

monts-Sebastian Franck ILnd ValentlDe Welgel- Jakob Btlhme

-General remarks.

CONTENTS

Chapter

XVIII. THE SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT OF THE RENAISSANCE

General remarks on the influence of science on philosophyRenaissance science; the empirical basis of science, controlled experiment, hypothesis and astronomy, mathematics, the mechanistic view of the world-The influence of Renaissance science on philosophy,

Pal'

275

XIX, FRANCIS BACON

English philosophy of the Renaissance-Bacon's life and writings-The classification of the sciences--Induction and 'the idols',

XX, POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

310

General remarks--Niccol6 Machiavelli-St. Thomas MoreRichard Hooker-Jean Bodin-Joannes Althusius-Hugo Grotius.

PART III

SCHOLASTICISM OF THE RENAISSANCE

XXI. A GENERAL VIEW

335

The revival of Scholasticism-Dominican writers before the

Council of Trent; Cajetan-Later Dominican writers and

Jesuit writers--The controversy between Dominicans and

Jesuits about grace and free will-The substitution of 'philo-

sophical courses' for commentaries on Aristotle-Political and

legal theory.

XXII. FRANCIS SUAREZ (1)

353

Life and works-The structure and divisions of the Disputa-

liones melaph),sicae-Metaphysics as the science of being-

The concept of being-The attributes of being-I ndividuation

-Analogy-God's existence-The divine nature-Essence

and existence-Substance and accident-Modes-Quantity-

Relations-Entia rationis-General remarks-Etienne Gilson

on Suarez.

XXIII FRANCIS SUAREZ (2)

380

Philo~ophy of law and theology-The definition of law-Law (lex) and right (ills)-The necessity of law-The eteniallaw-

The natural law-The precepts of the natural law-Ignorance of natural law-The immutability of the natural law-The law of .nations-Political society. sovereignty and govern-

ment-The contract theory in Suarez-The deposition of tI'rants-Penal laws-Cessation of ht.man laws--CustomChurch and State-War.

XXIV. A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE FIRST THREE VOLUMES

406

Greek philosophy; the pre-Socratic cosmologies and the discovery of Nature. Plato's theory of Forms and idea of God,

Aristotle and the explanation of change and movement, neoPlatonism and Christianity-The importance for mediaeval

philosophy of the discovery of Aristotle-Philosophy and theology-The rise of science.

CONTENTS

APPENDICES

Page

I. HO~ORIFIC TITLES APPLIED TO PIIILOSOPHERS TREATED

OF IN THIS VOLUME

427

II. A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

428

INDEX

448

FOREWORD

THE first part of this volume is concerned with the philosophy of the fourteenth century. A good deal in the history of the philosophical thought of this period is still obscure, and no definitive account of it can be written until we have at our disposal a much greater number of reliable texts than are at present available. However, in publishing the account contained in this volume I am encouraged by the thought that the learned Franciscan scholar, Father Philotheus Boehner, who is doing so much to shed light on the dark places of the fourteenth century, was so kind as to read the chapters on Ockham and to express appreciation of their general tone. This does not mean, of course, that Father Boehner endorses all my interpretations of Ockham. In particular he does not agree with my view that analysis discloses two ethics implicitly contained in Ockham's philosophy. (This view is in any case, as I hope I have made clear in the text, a conjectural interpretation, developed in order to account for what may seem to be inconsistencies in Ockham's ethical philosophy.) And I do not think that Father Boehner would express himself in quite the way that I have done about Ockham's opinions on natural theology. I mention these differences of interpretation only in order that, while thanking Father Boehner for his kindness in reading the chapters on Ockham, I may not give the impression that he agrees with all that I have said. Moreover, as proofs were already coming in at the time the chapters reached Father Boehner, I was unable to make as extensive a use of his suggestions as I should otherwise wish to have done. In conclusion I should like to express the hope that when Father Boehner has published the texts of Ockham which he is editing he will add a general account of the latter's philosophy. Nobody would be better qualified to interpret the thought of the last great English philosopher of the Middle Ages.

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