Theories of cognition in the later Middle Ages

1997 · Book · Robert Pasnau

This book is a major contribution to the history of philosophy in the later medieval period (1250-1350). It focuses on cognitive theory, a subject of intense investigation during these years. In fact, many of the issues that dominate philosophy of mind and epistemology today - intentionality, mental representation, skepticism, realism - were hotly debated in the later medieval period. The book offers a careful analysis of these debates, primarily through the work of Thomas Aquinas, Peter John Olivi, and William Ockham. Both Olivi and Ockham attempt to reconceptualize cognition along direct realist lines, criticizing in the process standard Aristotelian accounts of the sort proposed by Aquinas. Though of primary interest to medieval philosophers, the book presupposes no background knowledge of the medieval period, and will therefore interest a broader community of philosophers concerned with the origins of contemporary cognitive theory. by Robert Pasnau