In medieval European universities, logic took a larger share of the curriculum than any other period in history. Historians of philosophy have accordingly recognized that in the early fourteenth century the discipline was at a level that has only been achieved again in very recent developments. But what was medieval logic really about? Was the aim to teach students how to argue in dialectical encounters? Or was logic already in the Middle Ages the “l’art de penser” as the well known early modern Port-Royal logic calls it in its subtitle? Or was logic providing ground for a new metaphysical understanding of the world, and thus opening a path for what became the early modern scientific revolution?
Wednesday, November 20, 2019, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm