Twelfth-Century Logic and Metaphysics

Alberic of Paris was one of the leading philosophers of the 12th century. He was the main rival to Peter Abelard and, according to John of Salisbury, “a most fierce opponent of the nominalist school.” But although he was an important figure in his time, Alberic is almost completely unknown today.

This collection of essays is the first ever dedicated to exploring and contextualizing the views of Alberic and his followers, the Albricani. It discusses topics such as universals, time, mereology, divine foreknowledge, fallacies, and modal logic, and shows that Alberic was an original thinker in a vibrant intellectual milieu.

Contributors are Andrew W. Arlig, Enrico Donato, Sten Ebbesen, Charles Girard, Heine Hansen, Peter King, John Marenbon, Sofia Orsino, Boaz Faraday Schuman, Caterina Tarlazzi, Paul Thom, and Wojciech Wciórka.

Author Biography

Heine Hansen, PhD (University of Sydney, 2010), is Associate Professor at the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen. He specializes in medieval Latin philosophy and has published many monographs, edited volumes, critical editions, book chapters, and journal articles in the field.

Enrico Donato obtained his PhD at the University of Geneva in 2022. His work has appeared in journals such as British Journal for the History of Philosophy, History and Philosophy of Logic, Journal of the History of Philosophy, and Vivarium.

Boaz Faraday Schuman obtained his PhD at the University of Toronto in 2021. Following that, he was a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen, on the project this book is a product of. Currently, he is an FWO-funded postdoc at KU Leuven. There, he has a project on proof by reductio in the Arabic, Latin, and modern logical traditions. He also writes on linguistics and the philosophy of humor.