John Marenbon | University of Cambridge (original) (raw)
Papers by John Marenbon
Enrahonar. An international journal of theoretical and practical reason, 2018
HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2015
Laval théologique et philosophique, 2012
Résumé Selon Alain de Libera, Boèce donne au célèbre questionnaire de Porphyre sur les universaux... more Résumé Selon Alain de Libera, Boèce donne au célèbre questionnaire de Porphyre sur les universaux une réponse abstractionniste : ce n’est que dans la pensée que peuvent exister les universaux, quoiqu’ils dérivent, par le processus d’abstraction, de ce qui est commun dans les choses. Je mets en contraste cet « abstractionnisme neutre » et un « abstractionnisme réaliste » selon lequel ce n’est qu’en concevant les universaux que la pensée humaine saisit proprement la forme — ou similitude — par laquelle les particuliers appartiennent à telle espèce ou à tel genre. J’essaie de démontrer que, dans son second commentaire sur l’Isagoge, Boèce hésite entre les deux sortes d’abstractionnisme, tandis que, dans la Consolation, il opte pour l’abstractionnisme réaliste.
Dialektik und Rhetorik im früheren und hohen Mittelalter, ed. J. Fried, 1997
I examine the surviving Latin glosses and commentaries on Aristotle's Categories and On Interpret... more I examine the surviving Latin glosses and commentaries on Aristotle's Categories and On Interpretation from before c. 1100, when a large number of commentaries started to be produced. (This is a piece from 25 years ago, which I just noticed is on Open Access. Neither I, nor I believe anyone else, has covered this particular ground elsewhere. The article is reprinted in my Variorum collection Aristotelian Logic, Platonism, and the Context of Early Medieval Philosophy in the West, from 2000.)
Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, 2011
Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, 2011
Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales, 2009
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2008
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2000
... Where does all of this leave Livia Drusilla? ... While the books by Bartman, Winkes, and Wood... more ... Where does all of this leave Livia Drusilla? ... While the books by Bartman, Winkes, and Wood put Livia and her portraiture front and center, the scat-tered debris of the age of Augustus can still be mined for reflections of Livia Drusilla. ...
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2004
Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Scholasticism, London, University of London Press, 89-106, 2020
This open-access article considers to what extent Pomponazzi's institutional circumstances as an... more This open-access article considers to what extent Pomponazzi's institutional circumstances as an Arts Master in North Italy need to be taken into account in interpreting his argument in 'On the Immortality of the Soul'. In doing so, it argues for a particular reading of this text.
'The Self' in Philosophy of Mind in the Early and High Middle Ages, ed. Margaret Cameron, London and New York: Routledge, 2019 (The History of the Philosophy of Mind, Volume 2), 257-278., 2019
It is not anachronistic to talk about the Self in medieval philosophy, but it is often a self wit... more It is not anachronistic to talk about the Self in medieval philosophy, but it is often a self without subjectivity. I look Boethius on the self as an ideal; Eriugena and the unknowable self; how Anselm avoids Augustinian ideas of self-knowledge; the extinction of the Avicennian self in Ibn Tufayl; and Aquinas's idea of self-knowledge without the self (in which I discuss some recent work by Therese Cory and Alain de Libera).
The so-called thought experiments I consider are those provided by Abelard's 'Collationes', the 1... more The so-called thought experiments I consider are those provided by Abelard's 'Collationes', the 1277 condemnations, Pomponazzi's 'De immortalitate animae' and Mores's 'Utopia'. But I cast doubt on whether any of these should be considered as thought experiments, and whether the term 'thought experiment' is useful outside contemporary philosophy and natural science.
According to Alain de Libera, Boethius replies to Porphyry’s famous three questions about univers... more According to Alain de Libera, Boethius replies to Porphyry’s famous three questions about universals by using a theory of abstraction. Universals can exist only in thought, alt- hough they derive, through abstraction, from what is common in things. I contrast this “neutral abstractionism” with a “realist abstractionism” — the view that it is only by conceiving uni- versals that humans are able properly to grasp the form or likeness according to which par- ticulars belong to a given species or genus. I try to show that, in his second commentary on the Isagoge, Boethius is uncertain which sort of abstractionism to prefer, but in the Consolation he opts for realist abstractionism.
![Research paper thumbnail of 'ALAIN DE LIBERA'S PHILOSOPHICAL ARCHAEOLOGY' in 'Sujet Libre. Pour Alain de Libera', ed. Jean-Baptiste Brenet and Laurent Cesalli, Paris;Vrin, 2018, 203-207 [uncorrected proofs]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57155659/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](This brief essay, in a Festschrift for Alain de Libera, aims to explain his method of philosophic... more This brief essay, in a Festschrift for Alain de Libera, aims to explain his method of philosophical archaeology, examine its relationship to Foucault and Collingwood and raise some possible criticisms.
Philosophy and the Historical Perspective', ed. M van Ackeren
The main reason for studying the history of philosophy is its intrinsic value as an academic subj... more The main reason for studying the history of philosophy is its intrinsic value as an academic subject; its instrumental value to contemporary philosophers is secondary. In analytic departments, despite professions that might indicate otherwise, most historians of philosophy carry out their work with methods adequate to gaining its intrinsic value, but the breadth and comprehensiveness of history of philosophy in such departments is usually insufficient.
I argue that, in his 'De immortalitate animae' and the works he wrote to defend himself against a... more I argue that, in his 'De immortalitate animae' and the works he wrote to defend himself against attacks on it, Pomponazzi developed a distinctive ethical theory, which emphasizes the virtues that are fully achieved only when agents act as if there were no rewards or punishments in the afterlife.
This was my inaugural lecture as honorary professor of medieval philosophy in the University of C... more This was my inaugural lecture as honorary professor of medieval philosophy in the University of Cambridge (2011). You can download the full text from the link given below. As well as developing some ideas about how medieval philosophy should be studied, I argue for the need to consider all the strands of the broadly western tradition (Greek, Latin, Arabic and Jewish - in Arabic and Hebrew), and I advocate a Long Middle Ages, stretching from c. 200 to c. 1700.
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/240658?show=full
Enrahonar. An international journal of theoretical and practical reason, 2018
HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2015
Laval théologique et philosophique, 2012
Résumé Selon Alain de Libera, Boèce donne au célèbre questionnaire de Porphyre sur les universaux... more Résumé Selon Alain de Libera, Boèce donne au célèbre questionnaire de Porphyre sur les universaux une réponse abstractionniste : ce n’est que dans la pensée que peuvent exister les universaux, quoiqu’ils dérivent, par le processus d’abstraction, de ce qui est commun dans les choses. Je mets en contraste cet « abstractionnisme neutre » et un « abstractionnisme réaliste » selon lequel ce n’est qu’en concevant les universaux que la pensée humaine saisit proprement la forme — ou similitude — par laquelle les particuliers appartiennent à telle espèce ou à tel genre. J’essaie de démontrer que, dans son second commentaire sur l’Isagoge, Boèce hésite entre les deux sortes d’abstractionnisme, tandis que, dans la Consolation, il opte pour l’abstractionnisme réaliste.
Dialektik und Rhetorik im früheren und hohen Mittelalter, ed. J. Fried, 1997
I examine the surviving Latin glosses and commentaries on Aristotle's Categories and On Interpret... more I examine the surviving Latin glosses and commentaries on Aristotle's Categories and On Interpretation from before c. 1100, when a large number of commentaries started to be produced. (This is a piece from 25 years ago, which I just noticed is on Open Access. Neither I, nor I believe anyone else, has covered this particular ground elsewhere. The article is reprinted in my Variorum collection Aristotelian Logic, Platonism, and the Context of Early Medieval Philosophy in the West, from 2000.)
Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, 2011
Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, 2011
Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales, 2009
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2008
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2000
... Where does all of this leave Livia Drusilla? ... While the books by Bartman, Winkes, and Wood... more ... Where does all of this leave Livia Drusilla? ... While the books by Bartman, Winkes, and Wood put Livia and her portraiture front and center, the scat-tered debris of the age of Augustus can still be mined for reflections of Livia Drusilla. ...
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2004
Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Scholasticism, London, University of London Press, 89-106, 2020
This open-access article considers to what extent Pomponazzi's institutional circumstances as an... more This open-access article considers to what extent Pomponazzi's institutional circumstances as an Arts Master in North Italy need to be taken into account in interpreting his argument in 'On the Immortality of the Soul'. In doing so, it argues for a particular reading of this text.
'The Self' in Philosophy of Mind in the Early and High Middle Ages, ed. Margaret Cameron, London and New York: Routledge, 2019 (The History of the Philosophy of Mind, Volume 2), 257-278., 2019
It is not anachronistic to talk about the Self in medieval philosophy, but it is often a self wit... more It is not anachronistic to talk about the Self in medieval philosophy, but it is often a self without subjectivity. I look Boethius on the self as an ideal; Eriugena and the unknowable self; how Anselm avoids Augustinian ideas of self-knowledge; the extinction of the Avicennian self in Ibn Tufayl; and Aquinas's idea of self-knowledge without the self (in which I discuss some recent work by Therese Cory and Alain de Libera).
The so-called thought experiments I consider are those provided by Abelard's 'Collationes', the 1... more The so-called thought experiments I consider are those provided by Abelard's 'Collationes', the 1277 condemnations, Pomponazzi's 'De immortalitate animae' and Mores's 'Utopia'. But I cast doubt on whether any of these should be considered as thought experiments, and whether the term 'thought experiment' is useful outside contemporary philosophy and natural science.
According to Alain de Libera, Boethius replies to Porphyry’s famous three questions about univers... more According to Alain de Libera, Boethius replies to Porphyry’s famous three questions about universals by using a theory of abstraction. Universals can exist only in thought, alt- hough they derive, through abstraction, from what is common in things. I contrast this “neutral abstractionism” with a “realist abstractionism” — the view that it is only by conceiving uni- versals that humans are able properly to grasp the form or likeness according to which par- ticulars belong to a given species or genus. I try to show that, in his second commentary on the Isagoge, Boethius is uncertain which sort of abstractionism to prefer, but in the Consolation he opts for realist abstractionism.
This brief essay, in a Festschrift for Alain de Libera, aims to explain his method of philosophic... more This brief essay, in a Festschrift for Alain de Libera, aims to explain his method of philosophical archaeology, examine its relationship to Foucault and Collingwood and raise some possible criticisms.
Philosophy and the Historical Perspective', ed. M van Ackeren
The main reason for studying the history of philosophy is its intrinsic value as an academic subj... more The main reason for studying the history of philosophy is its intrinsic value as an academic subject; its instrumental value to contemporary philosophers is secondary. In analytic departments, despite professions that might indicate otherwise, most historians of philosophy carry out their work with methods adequate to gaining its intrinsic value, but the breadth and comprehensiveness of history of philosophy in such departments is usually insufficient.
I argue that, in his 'De immortalitate animae' and the works he wrote to defend himself against a... more I argue that, in his 'De immortalitate animae' and the works he wrote to defend himself against attacks on it, Pomponazzi developed a distinctive ethical theory, which emphasizes the virtues that are fully achieved only when agents act as if there were no rewards or punishments in the afterlife.
This was my inaugural lecture as honorary professor of medieval philosophy in the University of C... more This was my inaugural lecture as honorary professor of medieval philosophy in the University of Cambridge (2011). You can download the full text from the link given below. As well as developing some ideas about how medieval philosophy should be studied, I argue for the need to consider all the strands of the broadly western tradition (Greek, Latin, Arabic and Jewish - in Arabic and Hebrew), and I advocate a Long Middle Ages, stretching from c. 200 to c. 1700.
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/240658?show=full
Unpublished paper, 2018
Here I discuss why discipline-specific, shallow periodization is valuable in intellectual history... more Here I discuss why discipline-specific, shallow periodization is valuable in intellectual history and recommend the Long Middle Ages as an example of it.
This is the 'Aquinas Lecture; given at Maynooth University in March 2017. I argue that Aquinocent... more This is the 'Aquinas Lecture; given at Maynooth University in March 2017. I argue that Aquinocentrism does great harm to the study of medieval philosophy by narrowing its focus.
(NB Someone has kindly pointed out a typo in 3.13 which I hasten to correct: Kurt Flasch, not Karl Flasch!)
A cura di Paolo Chiesa, Anna Maria Fagnoni, Rossana E. Guglielmetti. Giovanni Orlandi è stato un... more A cura di Paolo Chiesa, Anna Maria Fagnoni, Rossana E. Guglielmetti.
Giovanni Orlandi è stato un grande filologo e un grande maestro, anche al di fuori del suo campo specifico di studi, la letteratura latina medievale. Lo ricordano, a dieci anni dalla morte, i saggi di nove fra i più importanti studiosi del medioevo, che erano a lui legati da stima e amicizia. I saggi comprendono panoramiche di nuova impostazione
su temi e problemi centrali per la medievistica, o casi filologici concreti,
capaci tuttavia di diventare esempi di metodo. I temi scelti sono fra quelli più vicini alla sensibilità e agli interessi di Orlandi (l’indagine filologica che parte dalla tradizione manoscritta, la critica letteraria, gli elementi stilistici nella poesia e nella prosa, la filosofia); gli studiosi sono Guglielmo Cavallo, François Dolbeau, Peter Dronke, Michael Lapidge, John Marenbon, Michael Reeve, Peter Stotz, Jean-Yves Tilliette, Michael Winterbottom.
Not published
This was a paper (again in my bad French) given to a conference at the College de France in 2018.... more This was a paper (again in my bad French) given to a conference at the College de France in 2018. It is intended, like the other paper I am uploading on the social history of logic, to give a general idea of my project -- but here, as opposed to what is discussed in the other paper - attached to a more precise area -- the early Medieval Latin tradition.
Not published
This is the text of a conference paper, in (bad) French, as written to be read out. It is intende... more This is the text of a conference paper, in (bad) French, as written to be read out. It is intended simply to give a broad idea of my project.