Medieval Terminist Logic

Origin. 13th-14th century. William of Sherwood, Peter of Spain, Ockham. Properties of terms. Supposition theory. Foundation of medieval semantics.

Models. Terms have properties in propositions. Supposition: what term stands for. Ampliation, restriction, appellation. Context-sensitive reference.

Formalism.

Properties of terms: significatio: meaning (out of context). suppositio: reference (in context). copulatio: for adjectives. appellatio: for connotative terms.

Supposition types: Suppositio divides three ways directly — there is no genus "proper supposition" above them, and the three cannot share the gloss "for what the term signifies," since only the third fits it: Material (materialis): for the word itself ("'homo' has four letters"). Simple (simplex): for the universal or concept ("homo is a species"). Personal (personalis): for the individuals the term signifies ("homo currit"). The propria/impropria distinction is a separate axis: improper supposition covers figurative use — metaphorical, antonomastic, synecdochical — and cuts across the three above rather than containing them.

Personal supposition divisions: Discrete (discreta): singular or demonstrative term (Socrates, this man). Common (communis), which divides three ways by how one descends to singulars: Determinate (determinata): descend to a disjunction of propositions. "Some man runs" → "This man runs or that man runs or …" Merely confused (confusa tantum): descend to a disjunct term inside one proposition. "Every man is an animal" → "Every man is this-animal-or-that-animal-or-…" Confused and distributive (confusa et distributiva): descend to a conjunction of propositions. "Every man runs" → "This man runs and that man runs and …"

Why determinate and merely confused are not both "descent with or": The disjunction sits in different places, and that is the entire distinction. Determinate supposition descends to a disjunction of propositions; merely confused descends to a disjunctive term within a single proposition. From "Every man is an animal" one may not infer "Every man is this animal, or every man is that animal" — the propositional disjunction fails, while the disjunct-term descent holds. Collapsing the two erases the difference between the subject and predicate positions under a universal quantifier, which is exactly what the theory was built to track: in "Omnis homo est animal," 'homo' is confused and distributive while 'animal' is merely confused.

Ampliation: Term's supposition extended beyond present. "A man can be Antichrist." Future individuals included. Modal and temporal contexts.

Restriction: Term's supposition narrowed. Adjectives restrict. "White man" = man who is white. Contextual limitation.

Appellation: Connotative term's secondary reference. "Father" appellates son. Two-place reference.

Symbols.

Metatheory. Term properties. Context-sensitive reference. Supposition theory. Quantifier scope.

Applies to. Medieval logic. Philosophy of language. Semantics history. Reference theory.

Limitations. Historical period. Latin context. Reconstruction debates. Technical vocabulary.

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