Selected Bibliography of John Poinsot (John of St. Thomas)

Index of the Section: "Selected Ontological Topics"

• Language and Ontology:

  • Linguistic Relativism (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) vs. Universal Grammar

  • Universal Ontology vs. Ontological Relativity

• Semiotics and Ontology:

  • Annotated Bibliography of John Deely. First part: 1965-1998

  • Annotated Bibliography of John Deely. Second part: 1999-2010

  • The Rediscovery of John Poinsot (John of St. Thomas)

• Modern Theories of Predication:

  • Existence and Predication: the Frege-Russell 'Is' Ambiguity Thesis

  • Language as Calculus vs. Language as Universal Medium (two traditions in 20th century philosophy)

• The Problem of Universals:

  • The Contemporary Debate

WORKS BY JOHN POINSOT TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH

For a complete bibliography see: John Poinsot - General bibliography by Marco Forlivesi (PDF).

The main philosophical work by Poinsot, the Cursus Philosophicus Thomisticus was first published at Alcalà de Henares (Complutum), Iberia, 1631-1635; a modern edition was published by Beato Reiser in 1930 at Turin.

The second Reiser's edition (Turin, 1948) was reprinted by Georg Olms, Hildesheim, 2008 in three volumes: 1. Ars logica seu de forma et materia ratiocinandi; 2. Naturalis philosophiae pars I et III; 3. Naturalis philosophiae pars IV et indices.

1. Tractatus de Signis. The Semiotic of John Poinsot. Berkeley: University of California Press 1985.
   Interpretive arrangement in bilingual format (Latin and English) by John N. Deely in consultation with Ralph Austin Powell from the 1930 Reiser edition (emended second impression, 1932) of the Artis Logicae Prima et Secunda Pars of the Cursus Philosophicus Tomisticus, comprising the first two parts of the five part Cursus Philosophicus of 1631-1635.
   This work is also available as a text database as an Intelex Electronic Edition.
   Corrected second edition, with a new preface by John Deely, South Bend, St. Augustine Press, 2011 (not yet published).
2. Outlines of Formal Logic. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press 1955.
   Translated from the Latin with an introduction by Francis C. Wade
3. The Material Logic of John of St. Thomas: Basic Treatises. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1955.
   Translated by Yves R. Simon, John J. Glanville and G. Donald Hollenhorst. With a preface by Jacques Maritain
4. Introduction to the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas: the Isagoge of John of St. Thomas. South Bend: St. Augustine Press 2004.
   Translation and introduction by Ralph McInerny
5. "Entia Rationis and Second Intentions," New Scholasticism 23: 395-413 (1949).
   Translated by John J. Â Glanville, G. Donald Hollenhorst, Yves R. Simon.
   Logic: Second Part, Question II - Article 1: Nature and division of the Ens rationis; Article 2: Nature and division of the second intention or logical Relatio rationis.
   Editor's Note: "These pages are from a translation of the Basic Treatises of the Logic of John of St. Thomas, to be published by the University of Chicago Press, [The material logic of John of St. Thomas: basic treatises (1955), pp. 60-76] whose courtesy for the present excerpt is gratefully acknowledged."
6. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost. London: Sheed & Ward 1951.
   A translation of part of vol. 5 of Cursus theologicus by Dominic Hughes, with a foreword by Walter Farrell

MAIN STUDIES ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHY OF JOHN POINSOT

(The contributions by John Deely are listed in his bibliography)

1. "John Poinsot," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68 (3) (1994).
   Special issue on John Poinsot (John of St. Thomas) - Table of contents: John Deely: A morning and evening star: editor's introduction pp. 259-278; Mauricio Beuchot: Intentionality in John Poinsot pp. 279-296; John C. Cahalan: If Wittgenstein had read Poinsot: recasting the problem of signs and mental states pp. 297-320; Jeffrey S. Coombs: John Poinsot on how to be, know, and love a non-existent possible pp. 321-336; John P. Doyle: Poinsot on knowability of beings of reason pp. 337-362; Vincent Guagliardo: Being-as-first-known in Poinsot: a priori or aporia? pp. 363-394; Michael Raposa: Poinsot on the semiotic of awareness pp. 395-408; Douglas B. Rasmussen: The significance for cognitive realism of the thought of John Poinsot pp. 409-424; Norman J. Wells: John Poinsot on created eternal truths vs. Vasquez, Suárez and Descartes pp- 425-446.
2. Ashworth Earline Jennifer, "The historical origins of John Poinsot's Treatise on Signs," Semiotica 69: 129-147 (1988).
   "In 1631-1632 John Poinsot (otherwise known as John of St. Thomas) published his Ars Logica at Alcalá. From this massive work John Deely has extracted all those parts relating to the theory of signs, and has given them the general heading of Tractatus de Signis (Treatise on Signs), though it should be noted that the Treatise on Signs proper consists of just three Questions related to Aristotle's Perihermenias. The project is a valuable one, for Poinsot was an interesting writer in his own right who frequently had original observations to make. Deely's contribution, so far as the edition and translation are concerned, is superb; and the book itself is a splendid example of the printer's art. However, I have some very grave reservations about Deely's interpretation of Poinsot's work, and it is these reservations that I intend to discuss here. Others (notably Sebeok 1986) have already sung the praises of Deely and Poinsot; and as one of the few philosophers who has actually read some of the sixteenth-century authors to whom Poinsot was indebted, I feel it incumbent on me to point out that there is another side to the coin. However, I do not intend my remarks to detract in any way from the achievement represented by Deely's version of the Treatise on Signs.
   I shall first discuss Deely's attitude toward the historical interpretation of Poinsot and how it differs from my own. In so doing, I shall show that there was a tradition of placing the discussion of signs in a Perihermenias commentary. Second, I shall discuss the topic of relations, since Deely claims that the 'revolutionary' nature of Poinsot's doctrine of signs stems from his classification of relations. I shall remark that a very similar classification of relations is found in at least one of Poinsot's sources, namely Domingo de Soto (1494-1560). Third, I shall discuss the details of the theory of signs as described by some early sixteenth-century writers, and I shall show that the general lines of Poinsot's classification are due to Domingo de Soto. Finally, I shall make some remarks about other aspects of the translation and editorial material which seem to need further comment.
   
   * John N. Deely (trans. and ed.), with Ralph Austin Powell, Tractatus de Signis. The Semiotic of John Poinsot. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
3. Bellerate Bruno, "Conceito de existência em João de s. Tomás," Filosofia 5: 154-169 (1958).
   Reprinted in: Jesué Pinharanda de Gomes (ed.) - Antologia de estudos sobre João de Santo Tomás - Lisboa, Edição do Instituto Amaro da Costa, 1985.
4. Bellerate Bruno. L'analogia tomista nei grandi commentatori di S. Tommaso. Roma: Editrice Salesiana 1960.
5. Beuchot Mauricio, "La doctrina tomista clásica sobre el signo: Domingo de Soto, Francisco de Araújo y Juan de santo Tomás," Critica: 39-60 (1980).
6. Beuchot Mauricio, "El problema de los universales en Juan de santo Tomás," Revista de filosofía (Maracaibo) 12: 33-42 (1989).
7. Beuchot Mauricio, "Intentionality in John Poinsot," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 279-296 (1994).
8. Beuchot Mauricio and Deely John, "Common sources for the semiotic of Charles Peirce and John Poinsot," Review of Metaphysics 48: 549-566 (1995).
9. Beuchot Mauricio. Semiótica, filosofía del lenguaje y argumentación en Juan de santo Tomás. Pamplona: Universidad de Navarra 1999.
10. Bondi E., "Predication: a study based on the "Ars Logica" of John of st. Thomas," Thomist 30: 260-294 (1966).
11. Cahalan John C., "If Wittgenstein had read Poinsot: recasting the problem of signs and mental states," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 297-319 (1994).
12. Coombs Jeffrey S., "John Poinsot on how to be, know, and love a non-existent possible," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 321-335 (1994).
13. Dalcourt Gerard J., "Poinsot and the mental imagery debate," Modern Schoolman 72: 1-12 (1994).
14. Doyle John J., "John of st. Thomas on mathematical logic," New Scholasticism 27: 3-38 (1953).
15. Doyle John Peter, "Poinsot on the knowability of Beings of Reason," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 337-362 (1994).
16. Fernández RodrÍguez José Luis, "Tipologia del ente de razón," Anuario Filosófico 30: 361-379 (1997).
17. Forlivesi Marco. Conoscenza e affettività. L'incontro con l'essere secondo Giovanni di san Tommaso. Bologna: Edizioni Studio Domenicano 1993.
18. Furton Edward J. A medieval semiotic. Reference and representation in John of st. Thomas' theory of signs. New York: Peter Lang 1995.
19. Furton Edward J., "The constitution of the object in Immanuel Kant and John Poinsot," Review of Metaphysics 51: 55-75 (1997).
    "Kant was unaware, as are most academic philosophers today, that late Latin scholastics, especially on the Iberian peninsula, had also struggled for an account of the intellect's ability to order our experience of the real and so constitute a properly scientific object. The results of this effort were, of course, quite unlike those of the Kantian solution and compatible with a completely different view of the natural order. Even more important for the history of Western philosophy, the results were immediately and thoroughly eclipsed by the rise of Cartesianism. The great scholastic effort to understand how scientific objects are constituted passed from the modern period into intellectual oblivion.
    Yet there are ample reasons to think that an exploration of these forgotten, pre-Kantian views might shed some light on contemporary efforts to fashion a postclassical epistemology and philosophy of science. Despite the more primitive cosmology, basic concepts of epistemological theory developed by the Latins are far more easily disengaged from medieval physics than are Kantian concepts from Newtonian mechanics. Kant is committed in principle to the view that space, for example, is mathematizable a priori in a completely deterministic manner. This is a much more wide-ranging and deeply-rooted metaphysical commitment than is the claim, for example, that there are only six observable planets.
    What follows is an examination of a generally forgotten theory of objective constitution--one that avoids unnecessary entanglements with the determinism of Newtonian mechanics if only by predating the Cartesian and Kantian turns. It is a theory that in principle allows nature to live by other rules than those of mechanical necessity and one that, I believe, rightly recognizes that nature's laws can suffer exception without thereby destroying the possibility of scientific knowledge. Moreover, it is a 'bridge' theory that unites classical and contemporary philosophic tendencies, for despite its strong medieval roots, it is a theory largely committed to the fundamental insight of modernity that the knower, in some measure, must condition the object known." p. 55
20. Gomes Pinharanda. João de Sancto Tomás na filosofia do século XVII. Lisboa: Ministério da Educaçao 1983.
21. Gracia Jorge J.E. and Kronen John D. John of saint Thomas. In Individuation in Scholasticism. The Later Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation, 1150-1650. Edited by Gracia Jorge J.E. New Yourk: State University of New York Press 1994. pp. 511-533
22. Guagliardo Vincent, "Being-as-First-Known in Poinsot: a-priori or aporia?," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 363-394 (1994).
23. Herculano de Carvalho José. Segno e significazione in João de são Tomás. In Aufsätze zur Portugiesischen Kulturgeschichte - Vol. 2. Edited by Flasche Hans, Briesemeister Dietrich, and Körner Karl-Hermann. Münster: Aschendorff 1960. pp. 161-176
    Reprinted in: José Herculano de Carvalho - Estudos linguísticos, vol. II, pp. 131-168, Atlântida Editora, Coimbra 1973
24. Kennedy L.A., "La doctrina de la existencia en la Universidad de Salamanca durante el siglo XVI," Archivo Teológico Granadino 35: 5-71 (1972).
25. Kronen John D., "The substantial unity of material substances according to John Poinsot," Thomist 58 (599): 615 (1994).
26. Marmo Costantino, "The semiotics of John Poinsot," Versus 46: 109-129 (1987).
27. Maroosis James. Poinsot, Peirce, and Pegis: knowing as a way of being. In A Thomistic Tapestry. Essays in Memory of Étienne Gilson. Edited by Redpath Peter A. Amsterdam: Rodopi 2003. pp. 157-176
28. Moreno Alberto, "Implicación material en Juan de santo Tomás," Sapientia 14: 188-191 (1959).
29. Moreno Alberto, "Lógica proposicional en Juan de santo Tomás," Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 4: 113-134 (1963).
30. Murphy James Bernard, "Nature, custom and stipulation in the semiotic of John Poinsot," Semiotica 83: 33-68 (1983).
31. Murphy James Bernard and m, "Language, communication, and representation in the semiotic of John Poinsot," Thomist 58: 569-598 (1994).
32. Nuchelmans Gabriel. Late-Scholastic and Humanist theories of the proposition. Amsterdam: North-Holland 1980.
33. Nuchelmans Gabriel. Judgment and proposition. From Descartes to Kant. Amsterdam: North-Holland 1983.
34. Nuchelmans Gabriel, "Can a mental proposition change its truth value? Some 17th-century views," History and Philosophy of Logic 15: 69-84 (1994).
    Reprinted in: Gabriel Nuchelmans - Studies on the History of Logic and Semantics, 12th-17th Centuries, edited by Egbert Peter Bos, Variorum, Aldershot, 1996, (Text XIV).
35. Powell Ralph Austin. Poinsot as foil for doctrinal considerations on inexistent personality in existent substance according to C. S. Peirce. In Semiotics 1983. Edited by Evans Jonathan and Deely John. Lanham: University Press of America 1987. pp. 93-104
36. Raposa Michael, "Poinsot on the semiotics of awareness," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 395-408 (1994).
37. Rasmussen Douglas B., "The significance for cognitive realism of the thought of John Poinsot," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 409-424 (1994).
38. Santaella-Braga Lucia, "John Poinsot's doctrine of signs: the recovery of a missing link," Journal of Speculative Philosophy 51: 151-159 (1991).
39. Solana Marcial. Los grandes escolásticos españoles de los siglos XVI y XVII: suas doctrinas filosóficas y su significación en la Histoire de la Filosofia. Madrid: Jaime Ratés 1928.
40. Tello Belisario D., "El ente de razón según Juan de santo Tomás," Philosophia 11: 43-50 (1954).
41. Thomas Ivo, "Material implication in John of st. Thomas," Domincan Studies 3: 180-185 (1950).
42. Tyn Thomas, "L'essere nel pensiero di Giovanni di san Tommaso," Angelicum 66: 21-55 (1989).
43. Wells Norman J., "John Poinsot on created eternal truths vs. Vasquez, Suárez and Descartes," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68: 425-446 (1994).
44. Winance Eleuthère, "Echo de la querelle du psychologisme et de l'antipsychologisme dans l'"Ars logica" de Jean Poinsot," Semiotica 56: 225-259 (1985).
45. Wojtkiewicz C., "L'objet de la logique chez Jean de saint-Thomas," Roczniki Filozoficzne 9: 1-21 (1961).
46. Wolicka Elzbieta, "The notion of truth in the epistemology of John of saint Thomas," New Scholasticism 53: 96-106 (1979).

External links

On late medieval philosophy see the excellent site (in French): SCHOLASTICON by Jacob Schmutz

Curriculum and Works of Marco Forlivesi (some available on line)

John Poinsot - Tractatus de Signis - A critical English-Latin edition reproduced from the 1985 Deely edition (with corrections) on CD-ROM; the Second Corrected Edition will be published By St. Augustine's Press in 2010.