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ONTOLOGY IN WALTER BURLEVS LAST COMMENTARY ON THE ARS VETUS Medieval scholars and historians of logic have not generally done justice to Walter Burley's thought. On the one hand, he has been regarded as an "ultrarealist," a supporter of extreme theses about the problem of universals and the meaning of propositions, although with no clear account of the inner reason for his metaphysical and semantic choices. On the other, he has been misconstrued as holding a mere variation of more moderate (but, above all, better known) positions. Furthermore, his theories have too often been studied only as a means to a clearer understanding of Ockham—thus dwarfing the real worth and interest of Burley's doctrines in their own right. In fact, in terms of originality and influence the Doctor Planus et Perspicuus was one of the most significant thinkers of the Middle Ages. In this article, I take a step towards rectifying this situation, by offering an ordered introduction to Burley's main metaphysical theories in his last commentary on the Ars Vetus (AD 1337), the final output of his very long career as a Master of Arts in the main universities of his time.1 1 The author wishes to express his gratitude to Marilyn McCord Adams who kindly reviewed the English of the article, clarified its text on many points and improved the style of its philosophical arguments. He accepts responsibility for any mistakes or misinterpretations that may have found their way into the text. For information on the life and works of Walter Burley, see Conor Martin, "Walter Burleigh," Oxford Studies Presented to Daniel Callus, ed. William A. Hinnebush et al. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964) 194-230; Agustín Uña Juarez, Lafilosofía del siglo XTV. Contexto cultural de Walter Burley (Madrid: Real Monasterio de el Escorial, 1978) 1-99. Burley's writings to which I'll refer in this article are the following: Expositio super Universalia Porphyrii (AD 1337), in Expositio super Artem Veterem Porphyrii et Aristotelis (Venice, 1509) fols. 2ra-3vb, 7vb-17va; Expositio libri Praedicamentorum (between 1301 and 1307), ms. 184, Peterhouse, Cambridge, fol. 171r-189v; Expositio super Praedicamenta Aristotelis (ad 1337), in Expositio super Artem Veterem Porphyrii et Aristotelis, fol. 17va-50va; Quaestiones in librum Peri- 122ALESSANDRO D. CONTI I. LOGIC AND ONTOLOGY 1. The choice of a commentary on the Ars Vetus (Isagoge, Categories, Liber sex principiorum, and De interpretatione), commonly considered a logical work, as the source for reconstructing the ontology of a medieval author might seem odd at first. Yet, if ontology deals with the general structure and the prime components of reality considered in their mutual relationships, then many theories developed by medieval philosophers in their commentaries on Aristotle's logical writings pertain to ontology . This is not surprising, as by Aristotle logic is intended to be the theory of the discourse on Being,2 and therefore it is metaphysically grounded in a correspondence between the structural connections in discourse (both between subject and predicate, and between the premises and the conclusion of a syllogism ) and the framework of reality. And, in fart, Burley maintains that logic is nothing but an analysis of general structures of reality. In discussing the nature, status and subject of logic at the beginning of his last commentary on the Ars Vetus, the Doctor Planus et Perspicuus, following Avicenna, claims that logic is about the things of second intention as such: Dico ergo quod lógica est de rebus secundae intentionis ut sunt secundae intentiones, quia in lógica non determinatur de rebus nec de vocibus nisi per habitudinem ad intentiones secundas;3 hermeneias (AD 1301), ed. Stephen F. Brown, Franciscan Studies 34 (1974): 200-95; Expositio libri Perihermeneias, ed. Stephen F. Brown, Franciscan Studies 33 (1973): 42-134; Expositio super librum Perihermeneias Aristotelis (AD 1337), in Expositio super Artem Veterem Porphyrii et Aristotelis, fols. 64va-93vb; Expositio super librum sex principorum (AD 1337), in Expositio super Artem Veterem Porphyrii et Aristotelis, fols. 50va-64 va; Expositio super libros Topicorum (between 1301 and 1307), Vat. Lat. ms. 2146, Bibl. Apost. Vat., Vatican City, fol. 113r-204v; Expositio librorum Physicorum O^efore 1316), ms. 448, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge , 172-543...

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