Università Roma Tre

The classes will focus on the notions of ‘individuation’ and 'principle of individuation’ in medieval and late medieval thought, taking this issue in its main historical and theoretical coordinates. In particular, it dwells on the relationship between the problem of the individuation and those of the metaphysical status of universals, of the nature of primary substance, as well as of the form-matter composition. Special attention will be paid to the solutions of Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Pedro da Fonseca, and Francisco Suárez, in order to ideally conclude with some references to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The specific doctrines of these authors will be considered both dealing with their metaphysical, logical and theological premises and by accurate textual analysis.

• A selection of excerpts from Porphyry, Bonventura, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Pedro da Fonseca and Francisco Suárez
• J. J. E. Gracia (ed.), Individuation in Scholasticism: The Later Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation, 1150-1650. New York: SUNY Press, 1994.
• Th. Noone, Universals and Individuation, In Th. Williams (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Giovanni Duns Scoto, Il principio di individuazione, a cura di A. D’Angelo, Il Mulino: Bologna 2011.
• J. J. E. Gracia (ed.), Introduction, in Suarez on Individuation: Metaphysical Disputation V: Individual Unity and its Principle, Marquette University Press, 1982.
• S. Di Bella, Tota sua entitate. Suarez and Leibniz on Individuation, in M. Sgarbi (ed.), Francisco Suarez and His Legacy. The Impact of Suarezian Metaphysics and Epistemology on Modern Philosophy, Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2010.
• S. Di Bella, Il fantasma dell'ecceità. Leibniz, Scoto e il principio d'individuazione, Quaestio, 8 (2008).

Students who are unable to attend, must carefully study at least one of the following critical works:

• J. J. E. Gracia, Introduction to the Problem of Individuation in the Early Middle Ages, Muenchen-Wien: Philosophia Verlag, 1984.
• O Boulnois, Lire le Principe d’individuation de Duns Scot, Paris: Vrin, 2014.
• P.-N. Mayaud, (coor.), Le Probleme de l'individuation, Paris: Vrin, 1992.
• Pietro Abelardo, I commenti all'Isagoge di Porfirio, a cura di S. Follini, Milano: Mimesis 2022, pp. 9-175, 217-273, 729-743.