Grammar, Logic, and Cognition: Magnus Hundt (1419-1519) and the Notion of Material Supposition

Resumo

In a number of late medieval treatises, the question is raised whether material supposition should be treated in logic or in grammar. Traditionally, this kind of supposition was dealt with in logic. However, some late medieval authors argued that it should rather be treated in grammar. At first glance, this debate may seem to be a fruitless scholastic exercise. Upon closer inspection, however, this issue sheds fundamental light on the different ways in which late medieval scholastics understood the relationship between thoughts, terms, and things.

In my paper I will focus mainly on the position of Magnus Hundt, who taught the arts at the University of Leipzig towards the end of the fifteenth century. He is not often mentioned in the modern literature. His position, however, is highly remarkable. As will become clear, Hundt’s rejection of material supposition as belonging to the field of logic is illustrative of his strategy of separating logic from grammar, in order to bring it closer to the science of metaphysics.

Keywords: Grammar; logic; metaphysics; theory of cognition; theory of supposition; history of Thomism; Magnus Hundt.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/21836884/med41a4