The Rise of a States of Affairs Ontology (14th Century)

Since the first half of the 20th century for almost fifty years Gregory of Rimini was considered as the inventor of a new ontology of states of affairs called by him "complexe significabilia", while from todays state of knowledge we have strong evidence that Adam of Wodeham, who portraits himself as an orthodox Aristotelian, is the actual founder of that theory. As is well known now, Adam could take the controversy between Walter Chatton and William of Ockham as the point of his departure, a controversy which delineated the possibilities of a theory of judgment within an Aristotelian ontology of things. Adam could sort out and evaluate the arsenal of arguments of both authors and he arrived at the result that in view of the problem posed the categories of substance[s] and accidence[s] do not suffice for a complete inventory of the world. Besides the Aristotelian basic components of the universe, which are accepted by all scholastic schools, Adam postulates the existence of states of affairs (called by him "sic esse" etc.) in addition to the thing categories, by which postulate he - contrary to his own claim - establishes an Aristotelian "heterodoxy": Herein lies the origin of the doctrine of the complexe significabilia, which actually constitute an objectification of the Aristotelian entia secundum verum. It is the research project`s aim to explore this innovation in at least two respects: 1. Firstly it aims at reconstructing and explaining Adams and also Gregorys achievement as precisely as possible, within which research the preceding generation of thinkers around Ockham and Chatton must receive the same attention. Fortunately, for that purpose modern text editions of the primary sources are available, and furthermore there is a constantly growing secondary literature on the main figures of that development which can be used as a basis of the studies within the project. 2. After the reconstruction of the theory of complexe significabilia in ist definitive form by the end of the fourteenth century the "true" background of this invention has to be searched for. I.e. the "philosopher" himself and in particular his Metaphysics and there especially the doctrine of the manifold meaning of being have to be looked through carefully, concentrating on the relevant portions re. ens secundum verum. Then an investigation of the scholars (who wrote after the culmination of the complexe significabilia theory), philosophers as well as theologians, shall make clear the history of the reception and of the critique of this theory, since recent research to date has not paid enough attention to the theory`s explosive force regarding both Aristotelianism and Christian theology.

Research project 15718 analysed texts of mediaeval authors such as Ockham`s pupil Adam de Wodeham (c1298- 1358), Gregory of Rimini (c1300-1358), and Albert of Saxony (c1320-1390) using modern critical editions of the primary sources. Research goal has been determining whether there is and if in what respect there is a connection between the theory of the complexe significabilia (theory of states of affairs) presented by the authors named and the Aristotelian theory of ens secundum verum (being as true) and his utterings on the pragma(ta) (the thing(s)). Harald Berger especially dealt with Aristotle`s opinions concerning the object of metaphysics and his theory of the manifold meaning of being. Krist Shtufi concentrated on such Aristotelian text passages where the concept of pragma occurs, and he compared this places with the 14th century lore of the complexe significabilia. In the course of their research the two arrived at concurring findings, due two different approaches on the one hand and to partially varying methods in dealing with the sources on the other. The seemingly diverging findings are still complementary in significant respects. In accordance with the famous commentators Thomas Aquinas and Franz Brentano, Harald Berger presents the hypothesis that Aristotele`s ontology does not allow for real states of affairs but for things in the sense of substances and accidents only. Taking Aristotelian utterings on pragma(ta) as his basis and relying on "canonical" secondary literature of the last thirty years Krist Shtufi arrives at the interpretation that the concept of the complexe significabile (of state of affairs) in Wodeham and his followers is equivalent with Aristotle`s concept of pragma, since both concepts coincide in their ontological properties and in the logical form in addition. One of the definitive results of P15718 is the proof that the innovations and developments of the 14th century can be adequately understood as originating in Aristotle`s pertinent teachings. Putting forward this proof claim we on the one hand have to guarantee that the metaphysician Aristotle does not allow for real states of affairs (be it within or outside the categories), and on the other hand we have to acknowledge that in a number of places in the "Organon" and in the "Metaphysics" Aristotle seems to understand the functions of pragma(ta) in such a way that the 14th century theory of complexe significabilia may (if not must) be seen as a further development of the philosopher`s stance.