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8525787
Sinkler, Georgette
MEDIEVAL THEORIES OF COMPOSITION AND DIVISION
Cornell University Ph.D. 1985
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MEDIEVAL THEORIES OF COMPOSITION AND DIVISION
A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Cornell University
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
by
Georgette Sinkler
August, 1985
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Georgette Sinkler was born on the morning of October 31, 1955, in
Prairie View, Texas. She was welcomed into the family by her parents
George Sinkler and Albertha Richardson Sinkler, and by her two brothers
Gregory and Kenneth. Soon after she was born, her family moved to New
York City, where her father worked for a master's degree in History at
Columbia University. After two years in that city, the family moved back
to Prairie View where they remained until 1966, at which time they moved
to Baltimore, Maryland. Georgette was ten years old then, and excited to
move to a place so far away and so different from the place she spent
most of her childhood. In Baltimore she saw her first snow storm,
learned to enjoy reading, and began to write poetry.
After graduating from Western High School, Georgette went to
Princeton University to major in civil engineering. She had thought that
after leaving Princeton she would get a master's degree in engineering
and then join the Peace Corps. Instead, she went to graduate school to
study medieval philosophy.
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DEDICATION
I dedicate this work to my parents, George Sinkler and Albertha
Richardson Sinkler, who have given me encouragement in all my endeavors.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Norman Kretzmann for his guidance, patience,
and kindness during my graduate study. I would also like to thank Carl
Ginet and Robert Stalnaker for being on my Special Committee.
I love thee, 0 LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
— Psalms 18: 1-3
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Table of Contents
Page
Chapter 1: Composition and Division: An Overview
I. Sketch of an Ideal Theory.................................. 1
II. The Development of the Composition/Division Distinction Before
the Recovery of the Sophistici elenchi...................... 18
III. The Development of the Composition/Division Distinction After
the Recovery of the Sophistici elenchi
A. The Twelfth-Century Anonymi ........................... 24
B. The Terminists ............... 31
C. After the Terminists .................................. 32
D. William Heytesbury .................................... 36
E. After Heytesbury ...................................... 41
IV. Typical Philosophical Applications of the Composition/Division
Distinction ................................................. 43
V. Theories of Composition and Division After the Scholastic
Period ...................................................... 50
VI. Conclusions ..........................................'........ 52
Chapter 2: Roger Bacon and Lambert of Auxerre on Composition and
Division
I. Introduction ................................................. 54
II. Composition and Division, and the Compounded and Divided
Senses ...................................................... 59
III. The Modes of Composition and Division....................... 72
IV. Difficulties With the Theory of Determination
A. "What One Alone Can Carry Several Can Carry" ........... 97
B. "Forty of Men One Hundred Divine Achilles Left Behind" 103
C. "Five are Two and Three" ............................. 105
V. Conclusions ................................................. 110
Chapter 3: Composition and Division According to William Ockham
I. Accounts of Composition and Division Rejected by Ockham .... 114
II. Ockham's Favored Account ................................... 120
III. Four Contexts of Composition and Division .................. 124
A. Composition and Division Produced by Conjunciton ..... 125
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B. Composition and Division Produced by Linguistic
Modification ........................................... 127
C. Composition and Division Produced by an Adjective
Together With a Substantive Term....................... 135
D. Composition and Division Produced by Modal Terms ....... 141
IV. Conclusions ................................................ 150
Chapter 4: William Heytesbury’s Word-Order Theory of the Compounded and
Divided Senses of Propositions
I. Introduction............................................... 157
II. A Brief Overview of Heytesbury's Nine Modes ............... 160
III. A Proposal .................................................. 168
IV. The Modes Involving ’’And" and "Or" ......................... 185
V. The Mode Involving Relative Terms .......................... 194
VI. The Mode Involving Categorematic/Syncategorematic Terms .... 200
VII. The Modes Involving Ampliative Terms and Determination ..... 210
VIII. Mode I X ............................................. ........ 219
IX. The Mode Involving Words That Can Produce
Confused Supposition.......... 224
X. The Mode Involving Epistemic and Volitional Verbs ......... 226
XI. Conclusions .................. 239
Chapter 5: Composition and Division After Heytesbury
I. Introduction............................................... 243
II. Characteristics of the Compounded Sense
and the Divided Sense ...................................... 248
III. Arguments from the Compounded Sense to the Divided Sense
and Vice Versa ............................................. 261
IV. Complex Arguments With Modal, Epistemic,
or Volitional Verbs ........................................ 268
V. Conclusion ................................................. 294
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