Fundamental premises of John Buridan’s semantics

dalla caratterizzazione dei tre livelli linguistici alla predisposizione cognitiva della significatio

Abstract

This essay intends to provide an insightful introduction to some fundamental premises of John Buridan’s semantics, the famous master who taught at the University of Paris in the 14^th century. At first, attention is paid to the doctrine of the “three levels of language” and to the semantical (and not syntactical) parallels among them. Following this path, the difference between ad placitum terms and those naturaliter significativi is dealt with, and one reflects – not without allusions to some contemporary topoi – on the various impositional mechanisms described by the Parisian master. Subsequently, the focus is set on the original redefinition – proposed in the first paragraphs of the De suppositionibus – of the notion of significatio, which not only assumes cognitive-intensional features, but is conceived as a process that can be considered fulfilled exclusively when there is a real understanding among the parties involved. In the final pages, one tries to show the deep coherence of much of the Buridanian semantics contents with this basic framework.