Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation
Recent Titles
Roland J. Teske, S.J., Editor
This series originated at Marquette University in 1942, and with revived interest in Mediæval studies is read internationally with steadily increasing popularity. Available in attractive, durable, colored soft covers. Volumes priced from $5 to $35 each. Standing orders accepted. John Riedl’s A Catalogue of Renaissance Philosophers, hardbound with red cloth, is an ideal reference companion title (sent free with purchase of complete set or standing order). Regular reprinting keeps all volumes available. View complete list of the Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation Series.
William of Auvergne. The Providence of God regarding the Universe. Part Three of the First Principal Part of The Universe of Creatures. Translated from the Latin with an Introduction and Notes by Roland J. Teske, SJ.
ISBN-13: 978-087462-246-1; ISBN-10: 0-87462-246-8. Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation 43. Paper. 204 pp. $25. God’s providence over the world posed a traditional set of questions for the medieval philosopher-theologian. In the third part of his first principal part of The Universe of Creatures, William of Auvergne argues that God’s providence over creation extends to all things, the lowest as well as the highest. He tackles problems, such as pain, suffering, and other evils and faces questions, such as why the good often flourish in this life and whether providence imposes necessity on all things. He argues for human freedom and against fate, causal necessity, the world-soul, and the music of the spheres.
Roland J. Teske, S.J., Donald J. Schuenke Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1973), specializes in St. Augustine and medieval philosophers, especially William of Auvergne and Henry of Ghent. He has translated 10 volumes of works of St. Augustine, 4 volumes of works of William of Auvergne, and 3 volumes of works of Henry of Ghent. He has published over 50 articles on Augustine, over a dozen on William, and several on Henry. He has given the St. Augustine Lecture at Villanova and the Aquinas Lecture at Marquette University. He has been visiting professor at Santa Clara University, John Carroll University, and Villanova University.
Francisco Suárez, S.J. On Real Relation: Disputatio Metaphysica XLVII. Translation & Introduction by John P. Doyle
ISBN 0-87462-245-X. Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation 42. Paper. 432 pp. $45
Relation is at the heart of any philosophy but especially of Aristotelian philosophy. It is also at the heart of theological understanding of the central Christian doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in God. Arguably the greatest, and certainly the most influential, Jesuit philosopher-theologian of all time, Francisco Suárez (1548-1617), would by any estimate qualify to explain relation. While he has treated the subject often in his published writings, his best and most systematic treatment of its myriad dimensions will be found in his famous Disputationes metaphysicae in two places. Earlier translated into English by the translator of the present volume, Disputation 54, Section 6, gives Suárez’s teaching on mind-dependent relations. This translation now of the eighteen Sections of Disputation 47 contains his careful, broad, and deep thought on mind-independent, both categorical and transcendental, relations. While Suárez presents his teaching in a systematic way, he intentionally wraps it around a first-rate explanation of Aristotle’s enigmatic treatment of the category of relation in the Perihermeneias and the Metaphysics. For that explanation alone, the present volume is timelessly valuable. But as any serious reader will soon see, its value only begins there.
John P. Doyle for the last 38 years has taught graduate courses in Latin Scholasticism at St. Louis University. In addition to the present volume, he has published five more volumes of translation (including three from Suárez) and has produced over 50 articles, essays, and encyclopedia entries, dealing with Suárez and other figures and themes in medieval and post-medieval philosophy.
Henry of Gh
ent. Quodlibetal Questions on Moral Problems. Translated from the Latin with an Introduction and Notes by Roland J. Teske, S.J. ISBN-13: 978-0-87462-244-7 and ISBN-10: 0-87462-244-1. Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation 41.
Other translations of Henry of Ghent by Roland Teske, S.J.
Henry of Ghent. Quodlibetal Questions on Free Will. Translated with an Introduction and Notes. Mediaeval Philosophical Texts in Translation, Vol. 32. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1993.
Henry of Ghent’s “Summa”: The Questions on God’s Existence and Essence (Articles 21-24). Translation by Jos Decorte † (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and Roland J. Teske, S.J. (Marquette University). Latin Text, Introduction, and Notes by Roland J. Teske, S.J. Leuven: Peeters, 2005. ISBN 90-429- 1590-0. Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations, vol. 5.
Roland J. Teske, S.J., is the Donald J. Schuenke Professor of Philosophy at Marquette University. He is the author, editor, and translator of some twenty books and nearly one hundred articles, and is the editor of the series Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation.
Francisco 
Suárez. A Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics (Index locupletissimus in Metaphysicam Aristotelis). Translated from the Latin with an Introduction and Notes by John P. Doyle. ISBN 0-87462-243-3. MPTT #40. 430 pp. $45
Other Suárez Volumes in This Series
Francis Suárez, S.J.On the Various Kinds of Distinctions. Cyril Vollert, S.J., Tr.
ISBN 0-87462-204-2. (Translation No. 4). 72 pp. $10
Francis Suárez, S.J. On Formal and Universal Unity. James F. Ross, Tr.
ISBN 0-87462-215-8. (Translation. No. 15). 132 pp. $15
Francis Suárez, S.J. On Individuation. Jorge J.E. Gracia, Tr.
ISBN 0-87462-223-9. (Translation No. 23). 304 pp. $25
Francis Suárez, S.J. On the Essence of Finite Being as Such, on the Existence of That Essence and Their Distinction. Norman J. Wells, Tr.
ISBN 0-87462-224-7. (Translation No. 24). 248 pp. $20
Francis Suárez, S.J. On Beings of Reason. John P. Doyle, Tr.
ISBN 0-87462-236-0 170 pp. (Translation No. 33) $20
Francis Suárez, S.J. On the Formal Cause of Substance. John Kronen and Jeremiah Reedy, Tr.
ISBN 0-87462-239-5 217 pp. (Translation No. 36) $25
Dominicus Gundissalinus. The Procession of the World (De processione mundi). Translated from the Latin with an Introduction and Notes by John A. Laumakis. ISBN 0-87462-242-5. MPTT #39. 100 pp. $10
During the twelfth and thirteenth century, Christian thought in the Latin West was profoundly influenced by the works of ancient Greek philosophers—in particular, Aristotle—and by the Arabic works of medieval Muslim and Jewish philosophers, such as Avicenna, Averroes, Avicebron, and Maimonides. These Greek and Arabic philosophical works, however, could affect the thought of Christian philosophers and theologians in such a significant way only because, over the course of many years and at different locations throughout Western Europe, these works had been translated into Latin. The most important site for the translation of Greek and Arabic philosophical works into Latin was Spain, where the famed ‘School of Translators of Toledo’ was established by Archbishop Raymond of Toledo (1126-1151). Although the ‘School of Translators’ flourished in Toledo well into the thirteenth century, one its most prolific and renowned members worked during the twelfth century, namely, Dominicus Gundissalinus, who was also known as Gonzalo, Gonzalbo, Gonsalvi, and Gundisalvi.
The Conimbricenses. Some Questions on Signs Edited, Translated, and with an Introduction by John Doyle. ISBN 0-87462-241-7. MPTT #38. Paper. 217 pp. $25
“Doyle’s work, thus, with this invaluable edition, emerges from the shadowy margins of scholarly research done for its own sake into the spotlight of mainstream contemporary intellectual developments. This work marks a major contribution both in semiotics and in the general history of philosophy. For the Conimbricenses on signs is a part of the whole of the Latin Age, the ‘medieval period’ separating ancient Greek thought, first from modern philosophy, and now from the postmodern development wherein the lost Latin centuries between Ockham and Descartes are recovered and restored to their rightful place as an organic part of the overall medieval development. This development began indeed with Augustine but, after all, neither wholly culminated in Aquinas nor terminated in Ockham. For the outstanding contribution made in this edition before us, no longer only professional academicians are in Professor Doyle’s debt, but all the students of philosophy and intellectual history in general. This work is a major piece in the puzzle of what happened to philosophy between Ockham and Descartes, and ensures that Professor Doyle’s scholarship will receive the wide appreciation it deserves.” —John Deely, University of St. Thomas, Houston
William of Auvergne. The Soul (De anima). Translated from the Latin with an Introduction and Notes by Roland J. Teske, S.J. ISBN 0-87462-240-9 Paper 513 pp. (Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation #37) $50
William of Auvergne, or William of Paris, wrote The Soul (De anima) around 1240, approximately twelve years after he was ordained a priest and made bishop of Paris by Gregory IX on April 10, 1228 and nine years before his death in March of 1249. Of William’s huge opus, The Teaching on God in the Mode of Wisdom (Magisterium divinale et sapientiale), The Soul was the last part to be written, though it stands as the third part of that opus. That is, if one looks to the order which William intended for the constituent parts of The Teaching on God in the Mode of Wisdom, The Soul belongs third, following after The Trinity (De trinitate) and The Universe of Creatures (De universo creaturarum) and preceding Why God Became Man (Cur Deus homo), The Faith and the Laws (De fide et legibus), The Sacraments (De sacramentis), and The Virtues and Morals (De virtutibus et moribus). William, however, almost certainly did not have fully in mind this order for the parts of his Magisterium when he began the work with The Trinity prior to his episcopacy.
R. A. Gauthier has argued persuasively that the composition of The Universe of Creatures may well have continued up to 1240 and that William probably began his The Soul only a short time earlier.In a passage taken from the very end of The Universe of Creatures, William refers to The Soul as a future project which was then only in an early stage of planning.
Though so many and such great wise men have written about the soul, they, nonetheless, left its nature and the nature of the intellective power quite obscure and unexamined. For this reason I had the desire, and I still have it, to write a complete treatise on it by which the human soul might be able to become known to itself and to know itself. After the knowledge of the creator there is no knowledge more salutary for it than this knowledge, and none more useful in any way, just as after the ignorance of God most high no ignorance is more dangerous or shameful for it than the ignorance of it. May it, therefore, be in the good pleasure of the creator to give life and space and the help of his grace for completing so desirable and so noble a treatise.
The dating of The Soul at approximately 1240 and later allows for the possibility that William was familiar with some of the writings of Averroes, especially with his Great Commentary on the Soul from which William probably derived, among other things, his knowledge of the views of Alexander of Aphrodisias and of Averroes’ own view of the agent intellect as a part of the human soul.
Francis Suarez, S.J. On the Formal Cause of Substance. Metaphysical Disputation XV. Translated by John Kronen & Jeremiah Reedy. Introduction & Explanatory Notes by John Kronen. ISBN 0-87462-239-5 Paper 217 pp. (Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation #36) $25
The importance of Francis Suarez is recognized more and more every year. Suarez was so successful in writing a systematic presentation of metaphysics that was not a commentary on Aristotle that his work was used as a university textbook and as a model for aspiring metaphysicians for over a hundred years, not only by his fellow Jesuits, but also, perhaps to an even greater extent, by Protestant scholastic philosophers and theologians. Suarez’s influence was not restricted to the scholastic tradition; rather, it extended, both through that tradition and independently of it, into the main currents of modern thought. It can be detected in Descartes, Leibniz, Wolf and, ultimately, in Kant himself. So pervasive was Suarez’s influence on modern thought, that Alasdair MacIntyre has called Suarez the first truly modern philosopher.
Even apart from its historical influence, Suarez’s work remains important for its intrinsic merit. It could be very reasonably argued that Suarez produced the most perfect incarnation of the type of realistic metaphysics initiated by Aristotle. As long, therefore, as Aristotelianism remains a live option for philosophers, Suarez’s work will remain valuable to those engaged in the philosophical enterprise.
Central to Aristotelian metaphysics is the notion that the world is fundamentally constituted by independent entities called substances which act according to natures intrinsic to them and explain why there is regularity, order, and predictability in the universe. Disputation XV, which deals with the formal principle of the nature of material substances, that is, their substantial form, is central to Suarez’s presentation of Aristotelian realism. In the Disputation Suarez defended the view, contrary to both dualism and materialism, that material objects are constituted by two co-principles, primary matter and substantial form.
The two translators, Jeremiah Reedy, of Macalester College and John Kronen, of the University of Saint Thomas, have produced a clear and readable translation of this Disputation central to Suarezian metaphysics. In his introduction and notes to the translation Kronen clearly explains the metaphysics of substantial form and clarifies many of the problems which Suarez discusses.
Auvergne The
Universe of Creatures. Selections translated from the Latin with an Introduction and Notes by Roland J. Teske, S.J. ISBN 0-87462-238-7 Paper 235 pp. (Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation #35) $25
On Homicide, and Commentary on Thomas Aquinas: Summa theologiae IIaIIae, 64. Francisco De Vitoria, O.P. Edited and Translated by John Doyle. ISBN 8-87462-237-9. Paper. 328 pp. $35. Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation #34
“During the second half of the twelfth century and the beginning decades of the thirteenth, the Latin West was presented with translations of nearly all the Aristotelian works along with the works of the Arab and Jewish philosophers and theologians. William’s work as a philosopher and theologian marks an important stage in this encounter of Christian faith with Aristotle and the great philosophers of the Arab world. Despite frequent ecclesiastical condemnations of and warnings against the Aristotelian works, the impact of this discovery of a whole new intellectual view of the world was not to be stopped. William’s stance toward Aristotle is dear: When Aristotle is opposed to the truth, he must be rejected, but when he is found to be correct, he should be accepted and defended. That is, William is one of the first Christian thinkers to be confronted with the wealth of Greek and Arabian philosophical thought, and he used this thought, especially the metaphysics of Avicenna, to articulate a doctrine on God and the created world that is both philosophically profound and thoroughly Christian.” — From the Introduction by Roland J. Teske, S.J.
Hugh of St. Victor. Practical Geometry. Frederick A. Homann, S.J., Tr. ISBN 0-87462-232-8 92 pp. (Translation No. 29) 1991 $10
“This volume is another valuable and scholarly contribution to the rising interest in mediæval philosophy. It is also a concrete example of the influence of Arabian philosophy, especially that of Avicenna, on the thought of a leading philosopher/theologian of the early thirteenth century.” — H.R. Klocker, S.J. Saint Louis University
“Dietrich of Freiberg was unquestionably one of the most important philosophers, theologians, and natural scientists of the Middle Ages . Dietrich’s Opera omnia have been available in a text-critical edition since 1985. Although interpretations of his work have been proliferating, translations thereof have not been so forthcoming. Hence, it is a particular benefit that Dietrich’s Tractatus de intellectu et intelligibili has been rendered into English as the first of his works to be translated for the English-speaking world . I am pleased to recommend this very instructive book not only to those readers who are not yet acquainted with medieval philosophy, but also to those who are not deterred from engaging difficult and fundamental philosophical problems.” — From the Preface of Burkhard Mojsisch. Bochum, Germany
“As coordinator of the Henrici de Gandavo Opera Omnia since its beginning, it is for me an honour and a joy to present the excellent work of Professor Roland J. Teske, S.J., ... which is entitled Henry of Ghent: Quodlibetal Questions on Free Will .... Professor Teske is the first to use the critical edition of the Opera Omnia for offering the modern reader ... a volume of characteristic extracts from Henry’s thought .... Professor Teske’s introduction gives in a clear and succinct manner the essentials of Henry’s life and writing, sketches his Quodlibetal Questions, and then indicates the major lines of his teaching in them concerning the treated theme. He then directly confronts the modern searcher after truth with some carefully selected questions from these Quodlibets, translated in a faithful and at the same time clear and handy way.” — Raymond Macken, Louvain
The 54th Disputation was important in Suárez’s own mind inasmuch as it set limits for the science of metaphysics and even confronted the limits of what is thinkable and sayable. In this Disputation, Suárez passed from “being insofar as it is real being” or “being insofar as it is actual or possible” (which he identified as the subject or object of metaphysics) to consider “beings” which do not or even cannot exist despite the fact that we can think and speak of them with truth and meaning. While William Shakespeare (d. 1617) was responsible for, among other things, Much Ado About Nothing, his Spanish contemporary, Francisco Suárez. S.J., (d. 1616), in his 54th Disputation of his Disputationes Metaphysicae (Salamanca, 1597), was preoccupied with ’much to do about non-beings,’ such as negations, privations, relations of reason and sundry chimerae (the likes of ’goat-stags, centaurs, ghosts and goulies and things that go bump in the night’).
