Contingenza e impedibilità delle cause. Presupposti e implicazioni di un dibattito scolastico

Journal title RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA
Author/s Pasquale Porro
Publishing Year 2013 Issue 2013/1
Language Italian Pages 35 P. 113-147 File size 553 KB
DOI 10.3280/SF2013-001007
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

According to Avicenna, while the action of causes is always necessary, the production of effects may be considered in different ways. With respect to its cause, each effect is necessary, but may be contingent due to the interference of prohibitive impediments. In itself, and in an absolute sense, each effect is contingent. This article deals with the transformations of this model in the Latin Scholastic debate from the end of the 13th to the early decades of the 14th century, taking into consideration Thomas Aquinas, Siger of Brabant, John Duns Scotus and Francis of Marchia. The first defends a kind of ‘providential’ determinism, admitting only a relative, or secundum quid, contingency of sublunary effects with respect to the First Cause. The second, in explicit opposition to Aquinas, upholds the absolute contingency of the world in Avicenna’s sense. Interestingly enough, Siger’s position seems to be implicated in the condemnation of March 1277, not for being too deterministic but for rejecting an absolute ‘providential’ determinism. The last two both refuse to ground true contingency in impedible causes, appealing instead to freedom of will.

Keywords: Contingency, determinism, causality.

  1. Aiello, Wielockx 2008: Andrea Aiello, Robert Wielockx, Goffredo di Fontaines aspirante baccelliere sentenziario. Le autografe “Notule de scientia theologie” e la cronologia del ms. Paris BNF lat. 16297, Brepols, Turnhout 2008
  2. Averroes 1562: Aristotelis de physico auditu libri octo cum Averrois Cordubensis Commentariis, apud Iunctas, Venetiis 1562; rist. anast. Minerva, Frankfurt a.M. 1962
  3. Avicenna Latinus 1977: Avicenna Latinus, Liber de philosophia prima sive scientia divina. I-IV, ed. Simone Van Riet, introd. doctr. par Gérard Verbeke, Peeters-E.J. Brill, Louvain-Leiden 1977
  4. Avicenna Latinus 1980: Id., Liber de philosophia prima sive scientia divina. V-X, ed. Simone Van Riet, introd. doctr. par Gérard Verbeke, Peeters-E.J. Brill, Louvain-Leiden 1980.
  5. Avicenna Latinus 1992: Id., Liber primus naturalium. Tractatus primus de causis et principiis naturalium, ed. Simone Van Riet, introd. doctr. par Gérard Verbeke, Peeters- E.J. Brill, Louvain-Leiden 1992
  6. Belo 2007: Catarina Belo, Chance and Determinism in Avicenna and Averroes, E.J. Brill, Leiden-Boston 2007
  7. Bertolacci 2002: Amos Bertolacci, The Doctrine of Material and Formal Causality in the Il¯ahiyy¯at of Avicenna’s Kit¯ab al-ˇ Sif¯a’, «Quaestio», II (2002), pp. 125-154
  8. Blanchette 1992: Oliva Blanchette, The Perfection of the Universe according to Aquinas. A Teleological Cosmology, The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park 1992
  9. Bonaventura a Bagnorea 1882: Bonaventura a Bagnorea, In primum librum Sententiarum, cura et studio PP. Collegii a S. Bonaventura, t. I, ex typographia Collegii S. Bonaventurae, Ad Claras Aquas (Quaracchi) 1882
  10. Calma 2011: Dragos Calma, Études sur le premier siècle de l’averroïsme latin. Approches et textes inédits, Brepols, Turnhout 2011.
  11. Cordonier 2011: Valérie Cordonier, Sauver le Dieu du Philosophe: Albert le Grand, Thomas d’Aquin, Guillaume de Moerbeke et l’invention du “Liber de bona fortuna” comme alternative autorisée à l’interprétation averroïste de la théorie aristotélicienne de la providence divine, in Luca Bianchi (ed.), Christian Readings of Aristotle from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Brepols, Turnhout 2011, pp. 65-114
  12. Donini 1989: Pierluigi Donini, Ethos. Aristotele e il determinismo, Edizioni dell’Orso, Alessandria 1989
  13. Duba 2012: William O. Duba, The Ontological Repercussions of Francis of Marchia’s Distinction between Determination de possibili and de inesse, in Guido Alliney, Marina Fedeli, Alessandro Pertosa, Contingenza e libertà. Teorie francescane del primo Trecento, Eum, Macerata 2012, pp. 177-201
  14. Duin 1954: Johannes Joseph Duin, La doctrine de la Providence dans les écrits de Siger de Brabant, Éditions de l’Institut Supérieur de Philosophie, Louvain 1954.
  15. Dumont 1994-1995: Stephen D. Dumont, The Origin of Scotus’s Theory of Synchronic Contingency, «The Modern Schoolman», LXXII (1994-1995), pp. 149-167
  16. Esposito, Porro 2002: Costantino Esposito, Pasquale Porro (a cura di), La causalità / La causalité / Die Kausalität / Causality, «Quaestio», II (2002), pp. vii-710.
  17. Fedriga 2008: Riccardo Fedriga, Libertà e contingenza in Severino Boezio e Duns Scoto, in Stefano Perfetti (a cura di), Conoscenza e contingenza nella tradizione aristotelica medievale, ETS, Pisa 2008, pp. 137-160
  18. Franciscus de Marchia 2008: Francisci de Marchia Reportatio IIA (Quaestiones in secundum librum Sententiarum), qq. 1-12, edd. Tiziana Suarez-Nani, William Duba, Emmanuel Babey, Girard J. Etzkorn, Leuven University Press, Leuven 2008.
  19. Franciscus de Marchia 2009: Eiusd. Commentarius in IV libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi. IV: Distinctiones primi libri a vigesima nona ad quadragesimam octavam, ed. Nazareno Mariani, Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae Ad Claras Aquas, Grottaferrata (Roma) 2009.
  20. Gelber 2004: Hester Goodenough Gelber, It Could Have Been Otherwise. Contingency and Necessity in Dominican Theology at Oxford, 1300-1350, E.J. Brill, Leiden- Boston 2004.
  21. Gevaert 1965: Joseph Gevaert, Contingent en noodzakelijk bestaan volgens Thomas van Aquino, Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Brussel 1965
  22. Gilson 1952: Étienne Gilson, Jean Duns Scot. Introduction à ses positions fondamentales, Vrin, Paris 1952; trad. it. [Gilson 2008] Giovanni Duns Scoto. Introduzione alle sue posizioni fondamentali, con un saggio introduttivo di Costante Marabelli, Jaca Book, Milano 2008.
  23. Gilson 1961: Id., Avicenne et les origines de la notion de cause efficiente, in Atti del XII Congresso Internazionale di Filosofia (Venezia, 12-18 settembre 1958), IX, Sansoni, Firenze 1961, pp. 121-130
  24. Gilson 1962: Id., Notes pour l’histoire de la cause efficiente, «Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Age», XXXVII (1962), pp. 7-31 [ripreso in Id., Études Medievales, Vrin, Paris 1986, pp. 167-191].
  25. Henricus de Gandavo 1518: Henrici de Gandavo […] Quodlibeta, vaenundantur ab Iodoco Badio Ascensio, Parisiis 1518, 2 voll.; rist. Bibliothèque S.J., Louvain 1961.
  26. Hissette 1977: Roland Hissette, Enquête sur les 219 articles condamnés à Paris le 7 mars 1277, Publications Universitaires-Vander-Oyez, Louvain-Paris 1977
  27. Ioannes Duns Scotus 1963: Ioannes Duns Scotus, Ordinatio. Liber primus, a distinctione vigesima sexta ad quadragesimam octavam, cura et studio Commissionis Scotisticae, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, Civitas Vaticana 1963
  28. Ioannes Duns Scotus 1966: Id., Lectura. Liber primus, a distinctione octava ad quadragesimam quintam, cura et studio Commissionis Scotisticae, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, Civitas Vaticana 1966
  29. Ioannes Duns Scotus 2008: Id., Trattato sul primo principio, testo latino a fronte, introduzione, traduzione, note e apparati di Pasquale Porro, Bompiani, Milano 2008
  30. Jolivet 1991: Jean Jolivet, Les répartitions des causes chez Aristote et Avicenne: le sens d’un déplacement, in Jean Jolivet, Zénon Kaluza, Alain de Libera (éds.), Lectionum varietates. Hommage à Paul Vignaux, Vrin, Paris 1991, pp. 49-65.
  31. Knuuttila 1982: Simo Knuuttila, Modal Logic, in Norman Kretzmann, Anthony Kenny, Jan Pinborg, The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, pp. 342-357
  32. Litt 1963: Thomas Litt, Les corps célestes dans l’univers de saint Thomas d’Aquin, Publications Universitaires-Béatrice-Nauwelaerts, Louvain-Paris 1963.
  33. Lizzini 2011: Olga Lizzini, Fluxus (fay ˙ d). Indagine sui fondamenti della metafisica di Avicenna, Edizioni di Pagina, Bari 2011.
  34. Maier 1949: Anneliese Maier, Notwendigkeit, Kontingenz und Zufall, in Ead., Die Vorläufer Galileis im 14. Jahrhundert. Studien zur Naturphilosophie der Spätscholastik, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, Roma 1949, pp. 219-250; trad. it. [Maier 1984] Necessità, contingenza e caso, in Ead., Scienza e filosofia nel Medioevo. Saggi sui secoli XIII e XIV, prefaz. di Mario Dal Pra, introd. e trad. di Massimo Parodi, Achille Zoerle, Jaca Book, Milano 1984, pp. 339-382
  35. Maierù 1972: Alfonso Maierù, Terminologia logica della tarda scolastica, Edizioni dell’Ateneo, Roma 1972
  36. Marenbon 2005: John Marenbon, Le temps, l’éternité et la prescience de Boèce à Thomas d’Aquin, Vrin, Paris 2005
  37. Normore 1996: Calvin G. Normore, Scotus, Modality, Instants of Nature and the Contingency of the Present, in Ludger Honnefelder, Rega Wood, Mechthild Dreyer (eds.), John Duns Scotus. Metaphysics and Ethics, E.J. Brill, Leiden-New York-Köln 1996, pp. 161-174
  38. Normore 2003: Id., Duns Scotus’s Modal Theory, in Thomas Williams (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, pp. 129-160.
  39. Piché 1999: David Piché (éd.), La condamnation parisienne de 1277, avec la collaboration de Claude Lafleur, Vrin, Paris 1999
  40. Porro 1992: Pasquale Porro, «Possibile ex se, necessarium ab alio»: Tommaso d’Aquino e Enrico di Gand, «Medioevo», XVIII (1992), pp. 231-273
  41. Porro 2006: Id., Doing Theology (and Philosophy) in the First Person: Henry of Ghent’s Quodlibeta, in Chris Schabel (ed.), Theological Quodlibeta in the Middle Ages. The Thirteenth Century, E.J. Brill, Leiden 2006, pp. 171-231
  42. Schabel 1999: Chris Schabel, Il determinismo di Francesco di Marchia (parte I), «Picenum Seraphicum», XVIII (1999), pp. 57-95
  43. Schabel 2000a: Id., Il determinismo di Francesco di Marchia (parte II), «Picenum Seraphicum», XIX (2000), pp. 15-67.
  44. Schabel 2000b: Id., Theology at Paris, 1316-1345. Peter Auriol and the Problem of Divine Foreknowledge and Future Contingents, Ashgate, Aldershot-Burlington-Singapore- Sydney 2000
  45. Schwamm 1934: Hermann Schwamm, Das göttliche Vorherwissen bei Duns Scotus und seinen ersten Anhängern, Rauch, Innsbruck 1934
  46. Thomas de Aquino 1950: Thomas de Aquino, In duodecim libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis expositio, edd. M.-R. Cathala, R. M. Spiazzi, Marietti, Taurini-Romae 1950 (19773).
  47. Thomas de Aquino 1954: Id., In octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis expositio, Marietti, Taurini-Romae 1954 (e successive ristampe).
  48. Wisnovsky 2002: Robert Wisnovsky, Final and Efficient Causality in Avicenna’s Cosmology and Theology, «Quaestio», II (2002), pp. 97-123.
  49. Zanin 2006: Fabio Zanin, Com’è possibile che in natura ad alcune cause seguano sempre determinati effetti, se ogni cosa è contingente, in quanto creata da Dio? La risposta di Francesco di Appignano, in Domenico Priori (a cura di), Atti del III Convegno Internazionale su Francesco di Appignano, Centro di Studi su Francesco d’Appignano, Appignano del Tronto 2006, pp. 215-227

  • Contingency and Natural Order in Early Modern Science Magali Roques, pp.27 (ISBN:978-3-319-67376-9)
  • The theological stems of modern economic ideas: John Duns Scotus Luigino Bruni, Paolo Santori, in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought /2023 pp.577
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2023.2226396

Pasquale Porro, Contingenza e impedibilità delle cause. Presupposti e implicazioni di un dibattito scolastico in "RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA" 1/2013, pp 113-147, DOI: 10.3280/SF2013-001007