Philosophical Debates at Paris in the Early Fourteenth Century

Book excerpt: This collection of essays, papers originally delivered at conferences in Bonn and Boston, show in a detailed way the tone and nature of philosophical and theological issues and arguments at the University of Paris in the early fourteenth century. They touch on a large number of authors and a broad spectrum of subjects and present these discussions with regard to the intellectual framework set by the earlier Parisian generation of Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent and Godfrey of Fontaine. It becomes evident that the principal contributors to the new intellectual energy in early fourteenth-century discussions at Paris are Meister Eckhart, John Duns Scotus, Hervaeus Natalis, Durandus of St.-Pourçain, Walter Burley and Petrus Aureoli.