Summa (Quaestiones ordinariae) art. I-V

Henry of Ghent's Summa, art. 1-5, composed probably before 1276, are the opening articles of Henry's grand masterpiece, his Quaestiones ordinariae or Summa. This Summa was, from what Henry himself indicated, to be in two sections: a section De Deo and a section De creaturis, but the second part was never composed, probably due to Henry's death in 1293. What has survived is an "unfinished cathedral," as Bayerschmidt has described.

These opening articles are part of the "prolog" and they treat epistemological issues such as skepticism and the very possibility of human knowledge, divine "illustration," teaching, certitude, knowledge of non entities, the desire for knowledge, and the nature of study. This "epistemological" concern marked deeply the development of thought in the High Middle Ages and influenced the Franciscan, John Duns Scotus, and through Scotus, William of Ockham.

The text of the critical edition is reconstructed based upon a manuscript of Godfrey of Fontaines containing these articles which was willed to the Sorbonne when Godfrey died. This manuscript seems to have been composed in the very school of Henry. Other manuscripts which were used were two that may have been copied from the apograph, three copied from the first Parisian exemplar divided into pieces (peciae), and two copied from a second exemplar.

"Summa (Quaestiones ordinariae) art. I-V" was written by Henry of Ghent.

"Summa (Quaestiones ordinariae) art. I-V" was edited by Gordon Wilson.

Gordon A. Wilson is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Yes, "Summa (Quaestiones ordinariae) art. I-V" is part of the "Ancient and Medieval Philosophy - Series 2: Henrici de Gandavo Opera Omnia" series. It's book 21 in the series.

Henry of Ghent, who taught initially at the Faculty of Arts in Paris before 1276 and subsequently at the Faculty of Theology in Paris from 1276 until his death in 1293, was an original and extremely important thinker. A major influence on John Duns Scotus, Henry's ideas had a direct impact on the scholastic discussion into the early modern period. His two major works, namely his - fifteen Quodlibeta and his Quaestiones Ordinariae (Summa), along with works of his that have never before been printed, are being published in modern critical edition in the Ancient and Medieval Philosophy - Series 2, Henrici de Gandavo Opera omnia.

Launched in the 1970s by Raymond Macken, who served as its first general coordinator, the series is now coordinated by Gordon A. Wilson of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, USA.

In association with the De Wulf-Mansion Centre.

Editorial Coordinator

Bernd Goehring, Wagner College, USA, and KU Leuven, Belgium

Editorial Board

Valérie Cordonier, Centre National de la Recherches Scientifique, France
Kent Emery Jr., University of Notre Dame, USA
Russell Friedman, KU Leuven, Belgium
Guy Guldentops, Universität zu Köln, Germany
Jenny Pelletier, KU Leuven, Belgium
Pasquale Porro, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Carlos Steel, KU Leuven, Belgium
Gordon A. Wilson, University of North Carolina at Asheville, USA

Proposals

Proposals and enquiries can be sent to  Russell L. Friedman. Please send a preliminary abstract (3-4 pp.) and a short bio. Upon approval of this abstract, the full manuscript will be submitted to international peer review.

Please make use of the submission form to present the full manuscript to our board.
Authors interested in Open Access can consult the available funding options.

Links & Resources

FOREWORD
CRITICAL STUDY

The Editions and Manuscripts
The Editions
The Manuscripts
The Text Examined Exteriorly: Historical and Codicological Elements used for the Establishment of the Text
The Text Examined Interiorly: The Relationships among the Manuscripts, Established by a General Test Collation
Manuscript 8 (Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 15355), Independent of the University Tradition
Manuscripts TOULOUSE, Bibl. Munic. 199 and PARIS, Bibl. Nat., lat. 14312: Two Manuscripts Possibly Copied from the Apograph
The First Parisian Exemplar
The Second Parisian Exemplar
The Reconstruction of the Critical Text The References in Summa, art. 1-5
Previous Editions of the Summa, art. 1-5
The Genesis of the Exemplars, Represented by a Diagram
Technique of the Edition
Sigla of the Manuscripts

SUMMA, art. 1-5
art. 1: de possibilitate sciendi
art. 2: de modo sciendi
art. 3: de qualitate scibilium
art. 4: de appetitu sciendi
art. 5: de studio sciendi

TABLES
Works Cited by Henry
Onomastic Table
Manuscripts Cited
Quoted Publications
Table of Photographs
Table of Contents