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.

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

Format: Text edition - hardback

Size: 240 × 160 mm

ISBN: 9789058674272

Publication: March 22, 2005

Series: Ancient and Medieval Philosophy - Series 2: Henrici de Gandavo Opera Omnia 21

Languages: German

Stock item number: 45842

Gordon A. Wilson is professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina. He is the general coordinator of the Leuven edition of the 'Opera omnia' of Henry of Ghent.