Logical Grammar of Abelard

Abelard was one of the foremost protagonists of the "12th-century Renaissance". He followed Boethius, resuming the activity of commenting on Aristotle's works. This book focuses on the logical-grammatical analysis of natural language, which for Abelard is a fragment of "scientific Latin". Tools of modern categorial grammar are employed to clarify many of the problems raised by historiography (such as meaning, abstract entities and universals). The volume highlights the radical interplay between the traditions of Aristotle's and Priscian's commentators and, in this context, Abelard's peculiar role in exploring a new field of linguistic inquiry. An ample analysis of grammatical sources and critical literature allows to evaluate the progress which is at the basis of the forthcoming terministic logic. The book is aimed at scholars of medieval philosophy as well as historians of logic and linguistics.