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Radulphus Brito

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Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy

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Abstract

Radulphus Brito (c. 1270–c. 1320) was a famous arts master in Paris, and is considered to be the most important proponent of a particular position in semantics, whose adherents are now called Modistae. He is best known, in his own times and ours, for his views on the semantic and ontological status of second intentions. Brito distinguishes these intentions in first and second as well as in abstract and concrete, and locates the resulting fourfold division in each of the three operations of the intellect (concept formation, judgment, and reasoning). He defended the uncommon thesis that at least some of the second intentions can be located in the Aristotelian categories, because they are caused by the external things themselves rather than by the intellect reflecting upon its acquired first intentions.

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Bibliography

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for the History of Philosophy and Science, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Sander De Boer

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  1. Sander De Boer
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  1. Department of Philosophy, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Henrik Lagerlund

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De Boer, S. (2011). Radulphus Brito. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_428

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_428

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