William of Ockham and Mental Synonymy. The Case of Nugation

Abstract

1 1 take here the occasion to express my gratitude to William Duba, for revising my English, and to Roberto Pinzani and the anonymous referees, for commenting on this paper. I take the responsibility for any mistakes and misinterpretations. 2 This discussion has a long story. On this, see J. Trentman, on Mental, Mind 79 (1970): 576-90; P. V. Spade, Distinction Between Absolute and Terms, Vivarium 13 (1975): 55-76; P.V. Spade, Synonymy and Equivocation in Ockham's Mental Journal of the History of Philosophy 18 (1980): 9-22; J. Boler, Connotative Terms in Ockham, in History of Philosophy Quarterly 2 (1985): 21-37; M. McCord Adams, William Ockham , 2 vols. (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 1987), vol. 1, 322 ff.; C.G. Normore, on Mental in J.-C. Smith, ed., Historical Foundations of Cognitive Science (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1990), 53-70; C. Panaccio, Connotative Terms in Ockham's Mental Cahiers ďepistemologie 9016 (1990), 1-22; C. Michon, Nominalisme: La Theorie de la signification d'Occam (Paris: Vrin, 1994); D.J. Brown, The Puzzle of Names in Ockham's Theory of Mental Review of Metaphysics 50 (1996): 79-99; and, for a general reappraisal of the debate, C. Panaccio, Guillaume d'Ockham, les connotatifs et le langage mental, Documenti e Studi sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale 11 (2000): 297-316, and R. Gaskin, Mental Language, Connotation, and the Inherence Regress, in D. Perler, ed., Ancient and Medieval Theories of Intentionality (Leiden-Boston-Koln: Brill, 2001), 227-63; C. Panaccio, Connotative Concepts and their Definitions in Ockham's Nominalism, in J. Biard and I. Rosier-Catach, eds., La Tradition Medievale des Categories (XHe-XVe siecles) (Louvain-la-Neuve-Louvain375 Franciscan Studies 67 (2009)