When the Jews learned logic from the Pope: Three medieval Hebrew translations of the Tractatus of Peter of Spain

Journal/Book: Sci Context. 1997; 10: 40 West 20TH Street, New York, NY 10011-4211. Cambridge Univ Press. 395-430.

Abstract: It is well known that the Tractatus of Peter of Spain (later Pope John XXI) was one of the most popular logic textbooks in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Less known is the Tractatus's considerable reputation and diffusion among the Jews, as evidenced by five translations, two commentaries, and what appears to be an abbreviatio - if not of the Tractatus itself, then of a similar work. The present article attempts to understand the phenomenon of the Tractatus's popularity and offers an analysis of the three translations whose authors are known those by Shemaryah ha-Ikriti (Greece, early to mid-fourteenth century), Abraham Abigdor (late fourteenth century), and Judah b. Samuel Shalom (either Italy or Spain, mid-fifteenth century) - and their subsequent fate. The more popular versions of Abraham Abidgor and Judah Shalom provided Jewish students, many of whom would likely become physicians, with a grounding in logic comparable to that of their Christian counterparts.

Note: Article Manekin CH, Univ Maryland, Dept Philosophy, College Pk,MD 20742 USA

Keyword(s): MEDICINE

Zurück | Weiter