Medieval Philosophy Redefined: plea for a fourth and revised edition

ACADEMIALetters MedievalPhilosophyRedefined:pleaforafourthandrevisededitionRobertJunqueira,UniversidadedeCoimbraWhatfollowsispredominantlyabriefdescriptionofthestructureofabookwrittenbyJohnDeelyandpublishedforthesecondtimebySt.Augustine’sPressin2020(thefirsttimewas2016),underthetitleMedievalphilosophyredefinedastheLatinage:thedevelopmentofcenoscopicscience,AD354to1644(fromthebirthofAugustinetothedeathofPoinsot),henceforthsimply:MPhR.Thefirsteditionwaspublishedin2010bytheUniversityofScran-tonPress.Nowthat,overadecade,threeeditionshavebeenissued,thewholeworldcantestifytothereadership’sgrowingawarenessofmedievalphilosophy,Deely’swork,andmostno-tablythevolumedevotedbytheauthortothememoryofEtienneGilson,whopassedawayin1978,morethanthirtyyearsbeforesuchavolume,MPhR,firstcametolight.Quiteoddthattheopeningsectionisprecededbyanotherone,towit“Re-DrawingtheStandardPictureandWhy,”atitlethatMartyKlaifhasset(asistrueofalltitles)attheverytopofpagevi,precedinganentirearmyofaboutfiftytextualrows.Johnisunwillingtowastetimeandannouncesforthwithwherehestandsandforwhatpurpose.Needlesstosay,anexamontheimplicationstobedrawnfromthisfactwillnotbefoundhere.Afterall,itseemsthattheofficialjourneyhasnotyetbegun.Still,itisworthnoticingthattherearewordsinMPhRpriortothe“FirstWordtotheReader.”Itisworth,allthesame,nottoignorethatsuchasuccincttextismadeupentirelyofwordsmeantnottothereader.Then,forwhom?Itseemsaplausiblehypothesisthatthesewordsareinscribedforhearing,andsurelythetitlethatfirstcrossedJohn’smind,butwhichwasnotchosen,is“FirstWordtotheListener.”Barelyoverapagelong,thispieceofwritingaloneshouldbegivencarefulreview.ThreepagesleadingtothesummarizedindexofferafirstlookatwhatJohnholdsouttobeahistoriographicallabforfutureinquiry.ItisnotpoorlysuitedthattheauthoroffersMPhRreadershisfirstwordundertheguiseofaceremoniousaddress,forthetextheraldsapromise:AcademiaLetters,June2022CorrespondingAuthor:RobertJunqueira,[email protected]Citation:Junqueira,R.(2022).MedievalPhilosophyRedefined:pleaforafourthandrevisededition.AcademiaLetters,Article5559.1©2022bytheauthor—OpenAccess—DistributedunderCCBY4.0 thatofauniqueaccountofthehistoryofscience.Tobemorepreciselyput,Deelyassuresourglobalresearchcommunitythatavastandmeaningfulshareofthehistoryofscientificunderstandinghasbeenmissingfromthehistoryofscience,andthisisanattempttoovercomethisdeficit.Johntakessciencetodenote“criticallycontrolledobjectification”(p.x).Ofnoticeisalsothefactthattheauthorremarksthat,downtheages,theevolutionofsciencehasturnedouttobefarmorenuancedandinsightfulthanitsmoretraditionalinterpretationswouldsuggest.Revealingtheblindspotinthehistoryofcriticallycontrolledobjectification,calledbyDeelythe“Latinage,”mayfacilitate,intheauthor’sjudgment,reachinganewequilibriuminthecommunityofinquiry,stillunderminedtodaybyvirtueofthediscarding,bythemodernmindset,of1290yearsofscholarship(fromthebirthofAugustineofHippotothedeathofJohnofSt.Thomas).TheselengthycenturiesweremarkedbythedevelopmentofrigorousscholarlypracticesledbyadisciplinedtransnationalcommunitythatbroughtforthadocumentalbodyofLatin-languagefindingsthelikesofwhichhadneveryetbeenwitnessedinhumanhistory,abodyofresearchthatremainsneglectedinthepresentage,afactrepeatedlyborneoutbyJohn.Aneleven-pageapparatusistofollow,onepagefor“ContentsataGlance,”onefora“ListofDiagrams”aswellasa“ListofDatingAbbreviations,”anothereightforthe“ContentsinDetail,”andthelastpagefora“SchematicRepresentationoftheLatinAgeasaHistoricalWhole.”Ahead,thepreambleplustwelvechaptersonlyprecededbyonesetofeightepi-gramsorpassagesandfollowedbyi)John’slastremarks,ii.a)anexplanatorynoteconcern-ingtheabbreviationsusedthroughoutthebibliographicalreferencessectionandconcerningtheprincipleof“historicallayering,”usedbyJohnonthegroundsofthebeliefthat“Noonewritesaftertheydie”(afactwhoseimplications,astheauthorargues,oughttobetakenintoaccountforthepurposesofshapingscholarlyreferences(p.402)),andincompliancewiththeinstructionslaiddowninthe“SemioticSocietyofAmericaStyleSheet”(preparedbyJohnhimselfinconjunctionwithseveralotherpeoplefora1986issueoftheAmericanJournalofSemiotics),ii.b)thesectionofbibliographicalreferences,iii)theonomasticandtermindex,forewentsolelybyabriefparagraphonissuesconcerningalphabetization,whereDeelyalsolistseightkeywordsforasystematictreatmentofwhattheauthorthoughttoconstitutetheoverarchingcourseofMPhR(seep.475),andiv)a“TimetableofLatinAgeFigures.”Thiseditionsuffersfromatechnicaloversight:inthe“ContentsinDetail,”Romannu-meralsindicateapagingacoupleofdigitspriortothecorrectnumbering,whichiswhythepreamble,forinstance,readsonlyfrompagexxiiionwards,asrightlyindicatedinthe“Con-tentsataGlance.”Thediscoveryofthisinaccuracyinthe“ContentsinDetail”bringsusnotthenoveltyofthenecessityforare-edition.Theinnovativenatureofsuchahumblefindingisthatitsuggeststhatare-editionofMPhRistobeaccompaniedbycarefulrevision,toguaran-AcademiaLetters,June2022CorrespondingAuthor:RobertJunqueira,mar[email protected]Citation:Junqueira,R.(2022).MedievalPhilosophyRedefined:pleaforafourthandrevisededition.AcademiaLetters,Article5559.2©2022bytheauthor—OpenAccess—DistributedunderCCBY4.0 teethatthenewproductcomesmoreinlinewithperfectionthanthethirdedition.ThefirstandmostagreeablerationaleforthefourtheditionofMPhRwouldbethatthereisawin-winhori-zonatthecrossroadsbetweentheinterestsofthepublisher,giventhatthecopiesprintedwillselloutexpediently,andthoseofaglobalcommunityofEnglish-speakingscholarlyreaderscapableofgrantingaccessbymeansofpayment.Thecouragetosolicitanopenaccessreleaseislacking,forpresumablytheNorth-Americanmindsetstillmissesthepointaboutthepressingneedtoimplementnewpolicieswhenitcomestothemarketplaceofunderstanding,perhapsmoresofortheartsandthehumanities.How-ever,perhapsitisnottoomuchtoaskthatwemoveforwardonceandforalltopublishthisworkindigitalformat,inordertofacilitateadditionalsalesandencountersbetweenJohn’sopusandthoseeagertoperusetheworkinwhichJohnnarratestheunfoldingintimeofwhathesawasthesecondageofphilosophicalevolutionintheWest.AcademiaLetters,June2022CorrespondingAuthor:RobertJunqueira,mar[email protected]Citation:Junqueira,R.(2022).MedievalPhilosophyRedefined:pleaforafourthandrevisededition.AcademiaLetters,Article5559.3©2022bytheauthor—OpenAccess—DistributedunderCCBY4.0 ReferencesDeely,J.(2010).MedievalPhilosophyRedefined:TheDevelopmentofCenoscopicScience,AD354to1644(FromtheBirthofAugustinetotheDeathofPoinsot).Scranton,PA:UniversityofScrantonPress.AcademiaLetters,June2022CorrespondingAuthor:RobertJunqueira,mar[email protected]Citation:Junqueira,R.(2022).MedievalPhilosophyRedefined:pleaforafourthandrevisededition.AcademiaLetters,Article5559.4©2022bytheauthor—OpenAccess—DistributedunderCCBY4.0