Bernard of Auvergne on James of Viterbo's Doctrine of Possibles: with a Critical Edition of Bernard's Reprobatio of James's Quodlibet 1, question 5

Abstract

This paper first presents and discusses the Dominican theologian Bernard of Auvergne’s reprobatio of James of Viterbo’s Quodlibet 1, question 5 on the ontological status of divine ideas and possibles. It then examines the criticisms of that same doctrine by Godfrey of Fontaines and William of Alnwick, with a view to gaining a better understanding of the critical reception of James’s theory of possibles in the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries. The critical edition of Bernard’s reprobatio follows in the appendix.