Fourteenth-century approaches to modality

This chapter describes the modal theory of John Duns Scotus which can be regarded as a systematization of the theory of modality as referential multiplicity, some elements of which were put forward in the twelfth century. The starting point of Scotus’ theory is the conception of synchronic alternatives and the refutation of the Aristotelian thesis of the necessity of the present. The chapter shows the Scotist style modal theory, to some extent similar to contemporary possible worlds semantics, influenced fourteenth-century obligations logic. It discusses the concept of natural nomic necessity in John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and John Buridan which, in accordance with the new modal semantics, was distinguished from the conception of logical necessity. The chapter shows an early fourteenth-century controversy about the status of the first principles in natural philosophy — some authors thought that there are real contradictions in nature.