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LivesandWorksofOxfordCalculators
15
topicsiscounterbalancedbydeeperanalysisofthequestionschosenfor
treatment.SomeofKilvington’squestionscovertwentyfolios,which
inamoderneditionyieldabout180pages.Onlyhislogicaltreatisewas
notwrittenasacommentary,butratherasuaguide”forstudentsshow-
inghowtosolvesophisms.IntheprefacetohisSophismataKilvington
says:
Whenweareabletocallbothsidesintoquestion,wewillreadily
discernwhatistrueandwhatisfalse,asAristotlesaysinBook
OneofhisTopics.Therefore,inorderthatwemaymorereadily
discernwhatistrueandwhatisfalse,inthepresentwork,which
consistsofsophismatatobethoroughlyinvestigated,Iintend,to
thebestofmyability,bothtodemolishthetwosidesofthecon-
tradictionandalsotosupportthembymeansofclearreasoning.
Iamledtodothisbytherequestofcertainyoungmenwhohave
beenpressingtheircaseveryhard.Andso,wishingtogivethem
somethingIhaveoftenheardthemaskfor,Ihaveundertakenan
attemptinthatdirection.14
RichardKilvington’sphilosophicalworks,theSophismataandQuaes-
tionessuperDegenerationeetcorruptione,composedbefore1324,camefrom
hislecturesasabachelorofarts;theQuaestionessuperPhysicamcomposed
atthelatestin1326andQuaestionessuperLibrosEthicorum(before1333)
datefromhistimeasanartsmaster;afterheadvancedtotheFaculty
ofTheology,heproducedeightquestionsonPeterLombard’sSentenc-
es(1333or1334).15MostofKilvington’sworksarestilltobefound
inmanuscripts,onlyhiscommentarytotheEthics,whichconsistsof
eightquestions,16and48sophisms,whichformhisSophismata,arecriti-
callyedited,SophismatahavealsobeentranslatedintoEnglishbyKretz-
manns.HiscommentaryontheOngenerationandcorruptionformasetof
14
N.Kretzmann,B.E.Kretzmann,uTheSophismata,(Introduction),p.1.
15
SeeE.Jung,TheNewInterpretationofAristotleł.,(forthcoming).
16
SeeM.Michałowska,uRichardKilvington’sQuaestionessuperlibrosEthicorumł”,
(Introduction,pp.11-26).