The Formalist Tradition in Late Scholastic Philosophy: a Renaissance Forerunner of Formal Ontology

Project Information

FORMALITAS

Grant agreement ID: 101064452

DOI

10.3030/101064452

Project closed

EC signature date 13 June 2022

Start date 1 April 2023

End date 31 March 2025

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 191 760,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FORMALITAS (The Formalist Tradition in Late Scholastic Philosophy: a Renaissance Forerunner of Formal Ontology)

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2025-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The concepts of identity and distinction are the key components in a special kind of metaphysical literature that thrived throughout the Renaissance. This is the genre of the so-called “Formalist treatises” or “Treatises on the formalities” (Tractatus formalitatum) and the tradition that cultivated this literature may be called the "Formalist tradition." The UCLouvain-based project FORMALITAS has demonstrated the philosophical and historical siginificance of this tradition, especially in the time span ca. 1480–1620.
The genre of the Formalist treatises takes its very name from the Franciscan John Duns Scotus’s formal distinction. This kind of distinction holds among the intrinsic features (called formalitates) of things. Duns Scotus’s formal distinction, though, was just one of a number of kinds of distinctions discussed by the Formalists. The tradition originated in Late-Medieval scholasticism, primarily in the works of Duns Scotus and his early followers, the Scotists. From the 1480s onwards, however, authors not affiliated with Scotism proper or with the Franciscan Order increasingly became interested in, and contributed to, the Formalist literature. From this time, we thus do not only have Scotist treatises on identity and distinction, but also similar works of Thomist, Lullist, Aristotelian, and still other provenance. Motifs from this tradition continued to play a significant role in textbooks of scholastic philosophy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
In the sixteenth century, some Formalist authors discussed, whether or not their doctrines constituted a discipline of its own, a “science of the formalities” (scientia formalitatum), a discipline that by and large would correspond to what to-day goes by the name of formal ontology. One may indeed view the metaphysical discussions among the Formalists as a Renaissance forerunner of modern formal ontology. The central idea discussed in the Formalist tradition may be illustrated by the example of present-day identity politics with its focus on the plurality of special identities (ethnic, religious, sexual, or other) and their relationship with the cultural or national identity of the majority. A differentiated view of identity would here seem to be helpful, one that would explain how one group identity does not exclude also having some additional (wider or narrower) group identity or indeed having a personal identity. On some levels, people may be said to have some identity in common (to be identical) with others, whereas on other levels they differ (are distinct) from one another. The Formalist tradition has a general ontology for such a differentiation. The Formalists cultivate a genuine identity metaphysics that operates with a whole hierarchy of kinds of identity and their corresponding kinds of distinction. In their treatises, the Formalists thus explored the whole spectrum of possible ontological identities, from singular things to universal concepts, the broadest kind of identity being the one that holds among items that have in common only the abstract concept of being as such. The science of formalities proposed in the sixteenth century may indeed be seen as one historical realization of that part of Aristotle’s metaphysics that considers being as being (called 'ontology' in the later tradition).
The overall objective of FORMALITAS was to demonstrate both the philosophical and historical importance of the Formalist tradition in Renaissance thought. The rise of a new metaphysical discipline must be part of what we know about the intellectual culture of the Renaissance. The Formalist tradition has mainly been studied through its influence upon other scholastic currents of the Renaissance, but has not itself attracted the attention it merits, and this in spite of its undisputed philosophical depth and historical significance. Such neglect is due not only to the general disinterest regarding the scholastic philosophy of the Renaissance, but rather also to the very nature of this hard-to-read literature with its extraordinarily technical vocabulary. The FORMALITAS project innovatively identified and eliminated this gap in our historical knowledge and reassessed the significance of scholastic metaphysics during the Renaissance.
The wider objective of FORMALITAS is to contribute to a better understanding of Early Modern scholastic thought and its central role in European intellectual history. The project was supervised by Prof. Jacob Schmutz (CDWM / Institut supérieur de philosophie, UCLouvain), a leading specialist on Post-Medieval scholastic philosophy and theology. The project was conceived as a part of an endeavor to establish an internationally attractive milieu for studies in Early Modern scholastic philosophy at UCLouvain. Scholars working with a focus on post-medieval scholastic philosophy are increasingly aware that their work is not reflected in the institutional division in departments focusing either on Medieval or on Early Modern philosophy. This traditional departmental division has no natural place for research into the manifest continuation of scholastic philosophy beyond the Middle Ages, despite scholasticism constituting one central element in the intellectual culture of Early Modern Europe and its overseas colonies until the eighteenth century. Along with the revision of the historiography of Early Modern scholastic philosophy, the establishment of a research environment with this kind of focus as well as the development of relations to other such environments are of utmost importance.
The project comprised a series of in-depth research articles with focus on various aspects of the Formalist discussions of distinctions and related matters. Through one large conference (held at UCLouvain in May 2023), other scholars have been involved in the study of the Formalist tradition and its philosophical contexts. The project website www.formalitas.eu with its comprehensive online catalogue of Formalist literature from the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period facilitates future scholarship with a much needed work tool for such studies. The book and manuscript exhibition "Scotism Made in Louvain. The Scholastic Culture of the Franciscans in Belgium" in the Maurits Sabbe Library at KUn Leuven (June-September 2024) aimed to make the scholastic culture of one part of Early Modern Europe concrete and visible to a larger audience. The project finally included a number of dissemination and outreach activities in which the subtle theories of the Formalists were presented and explained.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

FORMALITAS has fulfilled both its overall objective and its two specific objectives. The overall objective of FORMALITAS, as stated in Annex 1, was to investigate the philosophical depth and to demonstrate the historical importance of the Formalist tradition in late-scholastic thought, the tradition that evolved around the genre of the “Formalist treatise,” being metaphysical treatises concerning identity and distinction, including John Duns Scotus “formal distinction” (hence the name). The first specific objective was to show the importance of one particular figure within the Formalist tradition, namely Antoine Sirect (Antonius Sirectus), and his influence on the later (post-1500) tradition. The second specific objective was to show, how the Formalist tradition impacted other school traditions in the sixteenth century, especially other scholastic traditions than Scotism (Sirect and his commentators were all Scotist, i.e. followers of the Franciscan philosopher-theologian John Duns Scotus).
These specific objectives have been pursued in a number of ways: I have written a series of articles on the Formalist tradition with special focus on Sirect and his commentators as well as the reception of the Formalist ideas and the very format of the “Formalist treatise” among authors belonging to other school traditions. All of the articles were presented at conferences and workshops. Within FORMALITAS, I have produced 8 research articles, 2 of which have published already, while 4 have been submitted for publication, and the last 2 still need to be finalized. I have involved many other scholars in my research into the Formalist tradition. Thus, at the project conference and at a follow-up workshop, both senior and early-career scholars contributed papers on various aspects of the Formalist tradition, its sphere of influence, and the broader scholastic discourse on distinctions from the early fourteenth century until ca. 1700. The papers given at the conference are now forthcoming in a conference volume, published with Schwabe in Basel. A spin-off project from the conference will be published as a special issue of the journal Noctua. The project website www.formalitas.eu was launched mid-way in the project. It has the double purpose of introducing the project and facilitating further research into the Formalist tradition with the help of important work tools posted on the website.
Outreach work in FORMALITAS included one library exhibition called “Scotism Made in Louvain. The Scholastic Culture of the Franciscans in Belgium” (along with published printed and open access exhibition catalogue and an online extension of the exhibition, or “virtual exhibition”) and one Philosophy Day featuring presentations and a panel discussion by early-career researchers from UCLouvain and KU Leuven.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Objectives and the state of the art: FORMALITAS has fulfilled both its overall objective and its two specific objectives (SO1 and SO2) and has, by this, considerably expanded the state of the art. The project is expected to have a significant scientific legacy both due to the published (or submitted) output and due to the worktools on the website.
The overall objective: The philosophical depth and historical importance of the Formalist tradition in late-scholastic thought have been discussed from a variety of perspectives, especially by the speakers at the project conference, who also contributed their articles to the conference volume, and in my own survey studies produced under this project. Whereas the conference speakers focussed on various aspects of the Formalist tradition (or the scholastic discourse on distinctions and identity more broadly) or on the influence of this tradition (or broader discourse) on particular authors, I have in my survey articles stressed the importance of viewing all these different aspects as moments in a long development from the late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period, the main argument being that it is impossible to grasp the Formalist tradition from a purely Medievalist or a purely Early Modern perspective. The individual articles in the conference volume work like so many premises in an overall argument for the continuity of one aspect of scholastic thought into Early Modernity. Both of the Medivalist and the Early Modern perspectives are necessary in order to trace the Formalist tradition from its Medieval origins over its development during the Renaissance to its Early Modern repercusions. The expected impact of this joint effort is an increased awareness of the continuity of the scholastic tradition taken more broadly from the late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. Historiographically, the impact will consist in a revised view of the continous development of metaphysical thought across a time period otherwise associated with breaks and paradigm shifts.
SO1: It has been established that Antoinne Sirect (in competition with Etienne Brulefer) was a towering figure in the Formalist tradition in the last decades of the fifteenth century, and that his work on Scotist Formalism became the subject of a significant commentary literature in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, something that has never before been studied in detail. I have shown that in this specific literature a debate unfolded whether or not Formalism should be regarded a discipline in its own right, something that likewise has never before been studied in detail. Apart from my own research articles, Sirect (his modal metaphysics) is also in the focus of one other contribution to the conference volume. The expected impact from this is that Sirect and his commentary tradition will become the subject of further studies and, in the long run, will enter the broader historiography of philosophy.
SO2: It has been established that the influence of the Formalist tradition in the sixteenth century by no means was confined to Scotism (cultivated among the Franciscans), but rather stretched to many other school traditions. In my own research articles I have focussed on the Formalist influence on members of the Augustinian Order and on a row of Thomist philosophers (especially Karlstadt, Manzoli, Javelli, and Aquario). Apart from my own research, Formalist (and Scotist) influences as well as the impact of the scholastic discourse on distinctions on a number of prominent Early Modern thinkers (both Catholic and Protestant authors: Suárez, Gorlaeus, Caramuel, Leibniz) is in the focus of a series of articles in the conference volume. The expected impact of this is that the Formalist tradition will, after having been hitherto negelected, emerge as a key to understanding the development of metaphysics at the transition from the Middle Ages to Early Modernity.
The website with its scientific components: The project website www.formalitas.eu features some important work tools intended to facilitate further research into the Formalist tradition properly speaking but also to serve as a guide for scholars working on neighboring topics who, for their own purposes, need concise knowledge of manuscripts or early printed books containing Formalist material or research literature treating various aspects of this tradition. Target groups / potential users: The website is expected to have considerable impact on work carried out by specialists on the topic of FORMALITAS and specialists on other topics of relevance for the Formalist tradition, i.e. scholars working on the late-Medieval philosophy and theology (especially metaphysics), Renaissance studies, and Early Modern philosophical studies with focus both on Early Modern scholasticism and on its broader impact on other types of philosophy in this period (including its continuation in Early Modern philosophical disputation culture). The catalogues on the website may also serve as a check list of manuscripts and editions of early printed books for research librarians, paleographers, and experts on the history of book culture.

Indications of achieved impact:
Review of the project’s website and output: One extremely important indication that my research carried out under FORMALITAS has been acknowledged among my scholarly peers is that my project website along with my published output have been the subject of an extensive (ten-page) review essay: Sven K. Knebel, “www.formalitas.eu” Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 71 (2024), 471–481.
Impact of the project’s output: Some of the output of the project has already been published and is posted online at various places. While it is too early to find references to my output in research literature produced by other scholars, some of my output has had a fine reception. For instance, from my own profile at PhilPeople (a platform sponsored by the PhilPapers Foundation and the American Philosophical Association), some of this output has had many downloads (relative to the rather peripheric topics of these publication in comparison with more mainstream research; note also that the real number of downloads is higher, since these publications are posted on various platforms, including the repository of the University Library of UCLouvain called DIAL): The exhibition catalogue “Scotism Made in Louvain – The Scholastic Culture of the Franciscans in Belgium” (part of an outreach activity but with scientific content) has been downloaded 430 times in ca. 10 months, and my own published research article “Scientia formalitatum – The Emergence of a New Discipline in the Renaissance” (Noctua 11/2 (2024), 200–257) has been downloaded ca. 500 times in ca. 12 months.

Workshop poster

Event poster

Seminar poster

Inauguration of exhibition poster

Conference poster

Exhibition poster