What Came First: The Egg or the Hen? Determining the Order of Origin of the Oxford Commentaries on Aristotle’s De Sensu et Sensato

Monika Mansfeld, University of Łódź, Poland

It is difficult to determine precisely when early Oxford commentaries on the De sensu et sensato were composed and, consequently, how they relate to one another for several reasons. First, there is almost a dozen of Oxford commentaries on this particular work which date from around the middle of the thirteenth century. It appears they were all intended for teaching purposes, but their genres differ greatly: one encounters more or less developed expositions, glosses, the so-called dubitationes, and questions. Secondly, the majority of them remain anonymous or are attributed incorrectly to some more recognizable authors, most likely to arouse interest. Finally, at least two thirds of them seem to be interrelated to one another in a way that makes it difficult to establish the order of their origin.

In my talk, I attempt to present the complex picture of the reception of Aristotle’s De sensu et sensato in Oxford in the middle of the thirteenth century. A key focus is on the editorial aspects of the project, their strengths and limitations, and why it is important to study these commentaries more holistically than has been done before.