• "[Genetically Modified Organisms: A Scientific-Political Dialogue on a Meaningless Meme] is an excellent book presenting a very strong case for abandoning the acronym GMO. It will be extremely helpful to scholars and educators in developing countries who need to persuade their populace and politicians to adopt modern methods to reap the benefits of more nutritious foods and greatly improved yields."

    - Sir Richard J. Roberts, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology

Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics

The Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics (PSMLM) collects original materials presented at sessions sponsored by the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics (SMLM). SMLM was founded in 2000 by Gyula Klima (Director), Joshua Hochschild, Jack Zupko and Jeffrey Brower, in order to recover the profound metaphysical insights of medieval thinkers for our own philosophical thought. The Society currently has over a hundred members on five continents. Alex Hall took up the position of Assistant Director and Secretary in 2011, with secretarial duties passing to Timothy Kearns in 2014. The Society’s maiden publication appeared online in 2001 and the decade that followed saw the release of eight more online volumes. In 2011, PSMLM transitioned to print and republished volumes 1-8 as separately titled editions. Sharp-eyed readers of these volumes will note the replacement of our (lamentably copyrighted for commercial use) lions, who guarded the integrity of the body of an intellectual tradition thought to be dead, with the phoenixes that mark this print rebirth. Volumes 9 and 10 appeared in a dual print/online format. With Volume 11 PSMLM switched to print only. Friends of the lions will be happy to note that they remain at their post, protecting the first ten volumes of the PSMLM at http://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/SMLM/, where interested readers can also keep up with SMLM activities and projects.

Gyula Klima is a Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Founding Member, and Director of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics and Editor of its proceedings. Professor Klima’s most recent book is on John Buridan in OUP’s Great Medieval Thinkers series.

Alex Hall is a Professor of Philosophy and Director of Honors at Clayton State University, and Assistant Director of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, and Managing Editor of its proceedings. Hall’s recent publications include Natural Theology in the Middle Ages” in the Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology.

"In the past ten years, the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics has established a unique presence in both philosophy and medieval studies. By providing a venue for the discussion and publication of original philosophical and historiographical studies on the metaphysical insights of medieval authors from a logical perspective, it has opened a heretofore unexploited and much welcome niche of research. Now the discussions and contributions it has facilitated over the years are finally being printed and made available to the philosophical community at large. This is an important event for both philosophers and historians of medieval thought that will have significant repercussions in years to come. The publication of the proceedings of the society should become an indispensable tool for the research on and the study of medieval philosophy."

Jorge J. E. Gracia

Samuel P. Capen Chair, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, State University of New York at Buffalo

"The Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics has established itself as a major venue for the publication of high-quality original articles on medieval philosophy. Particularly welcome is its frequent practice of publishing papers in dialogue with each other. It exemplifies magnificently the ways in which medieval and contemporary philosophy can be brought into fruitful conversation."

Richard Cross

Rev. John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy, Chair, Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

"The study of medieval philosophy is now flourishing as never before, and these volumes showcase the very best of that work. Among the contributors to these volumes are many of the leading figures in the field, and the topics under investigation are fundamental to philosophy."

Robert Pasnau

Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado at Boulder

"The Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics is an extremely important network for the study of medieval philosophy. The Proceedings of the Society are meant to collect original materials delivered at conferences and workshops sponsored, directly or indirectly, by the Society itself. Until now, the Society has gathered materials for nine volumes of Proceedings, which are all available at the web-site of the Society. The Proceedings reflect the aim and the interest of the Society: fostering collaboration and research based on the twofold recognition that, first, recovering the profound metaphysical insights of medieval thinkers is, despite the vast conceptual changes in the intervening period, both possible and highly desirable; and that, second, this recovery can only be brought about if one carefully reflects on the logical framework in which those insights were articulated, given the paradigmatic differences between medieval and modern logical theories. The papers of the Proceedings pursue this scope, bringing philosophically medieval texts to life and making the medievals converse with contemporary philosophers. Every paper represents a significant contribution based on absolutely original research that meets a very high standard. All the papers actually promote insightful analysis of medieval texts and thought-provoking discussion of philosophical topics. Two areas are privileged: logic and metaphysics, although the second one, approached from very different angles over the course of the nine volumes (from the metaphysics of cognition to metaphysics understood traditionally as a category theory, theory of being or theory of truth), predominates. Each volume ideally has a monographic structure, collecting articles that revolve around a main theme; at times some of them even incorporate typically ‘medieval’ elements of philosophical disputation, having an article where a scholar takes an original stance, followed by another scholar’s reply and the author’s counter-reply. When they are present, such philosophical discussions are highly stimulating and permit the reader to obtain a profound and argument-based understanding of the topic under investigation. The papers collected in the volumes were originally intended to be prepublications, since authors were left free to republish their article, more or less modified, in a different place. In most cases, however, the papers that appear in the volumes, even those that present themselves as short notes, rough drafts or works-in-progress, have not been republished elsewhere. So the publication of all the contributions of the volumes (or of possibly modified versions of them) is really welcome. The only exception that I could give would be volume 4, 2004, which contain articles that, as announced in the presentation of the volume, will be published in an expanded form in a new volume to be published by Fordham University Press. But even in this case, given that the coming articles of the separate volume are expected to have a radically different articulation, the publication of the contributions to the fourth volume as well is highly recommended. For these reasons, I wholeheartedly support the publication of the all series of the Proceedings."

Fabrizio Amerini

Professor of History of Medieval Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, University of Parma

"The volumes are a treasure trove in a field that is once again enjoying a renewed interest with academe. As one who teaches medieval philosophy, I find the volumes to be a must have for students who are doing serious academic research into timeless questions."

Lloyd Newton

Associate Professor of Philosophy, Benedictine College

Aquinas and Us (Volume 18: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Aquinas and Us (Volume 18

Medieval and Early Modern Epistemology: After Certainty (Volume 17: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Medieval and Early Modern Epistemology

Being, Goodness and Truth (Volume 16: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Being, Goodness and Truth (Volume 16

Hylomorphism and Mereology: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics Volume 15

Hylomorphism and Mereology

Consciousness and Self-Knowledge in Medieval Philosophy: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics Volume 14

Consciousness and Self-Knowledge in Medieval Philosophy

The Metaphysics of Personal Identity: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics Volume 13

The Metaphysics of Personal Identity

Maimonides on God and Duns Scotus on Logic and Metaphysics (Volume 12: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Maimonides on God and Duns Scotus on Logic and Metaphysics (Volume 12

Metaphysical Themes, Medieval and Modern (Volume 11: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Metaphysical Themes, Medieval and Modern (Volume 11

Skepticism, Causality and Skepticism about Causality (Volume 10: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Skepticism, Causality and Skepticism about Causality (Volume 10

After God, with Reason Alone – Saikat Guha Commemorative Volume (Volume 8: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

After God, with Reason Alone – Saikat Guha Commemorative Volume (Volume 8

The Demonic Temptations of Medieval Nominalism (Volume 9: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

The Demonic Temptations of Medieval Nominalism (Volume 9

Medieval Metaphysics, or is it

Medieval Metaphysics, or is it "Just Semantics"? (Volume 7

Medieval Skepticism, and the Claim to Metaphysical Knowledge (Volume 6: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Medieval Skepticism, and the Claim to Metaphysical Knowledge (Volume 6

Mental Representation (Volume 4: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Mental Representation (Volume 4

Universal Representation, and the Ontology of Individuation (Volume 5: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Universal Representation, and the Ontology of Individuation (Volume 5

The Immateriality of the Human Mind, the Semantics of Analogy, and the Conceivability of God (Volume 1: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

The Immateriality of the Human Mind, the Semantics of Analogy, and the Conceivability of God (Volume 1

Categories, and What Is Beyond (Volume 2: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Categories, and What Is Beyond (Volume 2

Knowledge, Mental Language, and Free Will (Volume 3: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)

Knowledge, Mental Language, and Free Will (Volume 3