Gerard of Bologna and Hervaeus Natalis on the Intuition of Non-Existents

Abstract

In an article on Peter Aureol that appeared in Franciscan Studies in 1948, Philotheus Boehner wrote: «[...] between Scotus and Ockham, there are many other scholastics who have made important contributions to our problem» 1 .The problem to which Boehner alludes is that of intuitive cognition in general, and the intuition of a non-existent (or absent) object in particular. Since then, and despite major studies devoted to this topic in Peter Aureol 2 , we have remained in almost total ignorance of the exact way other major theologians working in Paris during the period conceived of it. I would like to somewhat fill this gap by drawing attention to two thinkers who made a significant contribution to the topic: Gerard of Bologna and Hervaeus Natalis. The Carmelite master dealt with the intuition of non-existents in the sixth question of his second Quodlibet, which he apparently disputed at the University of Paris around 1306 (or 1310) 3 .