Box from Italy


Claims have been made on behalf of John of Saint Thomas (John/Jean/João Poinsot) as a pioneer in semiotics (see John Deely, Semiotics and ontology; see also New beginnings: early modern philosophy and postmodern thought, Toronto University Press, 1994 · 0802006248). I have found the Cursus not only worth reading for its own sake, but useful for distinguishing the positions of Jesuits like Suárez and Fonseca from those of the Dominican philosophers of the period, who follow Thomas more closely. The Cursus has the additional advantage of including, in its natural philosophy part, sections on De Cælo and the Meteora, works much less frequently treated in textbooks and commentaries than the Physics and De Anima.