Modern theories of higher level predicates

Hickman’s work is a comprehensive investigation, from the standpoint of contemporary logic, of the scholastic theory of secundae intentiones. This theory treats of the problem of what we would now call iterated predication, the problem of properties of properties. Historically it is the scholastic philosophy of the Neuzeit, sometimes called second or post-medieval scholasticism (c. 1500-1800) which forms the object of Hickman’s investigation. The extensive post-medieval discussions of the problem of universals, the realist, conceptualist and nominalist positions of the principal representatives of the epoch, are analyzed and expounded on the basis of their relation to the problem of the secundae intentiones. In the course of his investigations the author has consulted a wealth of manuscript material, much of which is almost unknown, and he extensively cites the most important of these works. The result is therefore more than an exposition: it is also an important source for further scholarly research in this and related fields. Of interest to: Logicians, philosophers, linguists, historians of these disciplines