Supposition

Supposition is a property of a term. It bears some affinities with our contemporary notion of reference and it differs from signification insofar as signification is prior to supposition and only extends to the thing on which the sound was imposed (i. e., the universal nature ‘‘man’’), while supposition can also concern the supposita contained under that universal nature (i. e., Socrates and Plato). Lambert’s definition of supposition reads as follows: supposition is the understanding of a term for itself or for its thing or for some suppositum (or suposita) contained under its thing (suppositio dicitur acceptio termini per se sivepro re sua velpro aliquo supposito contempto sub re sua vel pro aliquibus suppositis contemptis sub re sua - Alessio 1971:206). This definition pertains to supposition generally speaking (communiter dicta) which is itself divided in supposition properly speaking (proprie dicta) and copulation, the difference being that the former amounts to the representation of an autonomous thing (res fixa et per se stans), whereas the latter amounts to the representation Of a dependenT thing (res dependens), a difference linguistically expressed by the opposition between substantive and adjective terms (Alessio 1971:207). Lambert divides supposition as follows (the next division divides the second terms of the previous one): naturalis/accidentalis; simplex/personalis; discreta/communis; determinata/confusa; moblis/immobilis. The acceptance of natural supposition is a clear mark of Lambert’s belonging to the Parisian tradition (Peter of Spain, Johannes Pagus) as opposed to the Oxonian one (William of Sherwood, Roger Bacon). Natural supposition is the semantic property that a term possesses per se and intrinsically to stand for all the things present, past, and future participating in the form (or universal nature) it signifies. Natural supposition is not necessarily a non-contextual property. Indeed, Lambert also allows for a term to stand in natural supposition Within a proposition: it is the case, when it supposes for the totality of its present, past, and future supposita. In that sense, and since accidental supposition always amounts to a limitation of the range of considered referents, the propositional use of natural supposition is a case of ampliatio (de Libera 1981:64-66).