Petrus de Ibernia, also known as Peter of Ireland, was a 13th-century writer and lecturer who is believed to have taught logic and natural philosophy to
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
.
Career
Peter lectured in
natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science.
From the ancient wo ...
at the
University of Naples
The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...
during
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
's term of attendance (1239–1244). He was the author of 'Determinatio magistralis', "''on the question that the bodily organs have been created in order that they might carry out their functions, of the functions, created for the benefit of the organs."'' Peter felt this question to be purely a
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
one, despite his vocation being natural philosophy.
In 1260 he presided over a dispute on physics held before
Manfred of Sicily
Manfred ( scn, Manfredi di Sicilia; 123226 February 1266) was the last King of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen dynasty, reigning from 1258 until his death. The natural son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, Manfred became regent over the ...
.
Peter of Ireland studied
Moses Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah s ...
with a Jewish–Christian group in the 1250s.
His works
Works attributed to him include
* Two commentaries on
Porphyry's
Isagoge
The ''Isagoge'' ( el, Εἰσαγωγή, ''Eisagōgḗ''; ) or "Introduction" to Aristotle's "Categories", written by Porphyry in Greek and translated into Latin by Boethius, was the standard textbook on logic for at least a millennium after his ...
and the
Perihermenias, both
logical
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
works
* A commentary on
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
's 'De longitudine et brevitate vitae', discussing physical questions on the nature and causes of life.
References
Sources
*
Clemens Baeumker, ''Petrus von Hibernia der Jugendlehrer des Thomas von Aquino unde seine Disputation vor König Manfred'', Munich, 1920.
* ''A New History of Ireland'', volume one, 2008, pp. 960–61.
12th-century births
13th-century deaths
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Aristotelian philosophers
13th-century philosophers
Irish writers
Philosophers of mind
13th-century Irish people
13th-century writers
Irish expatriates in Italy
Medieval Irish writers
Natural philosophers
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