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

'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 {{Ireland-writer-stub