Bero magni de ludosia on parts of sensation

Robert Andrews

pp. 131-147

in: Gyula Klíma (ed), Questions on the soul by John Buridan and others, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

Andrews' chapter deals with the further details of the Buridanian account of sensation, on the basis of a 'super-commentary" on Buridan's Questions. Bero, a Swede at the University of Vienna, wrote a Disputata super libros De anima around 1433, a set of exercises held in order to elaborate upon previously-held lectures on John Buridan's De anima. To show how Buridan's psychology was used by Bero, Andrews looks at a question arising from Book II, q. 9 of Buridan's commentary, where Buridan finds it puzzling (mirabile) how divisible and extended sensations inhere in an indivisible and non-extended human soul. Bero steps into this discussion with a very specific question: how are the parts of sensation experienced by the soul? Bero outlines five different opinions: (1) Any part of the sensation represents the whole; (2) Each part of the sensation represents a part of the whole; (3) The whole sensation represents the whole sensible ("the most common opinion today"); (4) The whole sensation represents any part of the whole; (5) Some parts of the sensation represent a part of the sensible, and others not. Andrews points out that Bero conducts his discussion on a scientific basis, using diagrams and propositions from the Perspectivists.