Comparing and Collecting: Gilbert of Poitiers’s Analysis of the Category of Time (“When”) in His Commentary on Boethius’s De trinitate, Chapter IV

Luisa Valente

Jump to Content

Chapter 3 Comparing and Collecting

Gilbert of Poitiers’s Analysis of the Category of Time (“When”) in His Commentary on Boethius’s De trinitate, Chapter IV

In: Time, Tense, and Modality

Author:

Luisa Valente

Luisa Valente
Search for other papers by Luisa Valente in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 55–76

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004747166_005

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Abstract

The paper aims to present Gilbert of Poitiers’s analysis of the concept of time in his commentary on Boethius’s De trinitate, IV, 57–88, with some reference to its reception by the Porretans. Commenting on the famous passage about the transformation of categories when applied to God, Gilbert goes far beyond Boethius’s text and elaborates a fully developed theory of temporal predications. Just as Gilbert distinguishes a place-quantity (locus quantitas: “My field is three hectares in size”) from a place-where (locus ubi: “My field is near Spoleto”), so he distinguishes a time-quantity (tempus quantitas: “Linda is three years old”) from a time-when (tempus quando: “Linda comes tomorrow”). It is this tempus quando that is discussed here. Like that of ubi, this predication does not express a “being for itself” (esse per se) of the subject—that is, one of its substantial forms or properties (as the categories of substance, quality, and extensive quantity do). Quando does not properly express any being (esse) of the subject, but rather a comparison (collatio), a relationship to different entities and/or times that must previously be collected (collectio). The ideas of comparison and collection, together with that of duration (mora temporis), are fundamental here. They are successfully employed to analyze the notions of the course of time (through the present, past, and future) as well as those of “now,” perpetuity, sempiternity, and eternity. Gilbert’s description of temporal predication is therefore profoundly relational: one cannot express a “when” of any entity (be it temporal, perpetual, or eternal), unless one compares the considered entity with other entities and/or other times. Gilbert’s reflection on “when” is also interesting from the point of view of his ontology. Since the subsistents (i.e., any individual, existing natural items) are aggregates of substantial and accidental forms, the course of time is presented as a succession of forms that are assumed or dropped by the subsistents from moment to moment.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004747166/BP000004.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Time, Tense, and Modality

Proceedings of the XXIII European Symposium on Medieval Logic and Semantics

Series: Investigating Medieval Philosophy, Volume: 26

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004747166

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 04 Nov 2025

Subjects

Front Matter

Back Matter

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	98	98	9
Full Text Views	1	1	0
PDF Views & Downloads	0	0	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Chapter 3 Comparing and Collecting

Gilbert of Poitiers’s Analysis of the Category of Time (“When”) in His Commentary on Boethius’s De trinitate, Chapter IV

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Time, Tense, and Modality

Proceedings of the XXIII European Symposium on Medieval Logic and Semantics

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics