Tracking arguments in the sophism "omnis homo de necessitate est animal"

Abstract

The sophism ‘omnis homo de necessitate est animal’ is one of the mostwidely discussed in the medieval philosophical literature. My aim in this paper isto suggest an analytical hypothesis about the strategies to positive answers, i.e.,answers saying that the sentence is true. I will formulate this hypothesis firstreading Anonymus GC611, soph. 7, and then I will test it preliminarily in themuch longer Anonymus Erfordensis and Gonville and Caius 512-543. One strategypostulates a specific kind of being as a relatum of a sentence describing theessence of something, while the other suggests that such sentences are made trueby the species associated with their apprehension.