Hervaeus Natalis on the Cognition of Particulars

Abstract The aim of this article is to present Hervaeus Natalis’s account of the cognition of particulars by the intellect. Hervaeus develops the view commonly found in the early scholastic period that the intellect grasps particulars by looking at a sensory image of them, or what medieval thinkers call a “phantasm.” In developing this view, he describes in detail how the intellection in question occurs, and defends the view against some objections. Hervaeus is also an early defender of the scholastic theory of objective being, the specific mode of being that things have by being thought of. He combines the standard theory of the intellection of particulars through phantasms with the theory of objective being. This allows him to develop a detailed account of the ontological status and structure of particular objects as intellectually cognised.