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NATALIS, Hervaeus. A Treatise of Master Hervaeus Natalis: On Second Intentions. Vol. 1 - An English Translation, and Vol. 2 - A Latin Edition. Ed. and trans, by John P. Doyle. Milwaukee: Marquette University, 2008. 622pp. Paper, $47.00 - One of the earliest defenders of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas within the Order of Preachers, Hervaeus Natalis has received relatively little attention from modern scholars. Hervaeus is now best known for his role, both as a polemical writer and as master general of the Dominicans, in upholding (or even helping to establish) the authority of Thomas Aquinas. Hervaeus was, however, also the author of a large number of original philosophical and theological works, very few of which have been edited or translated. John P. Doyle has therefore offered a valuable service with his Latin edition and English translation of the Tractatus de secundis intentionibus.
The treatise, composed at some time between 1307 and 1316, is a series of five disputed questions, divided into 22 articles. As the title suggests, the treatise is primarily concerned with second intentions, a standard medieval logical notion. The distinction between first and second intentions is perhaps best clarified by way of example. Examples of first intentions are man, ox, and blue - or, to be precise, whatever it is that is signified by such...