T. J. H. McCarthy's scientific contributions

“Modistae” is the name of a group of Parisian grammarians and philosophers who lived in the period between 1270 and 1300, the most important names being Martin of Dacia, Radulphus Brito, and Thomas of Erfurt. Their work on grammar and logic is characterized by the intention to situate these former liberal arts within the medieval system of sciences. In order to achieve this goal they had to find universal objects for these new sciences. The result was the introduction of the concept of “modes of signifying” (modi significandi) in grammar, denoting the general meanings of words that constitute grammatical categories. In logic, they shared the opinion of other intentionalists of their time that the proper subject of logic is the second intention. In grammar as well as in logic they assumed a complete interdependence between the structure of reality and the operations of the mind. To warrant the foundation of our mental and linguistic operations in reality, they argued that every extramental object has various modes of being (modi essendi) which serve as the ontological counterpart of the modes of signifying and the second intentions.