Reworking of Dialectic and Philosophy

Introduction

Valla worked on his critique of dialectic from the late 1430s until his death; its three versions bear the titles “Retractatio” and “Repastinatio”, a word for digging over a field anew. Against the Aristotelian and scholastic tradition he argues that philosophy must be measured against the usage of good Latin and the practice of orators such as Quintilian. Many technical terms of the schools then prove empty: the transcendentals are reduced to the single word “res”, thing, and the ten categories to three, substance, quality and action. His programme influenced humanist dialectic, notably Rudolph Agricola and Juan Luis Vives. Scholars such as Lodi Nauta have described it as a critique in the name of common sense and asked whether it always did justice to the scholastic positions it attacked.

Connections

Criticizes

• Organonc. 350 BCE · Aristotle

More works by Lorenzo Valla

• 1431On Pleasure
• 1440On the Donation of Constantine