On the other hand, Peter does introduce an honest-to-goodness extensional theory simply by developing a notion of suppositio distinct from that of signification (see also Ponzio 1983, who has an interesting reference to Peirce, CP 5.320): what Peter says in fact is that suppositio and significatio are different in that the latter is concerned with the imposition of a vox to signify something, while the former is the meaning of the same term (which already in and of itself and in the first instance signifies that given thing) inasmuch as it stands for something particular.9
In Peter’s theory, however, there is a difference between standing extensionally for a class and standing extensionally for an individual. What we have in the first case is a natural supposition (suppositio naturalis), and in the second an accidental supposition (ibid., 4). Along the same lines, Peter distinguishes between suppositio and appellatio: “differt autem appellatio a suppositione et a significatione, quia appellatio est tantum de re existente, sed significatio et suppositio tam de re existente quam non existente” (Tractatus X, 1).
De Rijk (1982: 169) affirms that “Peter’s natural supposition is the exact denotative counterpart of signification.” To be sure, we may insist that homo signifies a certain universal nature and supposes all (possible) existing human beings or the class of humans. What Peter does not say, however, is that homo signifies all existing human beings or that it denotes them, though the entire question does not substantially change.
Up to this point, the terminological landscape that lies before us is still somewhat confused, considering that each of the technical terms considered so far covers at least two different domains (except for “denotation” and “designation,” which are still more indeterminate). This is illustrated by the diagram in Figure 9.5.
A significant change occurs with William of Sherwood, who “unlike Peter and the majority of 13th-century logicians … identifies the significative character of a term with its referring exclusively to actually existing things” (De Rijk 1982: 170–171).
Figure 9.5
This will be the position of Roger Bacon, for whom signification becomes denotative in the modern extensional use of the term—despite the fact that he never employs a term such as denotatio.
9.8. Bacon
In his De signis (Fredborg et al. 1978, hereinafter DS), Bacon sets up a relatively complex classification of signs (fundamentally confirmed in other works by the same author, such as the Compendium studii theologiae), which presents a number of elements of interest to the semiotician. This classification has already been discussed,10 and we saw that Bacon employs the terms significare, significatio, and significatum in a sense radically different from the traditional one.
In DS II, 2, he states that “signum autem est illud quod oblatum sensui vel intellectui aliquid designat ipsi intellectui.” A definition of this kind might appear similar to that of Augustine—but only if we understand Bacon’s “designat” as the equivalent of Augustine’s “faciens in cogitationem venire.” We must, however, point out two considerations that differentiate Bacon from Augustine. First of all, “oblatum sensui vel intellectui” implies that Bacon assumes a less radical stance than Augustine via-à-vis the sensible qualities of signs, given that he repeatedly admits that there may also be intellectual signs, in the sense that concepts too may be considered to be signs of things perceived. In the second place, for Augustine the sign produces something in the mind, while for Bacon a sign shows something (that exists outside of the mind) to the mind.
Therefore, for Bacon signs do not refer to their referent through the mediation of a mental species, but are directly indicated, or posited, to refer immediately to an object. It makes no difference whether this object is an individual (something concrete), a species, a sentiment or a passion of the soul. What matters is that between a sign and the object that it is supposed to name there is no preliminary mental mediation. The mind steps in, so to speak, after the fact, to register the designation that has already taken place. As a result, Bacon uses significare in an exclusively extensional sense.
It should be borne in mind, however, that Bacon distinguishes natural signs (physical symptoms and icons) from signs “ordinata ab anima et ex intentione animae,” in other words, signs produced by a human being with some purpose in mind.
Among the signs ordinata ab anima are words and other visible signs of a conventional nature, such as the circulus vini or barrel hoop that taverns displayed to identify themselves, and even the goods displayed outside shops, inasmuch as they signify that other members of the same class to which they belong are on sale within. In all of these cases Bacon speaks of impositio, that is, of a conventional act by means of which a given entity finds itself having to stand for something else. Clearly, for Bacon convention is not the same as arbitrariness: the merchandise on display is chosen conventionally but not arbitrarily (the objects act as a kind of metonymy, the member of the class for the class as a whole). The circulus vini too is designated as a sign in a conventional and nonarbitrary manner, inasmuch as it points to the hoops that hold the barrels together, and acts simultaneously as both synecdoche and metonymy, representing a part of the container that holds the wine ready to be sold.
But in DS most of the examples are taken from verbal language and hence, if we wish to follow Bacon’s line of thought, it would be better not to stray too far from what is probably the paramount example of a system of conventional and arbitrary signs.
Bacon, however, is not so naïve as to say that words signify exclusively individual and concrete things. He contends that they name objects, but these objects may also exist in a mental space. Signs in fact can also name nonentities, such as infinity, a vacuum, the chimera, and nonbeing itself (DS II, 2, 19; see also II, 3, 27, and V, 162).
This implies that, even when words signify species, this occurs because they point extensionally to a class of mental objects. The relationship is always extensional, and the correctness of the reference is guaranteed only by the actual presence of the object signified. A word is truly significant if, and only if, the object it signifies is the case—if nothing else if it is the case that it is thought.
Admittedly, Bacon says (DS I, 1) “non enim sequitur: ‘signum in actu est, ergo res significata est,’ quia non entia possunt significari per voces sicut et entia,” but this position cannot be equated to Abelard’s insistence that even an expression like nulla rosa est signifies something. In the case of Abelard rosa was significant insofar as significare was considered from an intensional point of view, and, within this framework, the name signified the concept of the thing, even if the thing did not exist or had ceased to exist. Bacon’s position is different: when one says “there is a rose” (and when there being a rose is the case), the meaning of the word is given by the actual concrete rose, but when one makes the same affirmation and no such rose exists, then the word rose does not refer to an actual rose, but to the image of the supposed rose that the speaker has in mind. There are two different referents, and in fact the sound rose itself is a token of two different lexical types.