Dominic of Flanders


Dominic of Flanders was a French-Flemish Dominican philosopher and Scholastic author, known to have been a renowned Thomist. His commentaries on Aristotle and on Thomas Aquinas were frequently printed, the most famous being his commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics. This Commentaria is commonly known to have been dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici.

Life

Little is known of Dominic's early life. He was born Baudouin Lottin, in the north of France near what is today the Belgian border, in either Merville or Merris, a few kilometers away from Bailleul. The political circumstances of the region at the time are such that it is possible to deem him neither a Flemish nor a French philosopher. While born in present-day France, it was indeed the County of Flanders during the 15th century, a bilingual region which politically belonged to the Kingdom of France.
Baudouin studied at the University of Paris, becoming a Master of Arts at some time before 1452. At Paris he studied with John Versor, and would receive philosophical training according to the trend of "Albertism." The first known date in the life of Baudouin is 7 September 1461 — the day he took the Dominican habit at Bologna. Dominic's intellectual home would remain in Italy. At Bologna, it is likely that he studied under Peter of Bergamo, where he would switch from Albertist views to Thomism. He taught at Bologna from 1462 to 1470. He went on to teach in Florence and Pisa, by the invitation of Lorenzo de' Medici, then returned to Bologna from 1475 to 1476. He finally returned to Florence, where he died of the plague on 16 July 1479.

Works

  • Summa philosophiae sermocinalis
  • Quaestiones in Analytica priora
  • Quaestiones articulatae super libros Analyticorum posteriorum
  • Super praedicamenta
  • Expositio super tract. Thomae de Aquino De Fallaciis
  • Quaestiones super VI principia
  • Tractatus de modalibus
  • Commentarium in Summulas Petri Hispani
  • Tractatus de suppositionibus
  • Questiones in libros Physicorum
  • Recollectio super libros De Anima
  • Questiones super XII libros Metaphysica, seu Summa Divinae Philosophiae
  • Summa philosophiae moralis
  • Quaestiones quodliberales
  • ''Epistulae II ad Laurentium Petri de Medicis''