A Case of Mistaken Identity: John Pecham and the Cogitative Power’s Use of Universals

Abstract John Pecham distinguishes between the sensory and intellective soul. However, his Tractatus de Perspectiva states that the cogitative power, an internal sense belonging to the sensory soul, operates with universals. The question I will try to answer in this paper is: How can an internal sense operate with universals? If this is indeed the case, a set of three other questions arises: What is the relationship between the intellect and the cogitative power? Is the cogitative power a rational sense? Does it borrow universal content from the intellect? After considering several possible solutions, I will settle on the rather unconventional solution that the universal he uses are not abstract universals at all, but sensory ones.