Semantics of Analogy

<p><i>The Semantics of Analogy </i>is the first book-length interpretive study in English of Thomas de Vio Cajetan's (1469?-1534) classic treatise on analogy. Written in 1498 <i>De Nominum Analogia</i> (On the Analogy of Names) has long been treated as Cajetan's attempt to systematize Aquinas's theory of analogy. A traditional interpretation regarded it as the official Thomistic treatise on analogy but current scholarly consensus holds that Cajetan misinterpreted Aquinas and misunderstood the phenomenon of analogy.</p><p>Both approaches argues Joshua P. Hochschild ignore the philosophical and historical context and fail to accurately assess Cajetan's work. In <i>The Semantics of Analogy</i> Hochschild reinterprets <i>De Nominum Analogia</i> as a significant philosophical treatise in its own right. He addresses some of the most well-known criticisms of Cajetan's analogy theory and explicates the later chapters of <i>De Nominum Analogia</i> which are usually ignored by commentators. He demonstrates that Cajetan was aware of the limits of semantic analysis had a sophisticated view of the relationship between semantics and metaphysics and expressed perceptive insights about concept formation and hermeneutics that are of continuing philosophical relevance.</p>