William of Sherwood’s Treatise on Obligations

This paper investigates the nature and function of scholastic logical work on Obligationen as they are presented in William of Sherwood’s treatise on the subject. After a brief survey of contemporary discussion of Obligationen, I explain the nature of an obligations disputation, as Sherwood presents it, and make some suggestions about the sources of and reasons for early scholastic interest in obligations. Taking into account various other 13th-century treatises on obligations, I analyze several sections of Sherwood’s treatise in order to indicate what the purpose and function of obligations are in Sherwood’s treatment of them. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the relation between obligations and insolubilia.