Pro Insipiente: Giles of Rome on Modes

Giles of Rome systematically distinguishes two kinds of modes, which in this essay are labelled ‘conjunction modes’ and ‘category modes’. The latter - according to which a substance might have the mode of an accident (as in Christ’s dependent human nature), and an accident the mode of a substance (as in the Eucharist) - are ontologically innocent, and predications about them are parasitic on conjunction modes. Conjunction modes are features of the universe, and are deposited in their subjects by things united to but really distinct from their subjects. For example, a quantity-thing, united to a substance, deposits a quantity-mode in the substance; and an existence-thing, united to a particular essence, deposits an existence-mode in the essence. In this essay, some attempt is made to defend this view against objections raised by Ockham.