Abstract

This article compares the medieval and contemporary debates about the ontological status of relations. On one hand, relations seem to be mind-independent, on the other hand it is difficult to attribute to them any kind of being. Current ontology tends to reduce relations to the intrinsic properties of subjects. Between the 13th and 14th century, Henry of Ghent, John Duns Scotus and Henry of Harclay assigned three different statuses to relations, but shared the same anti-reductionist approach, insfoar as they regarded relations as being different from all other Aristotelian categories and mind-independent.