Obligationes
Obligationes
- Obligationes* or disputations de obligationibus** were a medieval disputation format common in the 13th and 14th centuries. Despite the name, they had nothing to do with ethics or morals but rather dealt with logical formalisms; the name comes from the fact that the participants were "obliged" to follow the rules. Typically, there were two disputants, one *Opponens* and one *Respondens*. At the start of a debate, both the disputants would agree on a ‘*positum*’, usually a false statement. The task of *Respondens* was to answer rationally to the questions from the *Opponens*, assuming the truth of the *positum* and without contradicting himself. On the opposite, the task of the *Opponens* was to try to force the *Respondens* into contradictions. It precedes other more modern dialogical accounts of logic such as Lorenzen games, [[jaakko-hintikka|Hintikka]] games and [[game-semantics]].
William of Ockham said Obligationes:<blockquote>...consists of this that in the beginning some proposition has to be posited, and then propositions have to be proposed as pleases the opponent, and to these the respondent has to answer by granting or denying or doubting or distinguishing. When these answers are given, the opponent, when it pleases him, has to say: “time is finished”. This is, the time of the obligation is finished. And then it is seen whether the respondent has answered well or not.</blockquote>