The Debut of a Woman in the History of Logic: Baltasara Petronila Arce y Suárez’s Tractatus logicae parvae iuxta mentem Scoti

Abstract In 1692, the Spanish noblewoman Baltasara Petronila Arce y Suárez published her Tractatus logicae parvae iuxta mentem Scoti in Salamanca. She thus became, according to some historians of philosophy, the first woman logician. This paper constitutes a short introduction to the study of Baltasara’s work, which has been neglected by scholarly research so far. The exposition is divided into three parts. First, Baltasara’s biography is outlined, with special emphasis on the crucial issue of her education. An overview of the historical-philosophical context follows, with a focus on the logical trend to which Baltasara belongs, namely, logic in the medieval tradition. The third section offers a general analysis of the Tractatus , presenting the structure and contents of the treatise and addressing the complex question of its sources. Some concluding remarks assess the originality and philosophical interest of the Tractatus . The purpose of the paper is to encourage further research on Baltasara and her work.