Richard Rufus of Cornwall
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Richard Rufus of Cornwall (died circa 1260) was an English Franciscan scholastic philosopher and theologian who studied at Paris and at Oxford.
Rufus was one of the first medieval philosophers to write on Aristotle and his commentaries are the earliest known among those which have survived. He also wrote influential commentaries on Peter Lombard's Sentences.
Rufus was influenced by Robert Grosseteste, Alexander of Hales, Richard Fishacre, and Johannes Philoponus, and in turn influenced Bonaventure and Franciscus Meyronnes. Roger Bacon was a fervent critic of Rufus.
[edit] Richard the Sophister
There is some scholarly speculation that Rufus was the author of Abstractiones, a late thirteenth-century logic manual that consisted of a collection of sophisms or logical puzzles. A scribe who transcribed the work addressed its author simply as "Ricarde Sophista". The author was commonly referred to by the name "Magister Abstractionum".
