Alain de Libera offers us a history of the feud of universals, which crossed the whole philosophy of the Middle Ages. On returning to the details of the various doctrines relating to the problem of the status of universals, it shows that the historical views on this issue can not be reduced only to a frontal opposition between realistic and nominalists but that the motions for resolutions of this problem come in a multitude of theses developing their own concepts, and prepare modernity. In doing so, reading is made very difficult for non-specialists, not necessarily accustomed to the brevity and the level of abstraction that characterizes medieval philosophy. Moreover, the sequence fast enough of a thinker to another (the extent of that historical period requires the author to be succinct) sometimes gives headache. The fact remains that this is a very rewarding reading for anyone interested in the history of philosophy.
