Peter Ramus was a logician, educational reformer, and author of many widely used works on philosophy and letters. He was born Pierre de la Ramée in Cuts (Oise), in northern France, the son of an impoverished descendant of a noble family from Liége. After beginning Latin at Cuts, he went to study at Paris, probably between the ages of eight and twelve, and despite grave financial difficulties received his master of arts degree there at the age of twenty-one. His master's inaugural thesis, according to one still widely circulated but questionable report, was Quaecumque ab Aristotele Dicta Essent, Commentitia Esse (Whatever Aristotle has said is a fabrication; the common translation of commentitia as "false" is oversimplified).

In 1543, Ramus (he had adopted Petrus Ramus as the Latin form of his name) published two works growing out of his teaching, Dialecticae Partitiones (The structure...