THE FIRST OBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE ACCORDING TO DUNS SCOTUS
"The problem from which a systematic reconstruction of Scotistic thought must take its start is the problem of the proper object of the human intellect. It is only thus that the natural logical order of the Scotistic system is properly emphasized.
The Subtle Doctor was confronted with two conflicting solutions. Henry of Ghent, who was at the time the most influential representative of the Augustinian school, taught that the first and proper object of the human intellect is God, or the supreme being. This thesis is implicitly contained in every theory of intellectual illumination, such as that prevalent, with very few exceptions, among the Augustinians of the thirteenth century. Henry of Ghent is to be credited
with having stated explicitly what had
been previously said in a confused manner. The advantages of this doctrine are evident. If God is the proper object of the human intellect, one can readily understand why man should not concentrate upon any created thing, for man is led by an interior logic to fix his attention upon what is eternal, infinite, absolute. This deep interior "drive" might well be called man's divine vocation.
In contrast with the Augustinian solution, stands the Aristotelian-Thomistic doctrine, according to which the proper object of the human intellect is the quiddity of a material thing. This is tantamount to saying that the natural object of our knowledge is the essence abstracted from matter. This opinion seems to be confirmed by our daily experience, which shows that all human knowledge has sensation as its necessary starting point.
Duns Scotus is not satisfied with either of the two solutions, and he makes this clear by pointing out their grave disadvantages. When the first object of the intellect is discussed, it is immediately necessary to define the meaning of the term "first." The question, "What is the first object of the human intellect ?" can be understood in different ways. One way of stating it is, "What is the first thing that man knows in the order of time ?"
Another way is, "What is the
most perfect thing (first in the order of perfection) that can be known by the human mind?" Still another way of stating it is, "What is the object to which the human intellect is directed by its very nature ?" It is in this third sense that the question is taken here. To ask, therefore, what the first object of the human intellect is, is equivalent to asking, "What is the adequate object, that is, the object that fully corresponds to the natural power of the human intellect ?"
Man is not born perfect. This means that man is not in possession from the first moment of his existence of all the acts of which he is capable. Like all other creatures, man is a complex of potentialities, to be developed gradually as he comes in contact with reality. To the law of this gradual development and becoming, not only his body is subject but also his soul. Thus man's intelligence and will have a natural tendency toward the possession of their objects. When
this possession is completed, the perfection
of these two faculties is attained, i.e., fully actuated.
The object specifies the faculty, i.e., the object is the measure of the perfection of the faculty. Moreover, any development of the faculty is only possible in virtue of its object, in the sense that it is necessarily a pursuit of its object, since it is only in view of its object that the faculty is determined to act.
By applying these general considerations to the particular case of human knowledge, it becomes evident: (1) that the human intellect can know nothing that does not somehow enter the sphere of the natural object for which it was made; (2) that the human intellect knows things in the light of its object, which thus becomes the necessary point of view from which it sees everything. This can be realized in a perfect way, as in the case of God, who knows all possible things
in the unique object of His divine mind,
or imperfectly, as in the case of man, who does not know all things in the idea of being, yet cannot know anything apart from the idea of being. In fact, "the adequacy of the object," writes Scotus, "can be considered from the point of view of its power (secundum virtutem) and from the point of view of its predication (secundum praedicationem). From the point of view of its power, that object is adequate to its faculty which, once it is known, makes all other possible objects knowable
to the intellect.
In this sense the divine essence is the adequate object of God's intellect. From the point of view of its predication, that object is adequate to its faculty which is per se and essentially the predicate of all things that can be known by the intellect." (1)
(1) De anima, q. 21 n. 2
From: Efrem Bettoni - Duns Scotus. The basic principles of his philosophy - Washington, Catholic University of America Press, 1961, pp. 27-29
THE UNIVOCITY OF THE CONCEPT OF BEING
"The obvious consequences that follow from such a standpoint did not escape Duns Scotus. The first of such consequences is the univocity of the concept of being. The proper object of a faculty, in the sense that has just been explained, must be only one, just as the faculty is only one. Therefore, in order that being be the proper object of our intellect, and consequently the point of view from which and the reason why we know God and creatures, immaterial and material
beings, it must be predicated univocally,
i.e., in the same sense, of all things. It cannot be otherwise, for the simple fact that being is the means by which, and the light through which, all things are known.
In the Augustinian philosophy there remained the difficulty of explaining how, from the concept of God, man could descend to the concept of creatures without passing through the intuition of the divine essence. In the Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy the difficulty was reversed: a way had to be shown how one could ascend from the concept of creatures to the concept of God. Both Augustinians and Thomists solved the difficulty with the doctrine of analogy: an analogy that
goes from God to creatures for the
Augustinians, an analogy that goes from creatures to God for the Thomists. With his doctrine of the univocity of the concept of being, and consequently of the other transcendental concepts, Duns Scotus opens a new way to the solution of the problem. He does so very modestly, as the following passage indicates:
"In the second place, it can be said, although not definitely because it is not in accordance with the common opinion, that of God we possess not only concepts which are analogous to those of creatures, that is, entirely different from those had of created things, but also concepts which are univocal to God and creatures." (2)"
(2) Opus Oxoniense, I, d. 3, q. 2, n. 5. [Obviously, in this passage Duns Scotus does not use the term "analogous" in the sense it is used by modern Thomists. When he states that the concepts we possess of God are "entirely different" from the concepts we have of creatures, he simply means that the reality expressed by these concepts is in itself essentially different. God is an infinite, self-subsistent being; creatures are limited, participated beings. (Translator: B. Bonansea)
]
From: Efrem Bettoni - Duns Scotus. The basic principles of his philosophy - Washington, Catholic University of America Press, 1961, pp. 33-34
DUNS SCOTUS ON THE PROBLEM OF UNIVERSALS
"In Quaestiones in librum Metaphysicorum VII, quaestio 18 Scotus recognizes three meanings for the term 'universal'. In one sense it refers to universality, i.e. the property of being suitable to be predicated of many; in another sense it means what has that property. But, he says, something can be either the near (proximate) subject of that property or the remote subject;but it is not easy to see what this latter distinction amounts to. Scotus
says
that the near subject is of itself a numerically single entity with an indeterminateness which rejects its being identified with any particular case of the universal in question. If we are talking about the universal human in this sense, then it is numerically one, but it cannot be any one individual human; likewise, the universal animal is numerically one, but it cannot be any particular species of animal. The remote subject, on the other hand, is not of itself numerically one and though it is not of itself
determined to any one particular of the universal-in question, it does not reject such determination either.
It is clear that the remote subjects of universality are the natures that we have discussed earlier. Scotus takes over from Avicenna the doctrine that there are three ways of talking about natures: (1) where there is no assumption of either the existence or non-existence of the nature and all that is true of the nature concerns what that nature is and is not of itself; (2) where we say what is true of the nature on account of its actual existence in real things; (3) where
we say what is true of the nature on account of its existence in the mind. When we say that a nature is universal we are talking about what holds of it in the third sort of discourse. Universality is a "thing of second intention" and hence can only belong to first intentions, which are natures existing as objects of thought. Things existing as objects of thought are said to have esse objectivum and to be entia objectiva. An ens objectivum is another one of Scotus's accidental beings;
it comes into existence as soon as something becomes an object of thought. Since esse objectivum does not belong to a nature taken absolutely and in itself; it is accidental to that nature, just as is individuation, as we saw above. We may think of the ens objectivum as the nature-as-conceived-by-a-mind; it is a single, mind-dependent entity whose own numerical oneness derives ultimately from the numerical oneness of the mind doing the conceiving.
As Scotus and other scholastics view the matter, the ens objectivism is the immediate object of thought and represents the nature, which then becomes the remote object of thought. This theory is saved from the idealism that afflicts representational theories of thought in modern times only by this doctrine that the ens objectivum just is the nature-as-thought. It is not some real entity distinct from the nature itself, and from whose character we are somehow to
infer the character of the nature; rather in apprehending it we are apprehending the nature directly but in a certain way.
The near subject of universality, according to Scotus, is this ens objectivum through which we apprehend the nature. The nature itself is only a universal because this ens objectivum is the nature-as-thought. To be a universal something must be suitable to be predicated of many, and, on the sort of view Scotus and many other scholastics subscribed to, only something that is a single object of thought, yet intrinsically indeterminate in respect of its particular
instances could have this suitability. The item which is predicated has to be some single thing which many can be said to be; otherwise, the singleness of meaning of the predicate over its many applications to different particulars would evaporate."
From: Scotus vs. Ockham - A medieval dispute over Universals. Vol. II: Commentary. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press 1999, pp. 409-410.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
John Duns Scotus, 1265-1965. Edited by Ryan John K. and Bonansea
Bernardine. Washington: Catholic University of America Press 1965.
Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy - Vol. 3.
Foreword by J. K. Ryan:
"The names of certain of the great scholastic thinkers of the middle
ages-St. Anse1m, Abelard, Hugh of St. Victor, St. Albert the Great, St.
Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Roger Bacon, John Duns Scotus, Henry of
Ghent, and the rest-are familiar not only to students of philosophy and
theology but also in varying degrees to the educated public. Abelard is
known for his Historia calamitatum and as a figure in romantic
literature, if not for his work in ethics and the theory of knowledge. Like
Zeno's paradoxes and the Cartesian "cogito ergo sum," a passage in St.
Anselm has become the subject of unending discussion. Certain of St.
Bonaventure's books have been translated and find readers. But with the
exception of St. Thomas Aquinas first-hand knowledge of the writings of the
medieval masters is not a common thing.
For reasons that have varied throughout the modern era John Duns Scotus has
not always received the general recognition that what he was and what he did
should have brought to him. However, inadequate understanding and even
hostility are being displaced by something better. Appropriately, this
change is due in large measure to the research and writings of his fellow
Franciscans, but the books and articles of many other scholars have aided
them in their labors. As a result, the record of Scotus' life has been made
fuller and clearer, what he actually taught on various subjects has been
brought to light, and translations of his writings begin to appear. But the
most important thing of all is the essential work of the Commissio
Scotistica on the canon and the critical edition of his writings, which
proceeds year by year in spite of the inherent difficulties of the task and
those caused by the turmoil of our era. To all such labors the present
volume, a cooperative effort of European, American, and Canadian scholars,
is added as a further monument raised in honor of John Duns Scotus on the
seventh centennial of his birth."
Contents: Foreword VII; 1. Charles Balic: The life and works of John Duns
Scotus 1; 2. Efrem Bettoni: The originality of the Scotistic synthesis 28;
3. John K. Ryan: The Formal Distinction 45;
4. S. F. Watson: A problem for Realism: our multiple concepts of individual
things and the solution of Duns Scotus 61; 5. Bernardine Bonansea: Duns
Scotus' voluntarism; 6. J. R. Cresswell: Duns Scotus on the Common Nature
122; 7. Felix Alluntis: Demonstrability and demonstration of the
existence of God 133; 8. Roy Efer: Duns Scotus and the physical approach to
God 171; 9. Geoffrey G. Bridges: The Problem of the demonstrability of
immortality 191; 10. Timotheus A. Barth: Being, univocity, and analogy
according to Duns Scotus 210; 11. Walter Hoeres: Francis Suarez and the
teaching of John Duns Scotus on Univocatio Entis 263; 12. Ignatius
Brady: William of Vaurouillon, O.F.M., a Fifteeenth century Scotist 291; 13.
Heiko Augustinus Oberman: Duns Scotus, nominalism, and the Council of Trent
311; 14. Béraud de Saint-Maurice: The contemporary significance of Duns
Scotus' philosophy 345; 15. Charles Balic: The nature and value of a
critical edition of the complete works of John Duns Scotus 368; Notes on
Contributors 380; Index 382-384.
De doctrina Ioannis Duns Scoti. Vol. II: Problemata philosophica.
Roma: Commissionis Scotisticae 1968.
Acta Congressus Scotistici Internationalis Oxonii et Edimburgi 11-17 sept.
1966 celebrati
"John Duns Scotus," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 67
(1) (1993).
Special issue on John Duns Scotus - Table of contents: Allan B. Wolter,
O.F.M.: Reflections on the life and works of Scotus pp. 1-36; Francis J.
Catania: John Duns Scotus on Ens Infinitum pp. 37-54; Ansgar
Santogrossi, O.S.B.: Duns Scotus on potency opposed to act in Questions
on the Metaphysics, IX pp. 55-76; Martin M. Tweedale: Duns Scotus's
doctrine on Universals and the Aphrodisian tradition pp. 77-94; Allan B.
Wolter, O.F.M.: Scotus on the divine origin of possibility pp. 95-108; John
Boler: Transcending the natural: Duns Scotus on the two affection of the
will pp. 109-126; Mary Elizabeth Ingham, C.S.J.: Scotus and moral order pp.
127-140
John Duns Scotus. Metaphysics and ethics. Edited by Honnefelder
Ludger, Wood Rega, and Dreyer Mechthild. Leiden: E. J. Brill 1996.
Contents: Vorwort IX; Ludger Honnefelder: Metaphysik und Ethik bei Johannes
Duns Scotus: Forschungsergebnisse und - perspektiven. Eine Einführung 1;
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Allan B. Wolter: Reflections about Scotus's early works 37; Stephen D.
Dumont: William of Ware, Richard of Conington and the Collationes
Oxonienses of John Duns Scotus 59; Mechthild Dreyer: Eissenschaft als
Satzsystem. Die Theoremata des Johannes Duns Scotus und die
Entwicklung des kategorisch-deduktiven Wissenschaftsbegriffs 87; Gordon A.
Wilson: The presence of Henry of Ghent in Scotus's Quaestiones super
libros Metaphysicorum 107;
MODALITY
Simo Knuuttila: Duns Scotus and the foundations of logical modalities 127;
John Boler: The ontological commitment of Scotus's account of potency in his
Questions on the Metaphysics, book IX 145; Calvin G. Normore: Scotus,
modality, instants of nature and the contingency of the present 161; Steven
P. Marrone: Revisiting Duns Scotus and Henry of Ghent on modality 175;
Stanislav Sousedïk: Der Streit urn den wahren Sinn der scotischen
possibilienlehre 191; Neil Lewis: Power and contingency in Robert
Grosseteste and Duns Scotus 205;
INDIVIDUATION
Jorge .J. E. Gracia: Individuality and the individuating entity in Scotus's
Ordinatio: an ontological characterization 229; Rega Wood: individual
forms: Richard Rufus and John Duns Scotus 251; Woosuk Park: Understanding
the problem of individuation: Gracia vs. Scotus 273;
BEING AND UNIVOCITY
Olivier Boulnois: Duns Scot, théoricien de l'analogie de l'être 293; Maria
Burger: Univozität des Seienden - Univozität der Person: Zwei Grenzbegriffe
317; Stephen F. Brown: L'unité du concept d'être au début du quatorzième
siècle 327; Theo O. Kobusch: Das Seiende ais transzendentaler oder
supertranszendentaler Begriff. Deutungen der Univozität des Begriffs bei
Scotus und den Scotisten 345; Jan P. Beckmann: Entdecken oder Setzen? Die
besonderheit der relationstheorie des Duns Scotus und ihre Bedeutung für die
metaphysik 367; Gérard Sondag: Universel et natura communis dans l' Odinatio
et dans les Questions sur le Perihermeneias (une brève
comparaison) 385; Jakob Hans Josef Schneider: Utrum haec sit vera:
Caesar est animal, Caesare non existente. Zum Peri-Hermeneias-Kommentar
des Johannes Dyns Scotus 393;
THE EXISTENCE OF THE FIRST BEING
Alessandro Ghisalberti: Ens infinitum e dimostrazione dell'esistenza
di Dio in Duns Scoto 415; Timothy O'Connor: From First Efficient Cause to
God: Scotus on the identification stage of the cosmological argument 435;
Luis Alberto de Boni: bedeutung und grenzen des aristotelischen Denkens im
Gottesbeweis von Duns Scotus 455; Rolf Schönberger: Negations non summe
amamus. Duns Scotus' auseinandersetzung mit der negativen Theologie 475;
ETHICS
Marilyn McCord Adams: Scotus and Ockham on the connection of the virtues
499; Fernando Inciarte: Scotus' Gebrauch des Begriffs der praktischen
Wahrheit im philosophiegeschichtlichen Kontext 523; Hans-Joachim Werner: Die
Erfassung des Schönen in seiner personalen und ethischen Bedeutung bei Duns
Scotus 535; Mary Elizabeth Ingham: Practical wisdom: Scotus's presentation
of Prudence 551; Hannes Möhle: Wille und Moral. Zur Voraussetzung der Ethik
des Johannes Duns Scotus und ihrer Bedeutung für die Ethik Immanuel Kants
573;
Indices 595; Index fontium 597; Index nominum 600; Index rerum 606.
John Duns Scotus (1265/6-1308). Renewal of philosophy. Edited by
Bos Egbert P. Amsterdam: Rodopi 1998.
Acts of the Third Symposium organized by the Dutch Society for Medieval
Philosophy Medium Aevum (May 23 and 24, 1996).
Contents: E. P. Bos: Introduction VII-XIV; 1. Wolfgang Kluxen: On
metaphysics and the concept of freedom in the philosophy of John Duns Scotus
1; 2. Jan A. Aertsen: Being and the One: the doctrine of the convertible
transcendentals in Duns Scotus 13; 3. Jos Decorte: Creatio and
conservatio as relatio 27; 4. A. Vos: Duns Scotus and Aristotle
49; 5. A. Vos: Knowledge, certainty and contingency 75; 6. Ria van der Lecq:
Duns Scotus on the reality of possible worlds 89; 7. Eef Dekker: Does Duns
Scotus need Molina? On divine foreknowledge and co-causality 101; 8. Eef
Dekker: Scotus's freedom of the will revisited 113; 9. A. J. Beck: 'Divine
psychology' and modalities: Scotus's theory of the neutral proposition 123;
10. Joke Spruyt: Duns Scotus's criticism of Henry of Ghent's notion of free
will 139; 11. Rudi te Velde: Natura in seipsa recurva est: Duns
scotus and Aquinas on the relationship between nature and will 155; 12. H.
Paul F. Mercken: Necessity and the moral order: Scotus's interpretation of
the Lex Naturae in the perspective of Western philosophical ethics
171; 13. E. P. Bos and A. C. van der Helm: The division of Being over the
categories according to Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and John Duns
Scotus 183; Maarten J. F. M. Hoenen: Scotus and the Scotist school. The
tradition of Scotist thought in the medieval and early modern period 197;
Bibliography 211; Indexes 227-237.
Scotus vs. Ockham - A medieval dispute over Universals. Vol. I: Texts.
Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press 1999.
Texts translated into English with commentary by Martin M. Tweedale.
"This work is meant to make accessible to students of philosophy and later
medieval thought the key texts in one of the most crucial philosophical
debates of that period. The concentration is on Scotus's positive doctrine
since it is difficult and has not received the detailed attention it
deserves. Ockham's polemic against Scotus raises a host of objections to the
internal coherence of Scotus's reworking of the traditional line. Some of
these are ones it seems to me Scotus could have countered quite easily;
others would have required some revisions, but ones that are basically
within the spirit of the doctrine. Some, however, are very difficult indeed,
and I shall leave to the commentary and its introductory essay the
exposition of my own view on whether Scotus's position can survive intact.
There is also a positive side to Ockham's views about universals, and that
is only partially covered in what follows. The texts that show how Ockham
envisioned preserving all the essentials of Aristotelian science even after
real universals have been excised, are presented and discussed, and the very
real issue of whether Ockham's effort here could possibly succeed is
broached but not definitely resolved one way or the other."
Scotus vs. Ockham - A medieval dispute over Universals. Vol. II:
Commentary. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press 1999.
"The commentary which composes the greater part of this volume attempts not
only to explain the texts translated in the Iirst volume and to understand
the positions adopted by the protagonists in this debate, but also to assess
the cogency of the various arguments put forward. After all that work is
done, however, there remains the task of drawing attention to the crucial
issues that have emerged and arriving at some understanding of the debate as
a whole and the relative merits of the positions put forward. It is this
task that this introductory essay undertakes. Perhaps it would be better
read after a thorough study of the commentary, but I am inclined to think
that some awareness of the general issues and positions taken by Scotus and
Ockham helps in making one's way through the individual texts and their
often elaborate argumentation. In explaining these issues and positions I
have made free use of philosophical ideas of our own day, at least to the
extent that this is not grossly anachronistic."
The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Edited by Williams
Thomas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2003.
Contents: Contributors IX; Abbreviations and method of citation XIII; Duns
Scotus in English translation XV; Thomas Williams: Introduction: the life
and works of John Duns the Scot 1; 1. Peter King: Scotuus on metaphysics 15;
2. Neil Lewis: Space and time 69; 3. Timothy B. Noone: Universals and
individuation 100; 4. Calvin G. Normore: Duns Scotus's modal theory 129; 5.
Dominik Perler: Duns Scotus's philosophy of language 161; 6. James F. Ross
and Todd Bates: Duns Scotus on natural theology 193; 7. William E. Mann:
Duns Scotus on natural and superanatural knowledge of God 238; 8. Richard
Cross: Philosophy of mind 263; 9. Robert Pasnau: Cognition 285; 10. Hannes
Möhle: Scotus's theory of natural law 312; 11. Thomas Williams: From
metaethics to action theory 332; 12. Bonnie Kent: Rethinking moral
dispositions: Scotus on the virtues 352; Bibliography 377; Citations of
works attributed to John Duns Scotus 395; Index 405.
Duns Scot à Paris 1302-2002. Edited by Boulnois Olivier et al.
Turnhout: Brepols 2004.
Actes du Colloque de Paris, 2-4 septembre 2002.
Contents: Introduction IX; Index siglorum XXIII;
I - PARIS, 1302
Antonie Vos: Duns Scotus at Paris 3; Elsa Marmursztejn - Sylvain Piron: Duns
Scot et la politique. Pouvoir du prince et conversion des Juifs 21;
II - THÉORIE DE L'ESPRIT, ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE, SÉMANTIQUE
Peter King: Duns Scotus on mental content 65; Dominique Demange: "Objet
premier d'inclusion virtuelle". Introduction à la théorie de la science de
Jean Duns Scot 89; Christopher J. Martin: Formal consequence in Scotus and
Ockham: towards an account of Scotus' logic 117; Jacques Chollet - Gérard
Sondag: Sur la signification du terme fortè dans le latin de Jean
Duns Scot 151;
III - MÉTAPHYSIQUE
Ludger Honnefelder: Étienne Gilson et Jean Duns Scot: l' Être et l'essence
et l'histoire de la métaphysique 179; Pasquale Porro: Duns Scot et le point
de rupture avec Avicenne 195; Olivier Boulnois: Au-delà de la physique? 219;
Timothy B. Noone: L'univocité dans les Quaestiones super libros de anima
255; Giorgio Pini: Substance, accident, and inherence. Scotus and the
Paris debate on the metaphysics of the Eucharist 273; Fabrizio Mondadori:
The independence of the possible according to Scotus 313; Joachim R. Sider:
La doctrine scotiste de la contingence dans la Reportatio I A 375;
Joel Biard: Duns Scot et l'infini dans la nature 387;
IV - PSYCHOLOGIE ET ÉTHIQUE
Mary B. Ingham: La genèse de la volonté rationnelle de la Lectura à
la Reportatio 409; Christophe Cervellon: L'affection de justice chez
Duns Scot. Justice et luxure dans le péché de l'ange 425; Jean- Michel
Counet: Le lien entre la prudence et les vertus morales chez Duns Scot 469;
Tobias Hoffmann: L'akrasia selon Duns Scot 487; Gilles Berceville
o.p: Du miracle au surnaturel. De Thomas d'Aquin à Duns Scot: un changement
de problématique 563; Luc Mathieu o.f.m: Était-il nécessaire que le Christ
mourût sur la croix? Réflexion sur la liberté absolue de Dieu et la liberté
de Jésus-homme, d'après Jean Duns Scot 581;
VI - PARIS, 2002
Axel Schmidt: The concept of time in theology and physics 595; Ansgar
Santogrossi o.s.b: Soi, intersubjectivité et langage chez Duns Scot 607;
Emmanuel Falque: L'autre singulier: l'haeccéité d'autrui et l'horizon de la
finitude 623;
INDEX
Index scotisticum 665; Index manuscriptorum 675; Index nominum 677.
Aertsen Jan, "Being and One: The doctrine of the convertible
transcendentals in Duns Scotus," Franciscan Studies 56: 47-64 (1998).
Alanen Lilli, "Descartes, Duns Scotus and Ockham on omnipotence and
possibility," Franciscan Studies 45: 157-188 (1985).
Andrews Robert. The Modistae and John Duns Scotus's Questiones super
Perihermeneias. In Aristotle's Peri hermeneias in the Latin Middle
Ages Essays on the Commentary tradition. Edited by Braakhuis Henk A.G.
and Kneepkens Corneille Henri. Groningen: Ingenium Publishers 2003. pp.
67-83
Balic Karl, "The nature and value of a critical edition of the complete
works of john Duns Scotus," Studies in Philosophy and the History of
Philosophy 3: 368-379 (1965).
Balic Karl. The life and works of John Duns scotus. In John Duns
Scotus, 1265-1965. Edited by Ryan John K. and Bonansea Bernardine.
Washington: Catholic University of America Press 1965. pp. 1-27
Balic Karl. John Duns Scotus: some reflections on the occasion of the
seventh centenary of his birth. Roma: Scotistic Commission 1966.
Barth Timotheus. Being, univocity and analogy according to Duns Scotus.
In Johon Duns Scotus 1265-1965. Edited by Ryan John K. and Bonansea
Bernardine. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press 1965. pp.
210-262
Bastit Michel. Les principes des choses en ontologie médiévale:
Thomas d'Aquin, Scot, Occam. Bordeaux: Éditions Bière 1997.
Bettoni Efrem. Duns Scotus. The basic principles of his philosophy.
Washington: Catholic University of America Press 1961.
Translated from the Italian edition (1946) and edited by Bernardine
Bonansea.
Reprint: Westport, Greenwood Press, 1978.
Bettoni Efrem. Duns Scoto filosofo. Milano: Vita e Pensiero 1966.
Boler John, "Scotus and intuition: some remarks," Monist 49:
551-570 (1965).
"The thesis of this article is that Scotus makes a special contribution with
his theory of intuition, not for giving new answers to the questions asked,
for example, by Aquinas, but for asking different questions; and that the
significance of this contribution cannot be appreciated until one sees why,
with respect to the questions asked by Aquinas, Scotus is in (substantial)
agreement with the Aristotelian analysis. The author tries, in an informal
way, (1) to point out some confusions that have led to a misunderstanding of
Scotus's (or anyone else's) defense of an Aristotelian account of
abstraction, and (2) to isolate the phenomena that makes Scotus's theory of
intuition suggestive."
Boler John, "The moral psychology of Duns Scotus: some preliminary
questions," Franciscan Studies 50: 31-56 (1990).
Bonansea Bernardine. Man and his approach to God in John Duns Scotus.
Lanham: University Press of America 1983.
Boulnois Olivier, "Analogie et univocité selon Duns Scot: la double
destruction," Études Philosophiques: 347-369 (1989).
Boulnois Olivier, "Réelles intentions: nature commune et universaux
selon Duns Scot," Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 97: 3-34 (1992).
Boulnois Olivier, "Quand commence l'ontothéologie? Aristote, Thomas
d'Aquin et Duns Scot," Revue Thomiste 95: 85-108 (1995).
Boulnois Olivier. Être et représentation, Une généalogie de la
métaphysique moderne à l'époque de Duns Scot, XIIIe-XIVe siècle. Paris:
Press universitaires de France 1999.
Brown O.J., "Individuation and actual existence in Scotistic
metaphysics: a thomistic assessment," New Scholasticism 53: 347-361
(1979).
Brown Stephen, "Avicenna and the unity of the concept of Being. The
interpretations of Henry of Ghent, Duns Scotus, Gerard of Bologna and Peter
Aureoli," Franciscan Studies 25: 117-150 (1965).
"This article treats the question of the analogy and the univocity of being
in Henry of Ghent, John Duns Scotus, Hervaeus Natalis, Gerard of Bologna and
Peter Aureoli. Each provides his own view of the concept of being and thus
each gives a different interpretation to Avicenna's metaphysical starting
point"
Cesalli Laurent. Le réalisme propositionnel. Sémantique et ontologie
des propositions chez Jean Duns Scot, Gauthier Burley, Richard Brinkley et
Jean Wyclif. Paris: Vrin 2007.
Cross Richard. The physics of Duns Scotus. The scientific context of
a theological vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998.
Cross Richard. Duns Scotus. New York: Oxford University Press
1999.
Cross Richard. The metaphysics of the Incarnation: Thomas Aquinas to
Duns Scotus. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2002.
Da Costa Santos Rogério. L'ontologie du contingent selon Jean Duns
Scot. Ètude sur les origines du possible et de la représentation en Dieu.
Villeneuve d'Ascq: Presses universitaires du Septentrion 1998.
Dahlstrom Daniel, "Signification and logic: Scotus on universals from a
logical point of view," Vivarium 18: 81-111 (1980).
Day Sebastian. Intuitive cognition. A key to the significance of the
Later Scholastics. St. Bonaventure: Franciscan Institute 1947.
de Rijk Lambertus Marie. The logic of indefinite names in Boethius,
Abelard, Duns Scotus, and Radulphus Brito. In Aristotle's Peri hermeneias
in the Latin Middle Ages. Essays on the Commentary tradition. Edited by
Braakhuis Henk A.G. and Kneepkens Corneille Henri. Groningen: Ingenium
Publishers 2003. pp. 207-233
Demange Dominic. Jea Duns Scot. La théorie du savoir. Paris: Vrin
2007.
Dumont Stephen, "The univocity of the concept of Being in the Fourteenth
century: John Duns Scotus and William of Alnwick," Mediaeval Studies
49: 1-75 (1987).
Dumont Stephen, "The univocity of the concept of Being in the Fourteenth
century: II. The De Ente of Peter Thomae," Mediaeval Studies
50: 186-256 (1987).
Dumont Stephen, "Theology as a science and Duns Scotus's distinction
between intuitive and abstractive cognition," Speculum 64: 579-599
(1989).
Dumont Stephen, "Transcendental Being: Scotus and Scotists," Topoi
11: 135-148 (1992).
"Of singular importance to the medieval theory of transcendentals was the
position of John Duns Scotus that there could be a concept of being
univocally common, not only to substance and accidents, but even to God and
creatures. Scotus''s doctrine of univocal transcendental concepts violated
the accepted view that, owing to its generality, no transcendental notion
could be univocal. The major difficulty facing Scotus''s doctrine of
univocity was to explain how a real, as opposed to a purely logical, concept
could be abstracted from what agreed in nothing real, in this case, God and
creatures. The present article examines Scotus''s solution to this
difficulty and its interpretation in four of his noted fourteenth-century
followers. It is shown that the balance Scotus''s solution achieved between
the competing demands of the real diversity between God and creatures, on
the one side, and the conceptual unity of transcendental being, on the
other, is taken in opposed directions by his interpreters. Either the real
diversity of God and creatures is given priority, so that the concept of
being becomes a purely logical notion, or the real unity of the concept of
being is stressed, so that some sort of real community is posited between
God and creatures."
Dumont Stephen, "The Propositio Famosa Scoti: Duns Scotus and
Ockham on the possibility of a science of theology," Dialogue.Canadian
Philosophical Review 31: 415-430 (1992).
Dumont Stephen, "The origin of Scotus's theory of synchronic
contingency," Modern Schoolman 72: 149-167 (1995).
"It has been widely accepted in the literature that Scotus was the first to
advance the so-called synchronic' view of contingency, where something is
contingent if, at the very moment when it occurs, there is a real
possibility for its opposite. This is usually contrasted with a statistical'
construction of contingency, found in Aristotle and scholastics before
Scotus, according to which something is contingent if its opposite can be
actually realized at some other time. The present article examines the
background to Scotus's treatment of this theory of synchronic contingency
and traces its proximate origin to Peter Olivi."
Dumont Stephen, "L'univocité selon Duns Scot et la tradition médiévale
de la métaphysique," Philosophie 61: 27-49 (1999).
Dumont Stephen, "Duns Scotus's Parisian Question on the Formal
Distinction," Vivarium 43: 7-62 (2005).
"The degree of realism that Duns Scotus understood his formal distinction to
have implied is a matter of dispute going back to the fourteenth century.
Both modern and medieval commentators alike have seen Scotusrsquos later,
Parisian treament of the formal distinction as less realist in the sense
that it would deny any extra-mentally separate formalities or realities.
This less realist reading depends in large part on a question known to
scholars only in the highly corrupt edition of Luke Wadding, where it is
printed as the first of the otherwise spurious Quaestiones miscellaneae de
formalitatibus. The present study examines this question in detail. Cited by
Scotusrsquos contemporaries as the Quaestio logica Scoti, we establish that
it was a special disputation held by Scotus at Paris in response to
criticisms of his use of the formal distinction in God, identify its known
manuscripts, and provide an analysis based upon a corrected text, showing in
particular the total unreliability of the Wadding edition. Our analysis
shows that the Logica Scoti does not absolutely prohibit an assertion of
formalities as correlates of the formal distinction, even in the divine
Person, so long as their non-identity is properly qualified. That is, the
positing of formalities does not of itself entail an unqualified or absolute
distinction."
Etzkorn Girard J., "The Scotus edition: John Duns Scotus's philosophical
works," Franciscan Studies 51: 117-130 (1991).
Frank William A. and Wolter Allan Bernard. Duns Scotus,
metaphysician. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press 1995.
Gilson Étienne. Jean Duns Scot. Introduction a ses positions
fondamentales. Paris: Vrin 1952.
Gracia Jorge J.E., "Scotus conception of metaphysics: the study of the
Transcendentals," Franciscan Studies 56: 153-168 (1998).
Grajewski Maurice. The formal distinction of Duns Scotus. A study in
metaphysics. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press 1944.
Harris Charles Reginald Schiller. Duns Scotus. New York: The
Humanities Press 1959.
Two volumes: 1. The place of Duns Scotus in medieval thought; 2. The
philosophical doctrines of Duns Scotus.
Reprint: Bristol, Thoemmes Press, 1994.
Hoffmann Tobias. Creatura intellecta. Die Ideen und Possibilien bei
Duns Scotus mit Ausblick auf Franz von Mayronis, Poncius und Mastrius.
Münster: Aschendorff 2002.
Honnefelder Ludger. Ens inquantum ens. Der Begriff des Seienden als
solchen als Gegenstand der Metaphysik nach der Lehre des Johannes Duns
Scotus. Münster: Aschendorff 1979.
Honnefelder Ludger. Scientia transcendens. Die formale Bestimmumg der
Seiendheit und Realitat in der Metaphysik des Mitt elalters und der Neuzeit
(Duns Scotus - Suarez - Wolff - Kant - Peirce). Hamburg: Meiner 1990.
Honnefelder Ludger, "Zum Begriff der moglichen Welt in J.A. Comenius's
'Consultatio Catholica'," Franciscan Studies 54: 277-288 (1997).
The concept of J. A. Comenius's possible world is unthinkable without the
influence of John Duns Scotus's transformation of the Aristotelian
conception of metaphysics. The essay proves how this transformation of the
Platonic-neo-Platonic thought of "mundus intelligibilis" in the Aristoteles
reception of the 13th century through which the predicate "possibilis" gains
the sense, that makes the expression "mundus possibilis" usable in the way
Comenius used it and later on Leibniz, takes place. This is demonstrated by
the concept of metaphysics, possibility and being, respectively reality.
Honnefelder Ludger. Johannes Duns Scotus. München: C. H. Beck
2005.
Iammarrone Luigi. Giovanni Duns Scoto metafisico e teologo: le
tematiche fondamentali della sua filosofia e teologia. Roma: Miscellanea
Francescana 1999.
Ingham Mary Elizabeth. Scotus for dunces: an introduction to the
subtle doctor. St. Bonaventure: Franciscan Institute Publications 2003.
Ingham Mary Elizabeth and Dreyer Mechtild. The philosophical vision
of John Duns Scotus: an introduction. Washington: Catholic University of
America Press 2004.
Kielkopf Charles, "Duns Scotus's rejection of 'Necessarily Exists' as a
predicate," Journal of the History of Philosophy 16: 13-21 (1978).
Knuuttila Simo. Being qua Being in Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus.
In The logic of Being. Historical studies. Edited by Knuuttila Simo
and Hintikka Jaakko. Dordrecht: Reidel 1986. pp. 201-222
Krop H.A. The self-knowledge of God. Duns Scotus and Ockham on the
formal object of scientific knowledge. In Ockham and Ockhamists.
Edited by Bos Egbert Peter and Krop H.A. Nijmegen: Ingenium Publishers 1987.
pp. 83-92
Langston Douglas, "Scotus and Ockham on the univocal concept of Being,"
Franciscan Studies 39: 105-129 (1979).
Lusser Dominik. Individua Substantia. Interpretation und Umdeutung
des Aristotelischen ousia-Begriffs bei Thomas von Aquin und Johannes Duns
Scotus. Bern: Peter Lang 2006.
Manno Ambrogio Giacomo. Introduzione al pensiero di Giovanni Duns
Scoto. Bari: Levante 1994.
Marmo Costantino, "Ontologia e semantica nella logica di Duns Scoto,"
Annali di Discipline Filosofiche dell'Università di Bologna 6: 191-266
(1984).
Marrone Steven P., "The notion of univocity in Duns Scotus' s early
writings," Franciscan Studies 43: 347-395 (1983).
Marrone Steven P., "Henry of Ghent and Duns Scotus on the knowledge of
Being," Speculum 63: 22-57 (1988).
Marrone Steven P., "Duns Scotus on metaphysical potency and
possibility," Franciscan Studies 56: 265-289 (1998).
Martinich Aloysius P., "Scotus and Anselm on the existence of God,"
Franciscan Studies 37: 139-152 (1977).
McKeon Richard, "The relation of logic to metaphysics in the philosophy
of Duns Scotus," Monist 49: 519-550 (1965).
"In the development of logical theory from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth
century, the "new logic" was distinguished from the "old logic" when the
last four books of Aristotle's "Organon" were translated, and the "modern
logic" was distinguished from the "ancient logic" when the principles of
demonstration were found in rhetorical or dialectical topics or sophistical
paradoxes rather than in analytical causes. The "old logic" and the "new
logic" continued to be used to designate two sets of problems, and William
of Ockham wrote treatises on both. "Moderns" was not a synonym for
"nominalists" in the Fourteenth century, and the innovations in logic of
that century were made by both "ancients" and "moderns." According to Duns
Scotus the problems of the old logic are problems of the interpretation of
sentences and the definition of simple terms from that interpretation; the
problems of the new logic are problems of the analysis of inference and the
interpretation of sentences from that analysis."
Noone Timothy B., "Alnwick on the origin, nature and function of the
Formal Distinction," Franciscan Studies 53: 231-245 (1993).
O'Brien Andrew Joseph, "Duns Scotus' teaching on the distinction between
essence and existence," New Scholasticism 38: 61-77 (1964).
O'Meara William, "Actual existence and the individual according to Duns
Scotus," Monist 49: 659-669 (1965).
Park Woosuk, "The problem of individuation for Scotus: a principle of
indivisibility or a principle of distinction," Franciscan Studies 48:
105-123 (1988).
Park Woosuk, "Haecceitas and the bare particular: a study of Duns
Scotus' theory of individuation", State University of New York at Buffalo,
1988.
Available at ProQuest Dissertation Express. Order number: 8905467
Park Woosuk, "Scotus, Frege and Bergmann," Modern Schoolman 67:
259-273 (1990).
Park Woosuk, "Haecceitas and the bare particular," Review of
Metaphysics 44: 375-397 (1990).
Perler Dominik, "Duns Scotus on signification," Medieval Philosophy
and Theology 3: 97-120 (1993).
"In both versions of his Commentary on the Sentences, Scotus alludes
to a great controversy among his contemporaries over the question of whether
a spoken word signifies a thing or a concept.
He does not give a detailed account of this controversy, but confines
himself to saying, "in short, I grant that what is properly signified by a
spoken word is a thing." This brief statement may seem trivial at first
sight, but it turns out to be innovative when it is assessed against the
background of medieval Aristotelian semantic theory. From Boethius onwards,
the overwhelming majority of the commentators on De interpretatione
held that it is a concept and not a thing that is primarily and directly
signified by a spoken word.
In this paper, I intend to examine the reasons that led Scotus to criticize
and revise the dominant theory. Such an examination can scarcely be
restricted to a logico-semantical analysis. An adequate understanding of the
relationship between a sign and its significate not only necessitates an
examination of the question of how this relationship is established,
but also a discussion of the question of what exactly the sign and
the significate are-what kind of entities they are. Therefore, the following
analysis aims at investigating not only the semantic aspects of Scotus's
theory of signification, but also its ontological commitments." (notes
omitted).
Pini Giorgio, "Duns Scotus' commentary on the Topics: new light
on his philosophical teaching," Archives d'Histoire doctrinale et
littéraire du Moyen Age 66: 225-243 (1999).
Pini Giorgio, "Species, concept, and thing: theories of signification in
the second half of the Thirteenth century," Medieval Philosophy and
Theology 8: 21-52 (2000).
Pini Giorgio, "Signification of names in Duns Scotus and some of his
contemporaries," Vivarium 39: 20-51 (2001).
Pini Giorgio. Scoto e l'analogia. Logica e metafisica nei commenti
aristotelici. Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore 2002.
Pini Giorgio. Categories and logic in Duns Scotus. An interpretation
of Aristotle's Categories inn the late Thirteenth century. Leiden: Brill
2002.
Pini Giorgio, "Scotus' realist conception of the categories: his legacy
to late medieval debates," Vivarium 43: 63-110 (2005).
Prentice Robert, "Univocity and analogy according to Scotus' Super
Libros Elenchorum Aristotelis," Archives d'Histoire doctrinale et
littéraire du Moyen Age 35: 39-64 (1968).
Prentice Robert. The basic quidditative metaphysics of Duns Scotus as
seen in his De primo principio. Roma: Antonianum 1970.
Prentice Robert. An anonymous Question on the Unity of the Concept of
Being (Attributed to Scotus). Roma: L.I.E.F. 1974.
Reichmann James B., "Scotus and Haecceitas, Aquinas and Esse:
a comparative study," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 80:
63-75 (2006).
"This study compares the teachings of Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus on
the issue of being and individuality. Its primary aim is to contrast
Scotus's individuating principle, haecceitas, with Aquinas's
actualizing principle, esse, attending both to their rather striking
similarities as well as to their significant differences. The article's
conclusion is that, while Scotus's crowning principle, haecceitas, is the
unique entity internal to each thing, rendering the nature complete and
singular as nature, Aquinas's crowning principle, esse, actualizes the
nature without individualizing it. This is not to imply that Scotus
overlooked the importance of a thing's being, any more than Aquinas
overlooked the importance of a being's singularity. It does mean, however,
that the primal integrating focus and the resulting philosophical synthesis
of these two seminal thinkers of the Middle Ages did significantly differ.
The conclusion of the paper might be stated thus: what most distinguishes
their respective philosophies is that, while Scotus's primary concern was
with the existing individual, Aquinas's was with the existing individual."
Richter Vladimir. Duns Scotus' text zur Univozität. In Historia
philosophiae Medii Aevi. Studien zur Geschichte der Philosophie des
Mittelalters. Edited by Mojsisch Burkhard and Pluta Olaf. Amsterdam: R.
Grüner 1991. pp. 899-1028
Shircel Cyril L. The univocity of the concept of Being in the
philosophy of John Duns scotus. Washington: Catholic University of
America Press 1942.
Sondag Gérard. Le sistème des causes dans la philosophie naturelle de
Jean Buridan. In Perspectives arabes et médiévales sur la tradition
scientifique et philosophique grecque. Edited by Hasnawi Ahmad,
Elamrani-Jamal Abdelali, and Aouad Maroun. Leuven: Peeters 1997. pp. 505-521
Actes du colloque de la SIHSPAI (Société internationale d'histoire des
sciences et de la philosophie arabes et islamiques) Paris, 31 mars - 3 avril
1993.
Sondag Gérard. Duns Scot. La métaphysique de la singularité.
Paris : Vrin 2005.
Söder Roland. Kontingenz und Wissen. Die Lehre von den futura
contingentia bei Johannes Duns Scotus. Münster: Aschendorff 1998.
Spruyt Joke. The semantics of complex espressions in John Duns Scotus,
Peter Abelard and John Buridan. In Aristotle's Peri hermeneias in the
Latin middle ages. Essays on the commentary tradition. Edited by
Braakhuis Henk A.G. and Kneepkens Corneille Henri. Turnhout: Brepols 2003.
pp. 275-303
Sylwanovicz Michael. Contingent causality and the foundations of Duns
Scotus' metaphysics. Leiden: Brill 1996.
Tweedale Martin, "Scotus and Ockham on the infinity of the most eminent
Being," Franciscan Studies 23: 257-267 (1963).
Tweedale Martin, "Duns Scotus' doctrine on Universals and the
Aphrodisian tradition," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 67:
77-93 (1993).
Vos Antonie. The philosophy of John Duns Scotus. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press 2006.
Wengert R.G., "The development of the doctrine of the formal distinction
in the Lectura prima of John Duns Scotus," Monist 49: 571-587
(1965).
"This article is a discussion of the vocabulary and arguments in Scotus'
"Prima Lectura" which seeks to show the close relationship between the
doctrine of "formal distinction" and the notion of "ultimate abstraction".
The paper also suggests that in the "Prima lectura" One is in at the birth
of the fully developed notion of "formal distinction" in Scotus' own
thought."
Wolter Allan Bernard. The transcendentals and their function in the
metaphysics of Duns Scotus. Washington: Catholic University of America
Press 1946.
Wolter Allan Bernard, "The realism of Scotus," Journal of Philosophy
59: 725-735 (1962).
"The realist-nominalist controversy in the fourteenth century owes its
origin to Duns Scotus and William Ockham, the two men whom C. S. Peirce in
his Harvard lectures on British logicians praised as "decidedly the greatest
speculative minds of the middle ages, as well as two of the profoundest
metaphysicians that ever lived." Scotus's reputation as a realist, even if
his realism be what neo-scholastics call "moderate" and Peirce "halting,"
rests on his conception of how the specific nature of anything exists in
individuals of any given kind."
Wolter Allan Bernard. The philosophical theology of John Duns Scotus.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1990.
From the Foreword: "Over the last four decades, Allan B. Wolter, O.F.M., has
done more than anyone else to make the philosophical theology of John Duns
Scotus accessible to the English-speaking world, by preparing English
translations of primary sources as well as interpretative essays introducing
readers to Scotus' central ideas.
These tasks have been both hindered and made more urgent by the painfully
slow progress of the new Vatican edition of Scotus' writings (volume I
containing the Prologue of Scotus' Oxford commentary on the Sentences
appeared in 1950; as of 1988, only nine volumes have been published, and the
critical edition of the Oxford commentary is not yet complete). Although
useful, the seventeenth-century Wadding edition is unreliable both in its
attributions and readings. Difficult issues of authenticity, dating, and the
interrelation of Scotus' works remain. Thus, beginning with his
dissertation, Wolter formed the habit of reverting to the manuscripts to
produce his own provisional editions, consulting with Vatican editors on the
Scotus Commission where possible.
Wolter's career as a Scotus translator began in 1947, when Paul Weiss
requested some material for the first volume of his new journal Review of
Metaphysics. Remarking on Scotus' notoriously tangled Latin, Wolter
described the work of translating it as "a special vocation" and vowed never
to do it again. Necessity is a sign of calling, however, and Wolter began
translating topical selections for summer-school students at the Franciscan
Institute in the early fifties. Many of these were published, with Wolter's
Latin editions on the facing pages, in Duns Scotus: Philosophical Writings:
A Selection (first published by Thomas Nelson, 1962, and English only in
Bobbs-Merrill's Library of Liberal Arts series, 1962; reprinted by Hackett,
1987). Over the years, Wolter has made many more of Scotus' works available,
always preferring the format of publishing the English and Latin together:
principally, John Duns Scotus: God and Creatures, the Quodlibetal Questions
(with Felix Alluntis); John Duns Scotus. A Treatise on God as First
Principle. A Latin Text with English Translation of the De Primo Principio;
and Duns Scotus on the Will and Morality. By now, Wolter has given us enough
for a reasonably comprehensive and balanced course on Scotus.
Duns Scotus is not called "the Subtle Doctor" for nothing, however. Diving
into his highly technical philosophical corpus without benefit of an
interpretive guide is heroic at best. Yet, when Wolter began, reliable
guides were unavailable. While not without value, the secondary literature
was on the whole confused and confusing, and/or marred by polemical
distortion. Together with Wolter's pioneering first book on Scotus, his
published dissertation The Transcendentals and Their Function in the
Metaphysics of Duns Scotus (finished in one semester of intensive
interaction with Philotheus Boehner), Wolter's interpretive essays over the
last forty years supply us with our needed map. Collected here from many
(often inaccessible) journals and books, they are a paradigm of method and a
treasure of illuminating insights. Wolter's consistent response to
interpretive puzzlement has been to return to the primary sources and to
offer readings as detailed and philosophically subtle as the texts
themselves. Thus, in the early days, when Scotus' ideas were "known" and
criticized mostly from hearsay, Wolter refuted misguided attacks with
careful analyses of the texts (see chapters 10 and 11 below). Throughout,
Wolter's own philosophical penetration of the material has enabled him to
make clear what seems in Scotus complex and confusing (e.g., regarding the
formal distinction, chapter 1, and Scotus' theory of universals, chapter 2).
Again, Wolter's identification of Scotus' doctrine of the will as the key to
his ethics resolves old and false puzzles (see chapters 7-9). At the same
time, Wolter's sensitivity to philological issues and to the historical
development of Scotus' thought has enabled him to illuminate Scotus' notion
of intuitive cognition (see chapter 5) as well as his account of Divine
foreknowledge (see chapter 13). All of the essays reflect Wolter's
philosophical and historical curiosity and a reasoned and reasonable
open-mindedness. Paying Scotus the respect due a great philosopher, Wolter
was glad to return to old topics because he always learned something new
(e.g., his treatment of formal distinction in chapter 1 makes new points not
found in his dissertation). Wolter's interests in analytic philosophy
surface as he relates Scotus' semantics and metaphysics to twentieth-century
analytic thought (see chapters 3 and 12)."
Contents: Foreword by Marilyn McCord Adams VII-IX; Introduction 1;
METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY
1. The Formal Distinction 27; 2. The Realism of Scotus 42; 3. A "Reportatio"
of Duns Scotus' Merton College. Dialogue on language and metaphysics 54; 4.
Scotus' Individuation theory 68; 5.
Duns Scotus on intuition, memory, and our knowledge of individuals 98;
ACTION THEORY AND ETHICS
6. Duns Scotus on the natural desire for the Supernatural 125; 7. Native
freedom of the will as a key to the ethics of Scotus 148; 8. Duns Scotus on
the will as rational potency 163; 9. Duns Scotus on the will and morality
181;
PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY
10. The "Theologism" of Duns Scotus 209; 11. Duns Scotus and the existence
and nature of God 254; 12. Is existence for Scotus a perfection, predicate,
or what? 278; 13. Scotus' Paris Lectures on God's knowledge of future events
285;
A Bibliography of Allan B. Wolter, O.F.M. 335; Index of Names 345; Index of
Subjects; 347-356.
Wolter Allan Bernard, "Reflections on the life and works of Scotus,"
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 67: 1-36 (1993).
Wolter Allan Bernard, "Scotus on the Divine origin of possibility,"
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 67: 95-107 (1993).
Wolter Allan Bernard. Scotus and Ockham: selected essays. St.
Bonaventure: Franciscan Institute Publications 2003.
Wood Rega, "Scotus's argument for the existence of God," Franciscan
Studies 47: 257-277 (1987).
(click on the image to see the PDF file)