Duns Scotus

Blessed

John Duns Scotus

OFM
Blessed; John Duns Scotus; OFM
	Portrait by Justus van Gent, c. 1476-1478
Born	c. 1265/66; Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland
Died	8 November 1308 (aged 41–42); Cologne, Holy Roman Empire
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	20 March 1993, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine	Franciscan Church, Cologne, Germany
Feast	8 November
Attributes	Books, a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the moon on the chest of a Franciscan friar
Patronage	Academics, Cologne, Germany, apologies, scholars, student, theologians and philosophers
Education
Education	University of Oxford University of Paris
Doctoral advisor	William of Ware
Philosophical work
Era	Medieval philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Scholasticism; Scotism; Aristotelianism; Theological voluntarism; Philosophical realism; Medieval realism (Scotistic realism);
Institutions	University of Oxford
Doctoral students	William of Ockham
Main interests	Metaphysics, theology, logic, epistemology, ethics
Notable ideas	Univocity of being; Formal distinction; Theological voluntarism; Haecceity as a principle of individuation; Scotistic realism; Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary;
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John Duns Scotus OFM (/ˈskoʊtəs/ SKOH-təs; Ecclesiastical Latin: [duns ˈskɔtus], "Duns the Scot"; c. 1265/66 – 8 November 1308)^[9] was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered among the most important philosopher-theologians in Western Christendom during the last part of the medieval period, together with Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure and William of Ockham.^[10]

Duns Scotus has had considerable influence on both Catholic and secular thought. The doctrines for which he is best known are the "univocity of being", that existence is the most abstract concept we have, applicable to everything that exists; the formal distinction, a way of distinguishing between different formalities of the same thing; and the idea of haecceity, the property supposed to be in each individual thing that makes it an individual (i.e. a certain "thisness"). Duns Scotus also developed a complex argument for the existence of God, and argued for the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The intellectual tradition derived from Scotus' work is called Scotism.

Duns Scotus was given the scholastic accolade Doctor Subtilis ("the subtle doctor") for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

^ Williams, Thomas (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 2.
^ He has long been claimed as a Merton alumnus, but there is no contemporary evidence to support this claim and as a Franciscan, he would have been ineligible for fellowships at Merton (see Martin, G. H. & Highfield, J. R. L. (1997). A History of Merton College. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 53).
^ Cross, Richard (2014). Duns Scotus's Theory of Cognition. Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-19-968488-5. Scotus is a good Aristotelian, in the sense that he believes that cognition always has an empirical starting point
^ Walker, L. (1912). Voluntarism. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 27 September 2019 from New Advent.
^ The Sheed & Ward Anthology of Catholic Philosophy. Rowman & Littlefield. 2005. ISBN 978-0-7425-3198-7.
^ "Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109)", Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006, retrieved 10 November 2017
^ Anthony Kenny, Wyclif in His Times, Oxford UP, 1986, p. 35 n. 13.
^ Harjeet Singh Gill, Signification in language and culture, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2002, p. 109.
^ Williams, Thomas (2019), "John Duns Scotus", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
^ Spade, Paul Vincent (2018), "Medieval Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Histories of medieval philosophy often treat Thomas Aquinas (1224/25–74), John Duns Scotus (c. 1265–1308) and William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347) as the "big three" figures in the last few centuries of the medieval period (1200-1500); a few add Bonaventure (1221–74) as a fourth. Although there is certainly ample justification for giving special emphasis to these authors, it would be misleading if one thought one could get even a fair overall picture from them alone. Nevertheless, the list is instructive and illustrates several things.

[1] Williams, Thomas (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 2.

[2] He has long been claimed as a Merton alumnus, but there is no contemporary evidence to support this claim and as a Franciscan, he would have been ineligible for fellowships at Merton (see Martin, G. H. & Highfield, J. R. L. (1997). A History of Merton College. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 53).

[3] Cross, Richard (2014). Duns Scotus's Theory of Cognition. Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-19-968488-5. Scotus is a good Aristotelian, in the sense that he believes that cognition always has an empirical starting point

[4] Walker, L. (1912). Voluntarism. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 27 September 2019 from New Advent.

[5] The Sheed & Ward Anthology of Catholic Philosophy. Rowman & Littlefield. 2005. ISBN 978-0-7425-3198-7.

[6] "Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109)", Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006, retrieved 10 November 2017

[7] Anthony Kenny, Wyclif in His Times, Oxford UP, 1986, p. 35 n. 13.

[Gill-8] Harjeet Singh Gill, Signification in language and culture, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2002, p. 109.

[9] Williams, Thomas (2019), "John Duns Scotus", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[10] Spade, Paul Vincent (2018), "Medieval Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Histories of medieval philosophy often treat Thomas Aquinas (1224/25–74), John Duns Scotus (c. 1265–1308) and William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347) as the "big three" figures in the last few centuries of the medieval period (1200-1500); a few add Bonaventure (1221–74) as a fourth. Although there is certainly ample justification for giving special emphasis to these authors, it would be misleading if one thought one could get even a fair overall picture from them alone. Nevertheless, the list is instructive and illustrates several things.

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