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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] John Duns Scotus Biography DUNS SCOTUS. One of the greatest thinkers of the Middle Ages, who by his acumen displayed in his defense of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception won for himself the title Doctor Subtilis. He was born either in 1265 or in 1274. The place of his birth is not known. England, Scotland, and Ireland all claim him. He entered the Order of Franciscans, studied at Oxford, and in 1301 became professor of theology there. His prelections were attended by crowds of auditors. In 1304 he removed to Paris and in 1308 to Cologne, where he died in November of the same year. The general principles of the Scotist system of philosophy deviate only in some points from the Thomist doctrine. (See AQUINAS.) Duns Scotus establishes the necessity of revelation on the ground that reason does not teach us clearly and plainly the highest end of our existence—the intuition of God. In addition to natural knowledge or philosophy, revelation is necessary to enable man to know the fullness of truth and, on the basis of this knowledge, to fulfill his eternal destiny. Revelation therefore supplements and perfects this knowledge, and consequently no contradiction can exist between them. The object of theology is God, as God sub ratione deitatis, while philosophy only treats of God in so far as He is the first cause of things. Theology is a practical science, directed not so much to the removal of ignorance as towards the furtherance of our salvation. The incorruptibility and immortality of the human soul he holds to be a truth of faith, which cannot be demonstrated by reason. Duns Scotus was a realist in philosophy (see Nominalism) and yet maintained that universals do not need to be differentiated to become individuals. Individuality is original, and the universal, while preëxisting in God's plan, has real existence only in the individuals, from which, by abstraction, the human mind comes to cognize it. The supreme function of mind is, for Duns Scotus, not thought, as for Thomas Aquinas, but will; and he maintained the position by acutely pointing out that clear thought presupposes the exercise of will in attention. Will is free, he taught, and not determined by motives. This is true, not only of men, but of God, who therefore does not, as Thomas Aquinas asserts, command an action because He sees it to be good, but makes it good by commanding it. Duns Scotus had numerous adherents, the best known among whom was Francis of Mayro (died 1325). But when the revival of learning came, the "Dunsmen," or followers of Duns, "raged in every pulpit" against the new classic studies and brought their name into such disrepute as stupid obstructionists that the word "dunce" (=Dunsman) came to mean a "blockhead." The most famous of Duns Scotus's works, besides his commentaries on the Bible and Aristotle, is his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, called the Opus Oxoniense, of which the Opus Parisiense is an abridgment. The chief edition of his works is that prepared by his order, and usually assigned to Luke Wadding (12 vols., Lyons, 1639), but it is by no means complete, containing only his philosophical works; nor is it all authentic, as at least one of the volumes is a compilation of lecture notes taken by his hearers. Duns Scotus's works have not received the attention they deserve, and a satisfactory work on his philosophy is still to seek. Consult: Stöckl, Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters (Mainz, 1865); Werner, Duns Scotus (Vienna, 1881); Pluzanski, Essai sur la philosophie de Duns Scotus (Paris, 1887); Siebeck, "Die Willenslehre bei Duns Scotus und seinen Nachfolgern," in Zeitschrift für Philosophie (Berlin, 1898); Royce, Conception of God (New York, 1898); De Wulf, Histoire de la philosophie médiévale (Paris, 1905; Eng. trans., London, 1909); also the histories of philosophy by Ueberweg, Erdmann, and Windelband. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 335. |