Human Action in Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham


Book Description

This book sets out a thematic presentation of human action, especially as it relates to morality, in the three most significant figures in Medieval Scholastic thought: Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham




Thomas Aquinas & John Duns Scotus


Book Description

Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus are arguably the most celebrated representatives of the 'Golden Age' of scholasticism. Primarily, they are known for their work in natural theology, which seeks to demonstrate tenets of faith without recourse to premises rooted in dogma or revelation. Scholars of this Golden Age drew on a wealth of tradition, dating back to Plato and Aristotle, and taking in the Arabic and Jewish interpretations of these thinkers, to produce a wide variety of answers to the question 'How much can we learn of God?' Some responded by denying us any positive knowledge of God. Others believed that we have such knowledge, yet debated whether its acquisition requires some action on the part of God in the form of an illumination bestowed on the knower. Scotus and Aquinas belong to the more empirically minded thinkers in this latter group, arguing against a necessary role for illumination. Many scholars believe that Aquinas and Scotus exhaust the spectrum of answers available to this circle, with Aquinas maintaining that our knowledge is quite confused and Scotus that it is completely accurate. In this study, Alexander Hall argues that the truth about Aquinas and Scotus lies somewhere in the middle. Hall's book recommends itself to the general reader who is looking for an overview of this period in Western philosophy as well as to the specialist, for no other study on the market addresses this long-standing matter of interpretation in any detail.




The Immaculate Conception


Book Description

This second volume of the series Mariological Studies in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe treats the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, hidden in plain sight for nearly a thousand years prior to Bl. John Duns Scotus and his later influence at the Council of Florence. Until now, practically nothing was known of this history. Key to the present study is St. Gregory Nazianzen, whose Marian doctrine inspired Benedict XVI at a 2007 public audience: "Mary, who gave human nature to Christ, is true Mother of God and, in view of her highest mission, was 'prepurified,' as if a distant prelude of the Immaculate Conception." Fr. Kappes' groundbreaking thesis confirms Benedict's insight beyond anything previously imaginable. The person and mystery of Mary in Christ and the Church unfolds as indispensable for ecumenical theology. Greco-Latin agreement on the Immaculate Conception at Florence was itself a portent to subsequent harmony on other doctrinal questions, then, as now. As Pope Francis intensifies efforts to resolve differences between Orthodox and Catholics, Fr. Kappes' research clarifies Our Lady's central role in these efforts.




The Philosophical Vision of John Duns Scotus


Book Description

In this much-anticipated work, distinguished authors Mary Beth Ingham and Mechthild Dreyer present an accessible introduction to the philosophy of the thirteenth century Franciscan John Duns Scotus




John Duns Scotus on Parts, Wholes, and Hylomorphism


Book Description

In John Duns Scotus on Parts, Wholes, and Hylomorphism, Thomas M. Ward examines Scotus's arguments for his distinctive version of hylomorphism, the view that at least some material objects are composites of matter and form. It considers Scotus's reasons for adopting hylomorphism, and his accounts of how matter and form compose a substance, how extended parts, such as the organs of an organism, compose a substance, and how other sorts of things, such as the four chemical elements (earth, air, fire, and water) and all the things in the world, fail to compose a substance. It highlights the extent to which Scotus draws on his metaphysics of essential order to explain why some things can compose substance and why others cannot. Throughout the book, contemporary versions of hylomorphism are discussed in ways that both illumine Scotus's own views and suggest ways to advance contemporary debates.




Duns Scotus


Book Description

This is an accessible introduction to the life and thought of John Duns Scotus (c. 1266--1308), the scholastic philosopher and theologian who came to be called the Subtle Doctor. A native of Scotland (as his name implies), Scotus became a Franciscan and taught in Oxford, Paris, and Cologne. In his writings he put Aristotelian thought to the service of Christian theology and was the founder of a school of scholasticism called Scotism, which was often opposed to the Thomism of the followers of Thomas Aquinas. In particular, Scotus is well known for his defense of contra-causal free will and logical possibility and for his account of individuation in terms of "haecceity" or "thisness." Cross offers a clear introductory account of the most significant aspects of Scotus's theological thought. Theology is here construed broadly to include Scotus's philosophical investigation of God's existence and attributes. In addition to providing a clear, though not always uncritical, outline of Scotus's positions, Cross aims to show how Scotus's theories fit into modern debates, particularly contemporary debates in philosophical theology, and to point out Scotus's historical significance in the development of theology.




The Physics of Duns Scotus


Book Description

This text contains detailed discussion and analysis of Dun Scotus's accounts of the nature of matter and the structure of material substance. His views on these matters are sophisticated and highly original.




The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus


Book Description

Table of contents




God and Creatures


Book Description

This is the first major work of the famous mediaeval scholastic theologian John Duns Scotus to be translated into English in its entirety. One of the towering intellectual figures of his age, Scotus has had a lasting influence on Western philosophy comparable only to that of Thomas Aquinas. The questions Scotus discusses on the subject "God and Creatures" were originally presented to him in the course of a quodlibetal dispute, a public debate popular in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In revising the questions for publication, Scotus wove in much of his basic philosophy and theology, making this work one of the mainstays on which his reputation as a thinker depends. The text of the English translation is based on the most authoritative version of the original Latin text. The extensive annotation and a glossary of technical terms permit each question to be read as an integral treatise in its own right. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.




John Duns Scotus


Book Description

Thomas Williams presents the most extensive collection of John Duns Scotus's work on ethics and moral psychology available in English. John Duns Scotus: Selected Writings on Ethics includes extended discussions-and as far as possible, complete questions-on divine and human freedom, the moral attributes of God, the relationship between will and intellect, moral and intellectual virtue, practical reasoning, charity, the metaphysics of goodness and rightness, the various acts, affections, and passions of the will, justice, the natural law, sin, marriage and divorce, the justification for private property, and lying and perjury. Relying on the recently completed critical edition of the Ordinatio and other critically edited texts, this collection presents the most reliable and up-to-date versions of Scotus's work in an accessible and philosophically informed translation.