The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

John Duns Scotus (1265/6-1308) was (along with Aquinas and Ockham) one of the three principal figures in medieval philosophy and theology, with an influence on modern thought arguably greater than that of Aquinas. The essays in this volume systematically survey the full range of Scotus's thought. They clearly explain the technical details of his writing and demonstrate the relevance of his work to contemporary philosophical debate. Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 CONTENTS 9 CONTRIBUTORS 11 ABBREVIATIONS AND METHOD OF CITATION 15 WORKS OF SCOTUS 15 OTHER AUTHORS 16 OTHER ABBREVIATIONS 16 DUNS SCOTUS IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION 17 Introduction 19 I. SOCOTUS'S LIFE 19 II. SCOTUS'S WORKS 24 NOTES 31 1 Scotus on Metaphysics 33 I. METAPHYSICS AS THE SCIENCE OF BEING 33 I.1. Theoretical Science 33 I.2. The Primary Object of a Science 34 I.3. The Univocity of ‘Being’ 36 II. IDENTITY AND DISTINCTNESS 39 II.1. Real Distinction and Distinction of Reason 39 II.2. Formal Distinction 40 II.3. Modal Distinction 43 III. THE STRUCTURE OF REALITY 44 III.1. Being and the Transcendentals 44 III.2. The Categories 46 IV. CAUSALITY 56 IV.1. The Causal Order 56 IV.2. The Existence of God 61 IV.3. Self-Change 64 V. PARTICULARS 67 V.1. Matter 67 V.2. Form 68 V.3. Composite Substances 71 VI. CONCLUSION 74 NOTES 75 2 Space and Time 87 I. PLACE 88 I.1. Place, Whereness, and Position 88 I.2. The Priority of Body to Place 89 I.3. The Existence of a Void 89 I.4. The Immobility of Place 92 II. SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CONTINUA 96 II.1. The Concept of Continuity 96 II.2. Successive and Permanent Items 96 II.3. Indivisibilism 97 II.4. Scotus’s Criticisms of Arguments for Indivisibilism 98 II.5. Scotus’s Arguments Against Indivisibilism 99 II.6. The Nature of Indivisibles 100 III. TIME 101 III.1. The Ontological Status of Past, Present, and Future 101 III.2. Objective Time Flow 105 III.3. Time and Motion 107 NOTES 111 3 Universals and Individuation 118 I. UNIVERSALS 120 I.1. Avicenna 120 I.2. Scotus 123 II. INDIVIDUATION 130 II.1. Scotus’s Criticism of Alternative Positions 132 II.2. Scotus’s Own Solution 136 III. CONCLUDING REMARKS 139 NOTES 140 4 Duns Scotus’s Modal Theory 147 I. THE CONTINGENCY OF THE PRESENT 148 II. POSSIBILITY AND EXISTENCE OF GOD 155 III. NECESSITY AND FREEDOM 159 IV. LOGICAL POSSIBILITY 163 V. POSSIBLE WORLDS 172 VI. CONCLUSION 173 NOTES 174 5 Duns Scotus’s Philosophy of Language 179 I. WORDS, INTELLIGIBLE SPECIES, AND THINGS 181 II. CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT TERMS 189 III. TERMS OF FIRST AND SECOND INTENTION 192 IV. NAMING AND UNDERSTANDING 196 V. SIGNIFICATION AND FALLACIES 200 VI. CONCLUSIONS 203 NOTES 206 6 Duns Scotus on Natural Theology 211 I. DUNS SCOTUS'S CONCEPTION OF NATURAL THEOLOGY 213 I.1. Limitations of Scope 214 II. ON THE UNIVOCAL TRANSCENDENTAL CONCEPT OF BEING 214 III. THE PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF A FIRST EXPLANATORY BEING 216 IV. THE ARGUMENT 219 IV.1. As to the Inconsistency of a Nonending Regress 220 IV.2. As to the Nonnecessity of any Unending Essentially Ordered Regress 222 IV.3. The Necessary Being of the First Efficient Cause 223 IV.4. About the Ways of Finality and Eminence 224 IV.5. Embedded Argument 225 V. THE NATURE OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF BEING 227 V.1. Necessity 228 V.2. Unicity and Uniqueness 228 V.3. The First Principle Has All Pure Perfections 229 V.4. Simplicity 229 V.5. Analogy of Meaning vs. Univocity 230 V.6. Intelligence 231 V.7. The Extent of Divine Knowledge 232 V.8. Multiplicity of Divine Ideas? 233 V.9. Instants 234 V.10. Omnipotence 235 V.11. The Freedom of the First Being 237 V.12. Infinity 241 VI. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 242 VII. PARTING THOUGHTS ON SCOTUS'S NATURAL THEOLOGY 243 NOTES 245 7 Duns Scotus on Natural and Supernatural Knowledge of God 256 I. NATURAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 257 II. SUPERNATURAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 270 II.A. The First Argument 273 II.B. The Second Argument 275 II.C. The Third Argument 276 II.D. The Fourth Argument 277 II.E. The Fifth Argument 277 NOTES 279 8 Philosophy of Mind 281 I. THE IMMATERIALITY OF THE SOUL 281 II. THE POWERS OF THE SOUL 285 III. THE SOUL'S RELATION TO THE BODY 289 IV. A DISEMBODIED SOUL 294 NOTES 296 9 Cognition 303 I. THE COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK 303 II. MENTAL REPRESENTATION 305 III. IS COGNITION ACTIVE OR PASSIVE (OR BOTH)? 308 IV. THE OBJECT OF INTELLECT 311 V. INTUITIVE COGNITION 314 VI. DIVINE ILLUMINATION 318 NOTES 322 10 Scotus’s Theory of Natural Law 330 I. THE DOCTRINE OF NATURAL LAW 332 II. THE RELATION OF NATURAL LAW THEORY TO OTHER ASPECTS OF SCOTUS'S ETHICS 341 NOTES 346 11 From Metaethics to Action Theory 350 I. BEING AND GOODNESS 350 II. THE HUMAN GOOD AND THE GOODNESS OF PARTICULAR ACTS 353 III. PASSIONS AND APPETITES 360 IV. THE WILL AS ACTIVE POWER 363 NOTES 367 12 Rethinking Moral Dispositions: Scotus on the Virtues 370 I. THIRTEENTH-CENTURY ETHICS: A LARGE, CONFUSING LEGACY 370 II. CAN VIRTUE MAKE AN ACT GOOD? 373 II.1. Moral Actions Must Be Free 373 II.2. Moral Growth Must Begin Somewhere 376 III. VIRTUE NATURALIZED 378 III.1. Acting with Ease and Pleasure 379 III.2. Loving God above All 381 III.3. Separating Moral Virtue from Happiness 384 IV. CHOOSING AND FEELING 386 V. MORALLY MIXED CHARACTERS 387 V.1. Prudence Required but Divided 389 V.2. Partial Perfections 389 NOTES 392 BIBLIOGRAPHY 395 CITATIONS OF WORKS ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN DUNS SCOTUS 413 INDEX 423 Each volume in this series of companions to major philosophers contains specially commissioned essays by an international team of scholars, together with a substantial bibliography, and will serve as a reference work for students and non-specialists. One aim of the series is to dispel the intimidation such readers often feel when faced with the work of a difficult and challenging thinker. John Duns Scotus (1265/6–1308) was (along with Aquinas and Ockham) one of the three principal figures in medieval philosophy and theology, with an influence on modern thought arguably even greater than that of Aquinas. The essays in this volume systematically survey the full range of Scotus'thought. They take care to explain the technical details of his writing in lucid terms and demonstrate the relevance of his work to contemporary philosophical debate. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Scotus currently available. This chapter discusses Scotus's metaphysics under six headings: the nature of metaphysics itself as a discipline (Section I); identity and distinctness (Section II); the extent and scope of the Aristotelian categories (Section III); causality and essential orders (Section IV); matter, form, and the composite of matter and form (Section V); and a brief return to the nature of metaphysics (Section VI). John Duns Scotus (1265/6-1308) was one of the three principal figures in medieval philosophy and theology, with an influence on modern thought arguably even greater than that of Aquinas. The essays in this volume systematically survey the full range of Scotus's thought A comprehensive treatment of the life and work of John Duns Scotus offers essays on his contributions to medieval philosophy and theology.