Duns Scotus, Metaphysician

by William A. Frank, Allan B. Wolter

Overview

Long recognized as one of the greatest medieval philosophical theologians, John Duns Scotus made his most innovative theoretical contributions in the area of metaphysics. A careful and detailed study of his argument for the existence of God and the theory of knowledge that makes this possible provides the most direct access to his basic ideas. Unlike the Five Ways of Thomas Aquinas or Anselm's famous Proslogion argument, Scotus's proof is of another order of complexity and amounts to a little summa of his metaphysics. Among those theologians to accept Aristotle's scientific theory, Scotus is perhaps the first to realize fully its negative consequences if the philosophical doctrines of divine illumination and the analogical concept of being interact. His treatment of the God-question is distinguished for its deliberatively holistic approach to what was conventionally a series of unrelated topics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557530721
Publisher:	Purdue University Press
Publication date:	11/01/1995
Series:	Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

William A. Frank has a doctorate in philosophy from Catholic University of America.

Allan B. Wolter, O.F.M., is the author of numerous works on medieval philosophy and was a research associate of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

Editorial Reviews

"The authors’ selections [of Scotus’s texts] are judicious – chosen not only because of the way they highlight the topics at issue, but also to supplement what is already available. The commentary does a remarkable job of addressing those new to Scotus while still informing scholars
in the area. The discussions of Scotus’s proof for the existence of God and of Scotus’s epistemology are nothing less than outstanding." —Marilyn McCord Adams

From the Publisher

The authors’ selections [of Scotus’s texts] are
judicious – chosen not only because of the way they highlight the topics at
issue, but also to supplement what is already available. The commentary does a
remarkable job of addressing those new to Scotus while still informing scholars
in the area. The discussions of Scotus’s proof for the existence of God and of
Scotus’s epistemology are nothing less than outstanding.”

Marilyn McCord Adams