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Filosofia De Escoto.Pdf THE NELSON PHILOSOPHICAL TEXTS General Editor Raymond Klibansky Frothingham Professor of Logic and Metaphysics McGill University Honorary Fellow of the Warburg Institute University of London Nihil obstat: Roy Effler, o.f.m. Censor Deputatus Imprimi potest: Eligius Weir, o.f.m. Minister Provincialis Nihil obstat: Philotheus Boehner, o.f.m. Censor Deputatus Imprimatur : ' 4" Josephus Aloisius Episcopus Bujfalensis Smtnt Itwnnpftwrttlf ro (irncmt fixv< »ctti«W *(fileni tmitr mCpt" rt& lift* uft mrc \vt(xfiqi amis p \mh (idnc ys pmo lit pf nt«ttoUrt»te -n:omuli?-. Si p'V «j" a- pmo ofao \n 1 1TB TOWIC mfll!l?0iji'r [i run00 S oii-rtrhi ncf iip^Jdcm 6* emnpSui.pommel gjpWolitw »n •i|cnsg 0ntcc%r per h?c nir at I ens ihr r*<wie*&oumrr's nccns <jt» saffntflrijni <f u \}<*tm time }-mcn iyenvi [ivb pint)fpffim*tpttmr f«iTmn tt*$Wfi»t,ttttHftt,et' niu6ififtnrc%. '>i:'»c«*i!>wpnTicrn»«',,v)*'" Iroi i Wf,4*notnjMfi;r«f»^i&i« fitpnn pfttwti Hlo $° n^mn^misy? p<nfe nnofcfiflr mnmifi ; ttanM fs i nrpfn& ne arftnr-ml'w mufti' in jrftis jjr ft no teft n va'^itinotU'jo'nDntr ci6 w (Jft,|6 '"£$ 'alms i fme'enu cWidil mint r»i«jf tiotthnrm nans pB*fft rmaaflrftl p'c(flh«frnU8ttrfHflaTiimfl \\?i\i\x ni pis lih&j en- injprniara otcnr SSrtnf^fi^ r paa «3 «rt fine ci(pnttma i^a^ (l)lr <*£(,. m-t f^t gtvile g-t«Tnc'Tn|pnt*o,copn»'6»tnptilt g^ppCjipjf iKKittlh ?impftiifi0oicttfci$utm ^Strintfnnnl mm jj>no6tr |sjc'T inifirmntonWrcnt$> otbcfp mttwg cf &cyxitwnam omi raj^t * (> on? moo' aj$-' 5? * r^Nft 0^«'riM«;Vo»sc»t«flm5»ir,nirj)i'a vnTe'tc «i)pta r*^ aeftipf JH-tteefl-cna ie»rf»r fomnne tfiv\ «nnftot vtnnta iwnir ca gr*Yi"aiuis pirhfc ernn Hfafmtttv Beginning of the Ordinatio of Duns Scotus From MS lat. 3114 of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, fol. 1'-. (Photo B.N.) DUNS SCOTUS PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS A selection edited and translated by ALLAN WOLTER, O.F.M. Professor of Philosophy at the Franciscan Institute St Bonaventure, N. T. NELSON 1963 THOMAS NELSON AND SONS LTD Parkside Works Edinburgh 9 36 Park Street London Wl 117 Latrobe Street Melbourne Cr Thomas Nelson and Sons (Africa) (Pty) Ltd P.O. Box 9881 Johannesburg Thomas Nelson and Sons (Canada) Ltd 91-93 "Wellington Street West Toronto 1 Thomas Nelson and Sons 18 East 41st Street New York 17, N.Y. Societe Francaise d'£ditions Nelson 97 rue Monge Paris 5 © Allan Wolter 1962 Reprinted ig6$ PREFACE In a volume of the present size, a compiler can give a broader if somewhat piecemeal view of a man's philo­ sophy by limiting the length of the selections, or he may sacrifice comprehensiveness of subject matter in the interests of revealing his thinker at work. I have chosen the latter alternative, building the present selection around five key questions concerned with God and the human soul, the two philosophical topics of greatest interest to an ex professo theologian like Duns Scotus. Following the Avicennian interpretation of Aristotelian metaphysics, like Albertus Magnus, Siger of Brabant, Aquinas and most scholastics of his day, Scotus envisioned God as the goal of any rational metaphysic whose subject is being qua being. The two selections dealing with the existence and unicity of God, then, form the core of his "first philosophy". They are introduced by a few short sections in which Scotus describes this "transcendental science" and the type of conclusion it purports to establish, followed by a question wherein the Subtle Doctor analyzes his philosophical concept of God in terms of his controversial thesis regarding the univocity of being. Of the two questions about the human soul, one touches on its spirituality and immortality, the other concerns its ability to attain certain knowledge. Taken from Scotus's most important work, his Ordinatio (called more frequently, if less accurately, his Oxford Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard), the key questions are presented in their entirety, except for certain minor marginal notes in the manuscript text and —where Scotus has combined several questions into one —those portions not germane to the question selected. The manuscript (Codex Assisii, bibliotheca commun- alis 137) from which the Latin text is taken, repre- VI PREFACE sents an early fourteenth-century attempt at a critical edition of this work and is the basis of the Vatican edition now in progress. Where the text is obviously at fault, however, I have not hesitated to adopt a better manu­ script reading for the translation. The short bibliography makes no attempt to do justice to the flood of recent Scotistic literature, especially in foreign languages, but is limited to larger English mono­ graphs on specific aspects of Scotus's philosophy or to works like those of Father Copleston or Miss Sharp, wherein a fairly brief but comprehensive account of Scotus's general philosophical positions can be found. May I take this occasion to express my indebtedness to the late Father Philotheus Boehner, o.f.m., and to Father Gaudens Mohan, o.f.m., of the Franciscan Institute, for help in preparing and checking the Latin text. I am deeply grateful also to Professor Raymond Klibansky for his part in bringing this volume to fruition, though I have not been able to accept all his suggestions. I take full responsibility both for the constitution of the text and for the translation. Allan B. Wolter The Franciscan Institute, St Bonaventure, N.V. CONTENTS Introduction ix i Concerning Metaphysics i ii Man's Natural Knowledge of God 13 in The Existence of God 34 iv The Unicity of God 82 v Concerning Human Knowledge 96 vi The Spirituality and Immortality of the Human Soul 133 Notes 163 Indexes 189 INTRODUCTION Documentary data on the life of John Duns Scotus are scanty. Scarcely more than half a dozen definite chrono­ logical records are available. The earliest date men­ tioned in connexion with Scotus is found in the Chronicle of the Scottish Franciscans, transcribed in the sixteenth century by W. Tweedy, a notary public of Haddington. As preserved in the eighteenth-century Monasticon Scoti- canum of Marianus Brockie, o.s.b., the chronicle states : In the year 1278 Friar Elias Duns, guardian of Dumfries, came to Haddington and in the presence of the other guardians in a chapter of the Order received the office of vicar general of the Kingdom of Scotland and took back with him to Dumfries that celebrated theologian, John Duns, called Scotus by reason of his country, and gave him the habit of religion. For he [John] was his nephew by his brother Ninian Duns of Littledean and had attended the lower schools of Haddington, where he had given remarkable indications of his future learning. Though L. Meier, o.f.m. has recently attempted to dis­ credit the value of this entry, his reasons do not appear too convincing. Until further proof is forthcoming, we can hardly ignore or reject the testimony of this chronicle entirely. More certain, however, is the next record, that of Scotus's ordination to the priesthood by Oliver Sutton, Bishop of Lincoln, on 17 March 1291. Of the forty- eight priests ordained that day in the priory of St Andrew, Northampton, five were Franciscans, including "Fr. Johannes Dons". On 26 July 1300 Scotus was at Oxford, for we find his name among the twenty-two friars of the Oxford convent whose names the English provincial, Hugh of Hartlepool, submitted to John Dalderby, Bishop of Lincoln, for faculties to hear confessions. X DUNS SCOTUS The colophon of Codex 66 of Merton College, Oxford, contains this note by an early fourteenth-century hand : "This is from the Ordinatio of the Venerable Friar John Duns of the Order of Friars Minor who flourished at Cambridge, Oxford and Paris, and died in Cologne". At the end of the Worcester manuscript (f 69), one of the earliest of Scotus's Parisian lectures on the Sentences, is the remark that Scotus began commenting on the first book "at Paris in the year of the Lord 1302, the third having started", and that he commented on the fourth book "in the study at Paris in the year 1303". The phrase "the third having started" seems to be a reference to the autumn term (from about 9 October 1302 until April 1303). According to "Gallican custom" the new year began on 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation. Scotus's presence in Paris at this time is confirmed by the fact that we find his name listed among those friars who on 25 June 1303 refused to support King Philip IV in his appeal to a general council against Pope Boni­ face VIII. The penalty for such opposition was exile from France within three days. Scotus was evidently back in Paris again by the end of 1304, for the Minister General of the Franciscans, Gonsalvus of Spain, sent a letter from Ascoli in the March of Ancona on 18 November 1304 to William, guardian of the Franciscan convent at Paris. It reads as follows : In reference to the promotion of Friar Giles of Ligny, about whom I have been informed by your letters, we ought, as the custom is, to make provision for another similar presentation. Since, according to the statutes of the Order and the statutes of your convent, the bachelor to be presented at this time should belong to some province other than the province of France, I assign to you Friar John Scotus, of whose laudable life, excellent knowledge, and most subtle ability, as well as his other remark­ able qualities, I am fully informed, partly from long experience and partly from report which has been spread everywhere— to be presented primarily and in the regular course after the INTRODUCTION XI said Friar Giles.
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