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John Duns Scotus's Metaphysics of Goodness

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John Duns Scotus's Metaphysics of Goodness University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 11-16-2015 John Duns Scotus’s Metaphysics of Goodness: Adventures in 13th-Century Metaethics Jeffrey W. Steele University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Medieval History Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Scholar Commons Citation Steele, Jeffrey W., "John Duns Scotus’s Metaphysics of Goodness: Adventures in 13th-Century Metaethics" (2015). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6029 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. John Duns Scotus’s Metaphysics of Goodness: Adventures in 13 th -Century Metaethics by Jeffrey Steele A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Thomas Williams, Ph.D. Roger Ariew, Ph.D. Colin Heydt, Ph.D. Joanne Waugh, Ph.D Date of Approval: November 12, 2015 Keywords: Medieval Philosophy, Transcendentals, Being, Aquinas Copyright © 2015, Jeffrey Steele DEDICATION To the wife of my youth, who with patience and long-suffering endured much so that I might gain a little knowledge. And to God, fons de bonitatis . She encouraged me; he sustained me. Both have blessed me. “O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!!” --Psalm 34:8 “You are the boundless good, communicating your rays of goodness so generously, and as the most lovable being of all, every single being in its own way returns to you as its ultimate end.” –John Duns Scotus, De Primo Principio Soli Deo Gloria . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members—Roger Ariew, Colin Heydt, Joanne Waugh, and Thomas Williams—for guidance and encouragement during my time at the University of South Florida. I am especially grateful to Thomas Williams, whose love for Duns Scotus oddly and uniquely matches mine, and whose help has made this project far better than anything I could have produced on my own. I am also grateful to Roger Ariew, Susan Ariew and Thomas Williams for acquiring the critical edition of Duns Scotus’s Lectura and Ordinatio , allowing this study to utilize the most accurate Latin texts. I would also like to thank my former professors, Brian Morley, for introducing me to philosophy, and Dave Horner, for convincing me that studying medieval ethics was a good worth pursuing. I would also like to thank my friend, Tim Hoelzel, whose encouragement and discussions over cigars at Hume Lake, truly contributed to the finishing of this manuscript. Finally, I would like to thank my Father, whose love for truth fills the very fibers of my being; and my mother, whose grace and goodness I seek to emulate. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Introduction: The Priority of Goodness ...........................................................................................1 Vetus Latina, Antiqua Auctoritas ........................................................................................1 The Significance of Analyzing Goodness in Duns Scotus ..................................................4 Dissertation Overview .........................................................................................................7 Chapter One: Creation and Nature: A History of Being and Goodness ........................................11 The Nature Approach .........................................................................................................12 Aristotle..................................................................................................................12 Augustine ...............................................................................................................14 The Creation Approach ......................................................................................................25 Aquinas’s Synthesis ...........................................................................................................30 Scotus on Being and Goodness ..........................................................................................33 Chapter Two: The Convertibility of Being and Good and the Nature of the Transcendentals .....37 The Convertibility of Being and Good ..............................................................................38 The Traditional Account of Convertibility ........................................................................42 Philip the Chancellor..............................................................................................42 Albert the Great......................................................................................................45 Thomas Aquinas ....................................................................................................48 Scotus: Being and Good are Formally Distinct .................................................................54 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................60 Chapter Three: Scotus’s Nature approach: Augustinian Hierarchy of Goods ...............................63 Goodness and Perfection....................................................................................................64 The Hierarchy of Substances .............................................................................................66 The Hierarchy of Goodness ...............................................................................................76 Chapter Four: Secondary Goodness ...............................................................................................80 The Meaning of ‘Convenientia’ .........................................................................................81 Secondary Goodness as a Secondary Perfection ...............................................................85 Secondary Goodness as a Non-Absolute Quality ..............................................................87 Secondary Goodness in Comparison with Beauty .............................................................88 An Aside: Beauty and the Transcendentals .......................................................................95 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................100 i Chapter Five: Generic, Moral, and Meritorious Goodness Prior to Scotus .................................104 Peter Lombard ..................................................................................................................105 Peter of Poitiers ................................................................................................................109 Philip the Chancellor........................................................................................................113 Albert the Great................................................................................................................123 Bonaventure .....................................................................................................................129 Thomas Aquinas: A Different Approach .........................................................................132 The Convertibility of Being and Good ................................................................133 The Application of Convertibility to Acts ...........................................................133 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................139 Chapter Six: Scotus on Generic, Moral, and Meritorious Goodness ...........................................142 Secondary Natural Goodness ..........................................................................................148 Moral Goodness: Regulated by Recta Ratio ....................................................................144 Generic Goodness ................................................................................................150 Specific Goodness ................................................................................................154 Meritorious Goodness ..........................................................................................161 Implications......................................................................................................................174 Chapter Seven: Badness ...............................................................................................................183 Badness and Primary Goodness .......................................................................................183 Badness and Secondary Goodness ...................................................................................184 Secondary Natural Badness .................................................................................184 Secondary Moral Badness....................................................................................185 Generic Badness.......................................................................................187
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