John Duns Scotus (Philosopher, Theologian, Franciscan Monk) ca 1266 – 1308

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John Duns Scotus Demographics:

John Duns Scotus Early Life & Education:

Little is known for certain of Scotus' life.
Probably born ~1266; birthplace possibly at Duns, in Berwickshire, Scotland.
Ordained as a priest in Northampton, England (1291).
A Merton College (Oxford) note (Codex 66) documents that Scotus "flourished at Cambridge, Oxford and Paris."

John Duns Scotus Later Life:

He was the mentor to William of Ockham.
Lectured at the University of Paris in Autumn of 1302.
Scotus was expelled from the University of Paris for siding with Pope Boniface VIII in his feud with Philip the Fair of France regarding the taxation of church property.
He returned to the University of Paris in 1304 to continue lecturing.
He later moved to the Franciscan studium at Cologne (? October 1307), where he died the next year.
The Scotus sarcophagus (Church of the Franciscans, Cologne) bears the Latin inscription:
Scotia me genuit. Anglia me suscepit. Gallia me docuit. Colonia me tenet.
Translation. "Scotland brought me forth. England sustained me. France taught me. Cologne holds me."

John Duns Scotus Other Facts:

Founder of Scotism, a special form of Scholasticism.
Known also as "Doctor Subtilis" on account of the subtle distinctions & nuances of his thinking.
The term dunce (via Dunse) comes from descriptions, by detractors, of Duns Scotus and his followers - meaning incapable of scholarship.

Duns Scotus & Religion:

He had considerable influence over prevailing Roman Catholic thought.
Duns Scotus believed that the truths of faith could not be comprehended through the use of reason.
From this belief Duns Scotus considered that philosophy should not be a servant to theology, but act independently.
Scotus developed a complex argument for the existence of God.
He was also an adherent of, and argued for, the Immaculate conception of Mary.

John Duns Scotus Works:

Only four works have been identified as authentic:
Commentaries on Porphyry's Isagoge, on Aristotle's Categories, On Interpretation (in two different versions), and on Sophistical Refutations.
These works are known as the parva logicalia.
Historians date these works to around 1295, when he was working in Oxford.

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