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Subsection
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Order of Contents
Ordinatio
Summa
God 4
Revelation 2
Mary 2
Sacraments 1
Ethics 4
Politics 1
Philosophy 7
On Scotus’s Thought 36+
Thomas vs. Scotus 2
Biblio 3
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Intro
Quote
1600’s
Richard Baxter
A Key for Catholicks (London: R.W., 1659), ch. 50, pp. 365–66
“Our students would not ordinarily read [Thomas] Aquinas, [John Duns] Scotus, Ariminensis [Gregory of Rimini], [William] Durandus, etc. if there were not in them abundance of precious truth which they esteem…
There are very few points of the Protestant doctrine, which I cannot produce some Papist or other to attest.”
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Duns Scotus’s Writings in English
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The Ordinatio (Complete) tr. Peter L.P. Simpson
Compare also the Ordinatio in Latin.
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Necessity & Sufficiency of Revealed Doctrine, on Theology
bk. 1, God & Trinity
dist. 1-2, Enjoyment, Existence & Unity of God, Persons & Productions in God
dist. 3, Knowability of God & on the Mind
dist. 4-10, Divine Generation, Name of God, Generation of Divine Essence & of the Son, Simplicity, Immutability, Production of Spirit
dist. 11-25, Procession, Spiration & Generation of Spirit, Sending of Persons, Habit & Increase of Charity, Spirit as Gift, Persons equal in Magnitude & Power, Perichoresis, Nameability of God, God as Personal, Number in Trinity, Personhood in Trinity
dist. 26-48, Relations of Persons, Divine Word, Unbegottenness, Principles, Relations, the Son, Properties, God’s Knowledge, Predestination, Omnipotence, Impossibilities, Contrafactuals, God’s Will, Permission, Moral Goodness
bk. 2, Creation
dist. 1-3, Act of Creation, Angels, Duration of, Place of, Individuation, Angelic Knowledge
dist. 4-14, Angelic Blessedness, Evil Angels, Angelic Language, Guardian Angels
dist. 15-25, Animals, Image of Trinity in the Soul, First Man, State of, the Will
dist. 26-44, Grace, Free Choice, Original Righteousness, Original Sin, What Sin is, From God?, Concursus, Will, Conscience, Actions, Kinds of Sins
bk. 3, Incarnation & Grace
dist. 1-7, Assumption, Incarnation, Original Sin of Mary?, Mother of God, Christ has Two Existences, Language of Incarnation
dist. 8-17, Two Filiations, Divine Worship of Christ in what manner, Is Christ adopted, a creature?, Impeccability, Grace conferred on Christ, Christ’s human intellect (and knowledge) and will and the Beatific Vision, Sorrow?, Necessity to Die?, Christ’s Two Wills
dist. 18-25, Christ’s Merit, Necessity of Passion, Hypostatic Union in Death, Revelation & Faith
dist. 26-40, Faith, Hope & Love, Love of Self, Neighbor & Enemies, God’s Love, Moral Virtues, Gifts, Fruits, 10 Commandments, Lies, Perjury, New vs. Old Law
bk. 4, Sacraments & Last Things
dist. 1-7, Creation through Creature?, Sacraments, Conferring Grace, Circumcission, NT Sacraments, Baptism, Infant Baptism, Doubtful Cases, Baptism’s Administration, Unrepeatable, Indelible Mark, Confirmation
dist. 8-13, Eucharist, Administration of, Christ’s Body in the Eucharist, Transubstantiation, Bread & Wine, Accidents in the Mass, Validity of
dist. 14-42, Penance, Mortal Sin, Satisfactions, Restitution, Oral Confession, Power of Keys, Ordination, Sins Returning, Extreme Unction, 7 Sacraments, Conferring Ordination, Marriage, Validity in Cases, Marital Duties, Bigamy (Remarriage), Mosaic Law, Impediments of
dist. 43-50, General Resurrection, Hell, Knowledge in Intermediate State, Divine Justice, Christ as Judge, Beatitude, Resurrected Body, Better for Miserable not to be?, Punishment of Damned, Degrees of Beatitude
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Summa of a Scotus Summa
Intro
Peter L.P. Simpson:
“The following translations from Jerome of Montefortino’s [d. 1738] selections and arrangement of Scotus’ writings are meant to make more readily and readably accessible the philosophical theology of the Subtle and Marian Doctor.
Montefortino’s arrangement of his selections follows the pattern of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. However, only the responses in the body of each article are translated here. Adding the objections and replies that are in Montefortino’s original [Latin] (again following the Thomistic pattern) would not only greatly extend the size of the translation but would also make the whole less accessible to interested readers…
Montefortino’s texts, which are from the old Wadding edition of Scotus’ works, fairly represent Scotus as he was discussed and defended for many centuries after his death. This advantage is no mean one, although these texts combine elements from different writings of Scotus (as that the Oxford work, or Oxon. here, combines the Ordinatio with parts of the Reportatio and the Additiones Magnae), and even contain some writings now known not to have been by Scotus but by some of his early followers.
The recent critical editions of Scotus’ writings, while more accurate to what Scotus himself wrote and when (and so more valuable for scholarly purposes), are less accurate to Scotus as he was widely known (and so less valuable for understanding historical Scotism).”
For an even easier summary of Scotus’s thought, see the work of Antonius Andreas (d. 1320) below under Surveys.
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ed. Jerome of Montefortino, tr. Peter L.P. Simpson
pt. 1
q. 1-2 Revelation, Theology, Whether God exists
q. 3-74
q. 75-77 Human Soul & Body
q. 78-119
pt. 1 of 2
q. 1-17 Man’s Ultimate End, Man’s Blessedness, Human Acts, Will, Enjoyment, Intention, Choice, Deliberation, Consent, Use, Acts,
q. 18-89
q. 90-100 Law, Eternal, Natural & Human Law, Change in, Decalogue
q. 101-14
pt. 2 of 2
q. 1-189
pt. 3
q. 1-26
q. 27-29 Sanctification of Mary, Virginity & Espousals of
q. 30-59
q. 60-62 Sacraments, Necessity & Principal Effect of (Grace)
q. 63-90
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On God
Books
1200’s
Treatise on God as First Principle
Treatise on God as First Principle at EWTN
A Treatise on God as the First Principle… along with two related questions from an early commentary on the Sentences ed. & tr. Allan Wolter (Forum Books, 1966) 215 pp. ToC
Treatise on the First Principle, translated with commentary by Thomas Ward in Hackett Classics (Hackett Publishing, 2024) 192 pp.
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1900’s
A Treatise on God as First Principle tr. Allan B. Wolter in Forum Books Series (Quincy College Publications, 1966) 220 pp. ToC There is a 2nd ed. rev. 1982.
God & Creatures: the Quodlibetal Questions trans. Allan B. Wolter & Felix Alluntis Pre (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1975) ToC
Contingency & Freedom: Lectura I 39… trans. Jaczn, Veldhuis, Looman-Graaskamp, Dekker & den Bok in The New Synthese Historical Library 4 Pre (London: Kluwer, 1994) 200 pp. ToC
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2000’s
Duns Scotus on Divine Love: Texts & Commentary on Goodness & Freedom, God & Humans eds. Vos, Veldhuis, Dekker, den Bok & Beck Pre (Aldershot: Ashgate 2003) ToC
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On Revelation
Articles
1200’s
Ordinatio, Prologue
pt. 1, On the necessity of revealed doctrine
pt. 2, On the sufficiency of sacred Scripture
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Book
1900’s
Reason & Revelation: a Question from Duns Scotus, tr. Nathaniel Micklem (Nelson, 1953) 115 pp. ToC This is Ordinatio, Prologue, 1st Question, “Whether man in this life needs to receive by supernatural inspiration some special doctrine which he could not attain by the natural light of the intellect?”
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On Mary
Articles
1200’s
On the Fittingness of the Immaculate Conception
Dist. 3, q. 1, ‘Was the Blessed Virgin conceived in sin? No’
Summa Theologica, pt. 3
q. 27, On the sanctification of the Virgin
q. 28, Of the virginity of the mother of God
q. 29, Of the espousals of the mother of God
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Book
2000’s
Four Questions on Mary… trans. Allan B. Wolter Pre (Franciscan Institute, 2000) 110 pp. ToC
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On Sacraments
Articles
1200’s
Summa Theologica, pt. 3
q. 60, What is a sacrament?
q. 61, Whether the sacraments are necessary for man’s salvation?
q. 62, The sacraments’ principal effect, which is grace
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On Ethics
Books
1900’s
Duns Scotus on the Will & Morality tr. Allan B. Wolter (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1986) 550 pp. ToC
Contingency & Freedom: Lectura I 39… trans. Jaczn, Veldhuis, Looman-Graaskamp, Dekker & den Bok in The New Synthese Historical Library 4 Pre (London: Kluwer, 1994) 200 pp. ToC
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2000’s
John Duns Scotus: Selected Writings on Ethics ed. Thomas Williams Ref (Oxford Univ. Press, 2017) 365 pp.
“Williams presents the most extensive collection of John Duns Scotus’s work on ethics and moral psychology available in English… includes extended discussions-and as far as possible, complete questions-on divine and human freedom, the moral attributes of God, the relationship between will and intellect, moral and intellectual virtue, practical reasoning, charity, the metaphysics of goodness and rightness, the various acts, affections, and passions of the will, justice, the natural law, sin, marriage and divorce, the justification for private property, and lying and perjury.”
Duns Scotus on Divine Love: Texts & Commentary on Goodness & Freedom, God & Humans eds. Vos, Veldhuis, Dekker, den Bok & Beck Pre (Aldershot: Ashgate 2003) ToC
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On Politics
Article
2000’s
Schwartz, Daniel – ‘Seventeenth-Century Scotism & the War, Just on Both Sides’ in Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 83, no. 4 (Oct. 2022), pp. 643-58
This article addresses Scotus’s views as well as his followers.
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Book
2000’s
John Duns Scotus’s Political & Economic Philosophy… tr. Allan B. Wolter Pre (Franciscan Institute Publications, 2001) 90 pp. ToC
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On Philosophy
Articles
1200’s
Ordinatio, Bk. 2, dist. 3, pt. 2
q. 1, Whether a material substance is individual by its very nature
q. 2, Whether a material substance is individual through some positive intrinsic feature
q. 3, Whether a material substance is individual through its very existence
q. 4, Whether a material substance is individual through quantity
q. 5-6, Whether a material substance is individual through matter, or through some beingness per se determining the nature to singularity
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Books
1900’s
Duns Scotus: Philosophical Writings trans. Allan B. Wolter (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1987) 380 pp. ToC
Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle by John Duns Scotus trans. Girard Etzkorn & Allan B. Wolter Ref (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1997–1998) 625 pp.
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2000’s
A Treatise on Potency & Act: Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle Book IX… trans. Allan B. Wolter (Franciscan Institute Publications, 2000) 410 pp. ToC
Early Oxford Lecture on Individuation… tr. Allan B. Wolter Ref (Franciscan Institute, 2005) 114 pp.
Questions on Aristotle’s Categories tr. Lloyd A. Newton in Fathers of the Church: Medieval Continuation Pre (Catholic University of America Press, 2014) 340 pp. ToC
Duns Scotus on Time & Existence: The Questions on Aristotle’s “De interpretatione”… trans. Edward Buckner & Jack Zupko Pre (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2014) 380 pp. ToC
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Surveys of Scotus’s Thought
Order of
Whole of 13
Special Topics 25+
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Whole of his Thought
Article
1900’s
Sharp, D.E. – ‘Duns Scotus’ ToC in Franciscan Philosophy at Oxford in the Thirteenth Century (Oxford Univ. Press, 1930), pp. 279-370
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Books
1300’s
Andreas, Antonius – A Summa of Scotus’ Theology or Questions on the Four Books of Peter Lombard’s Sentences, pt. 1 (Prologue, God, Trinity), 2 (Man), 3 (Christ) tr. Peter Simpson (d. 1320)
Simpson: “Antonius Andreas (born c. 1280, Tauste, Aragon, died 1320) was a Spanish Franciscan theologian, a pupil of Duns Scotus. He was nicknamed Doctor Dulcifluus, or Doctor Scotellus (applied as well to Peter of Aquila).
His Questions on the Four Books of Peter Lombard’s Sentences are so faithful to the thought of Scotus and so closely follow Scotus’ own commentaries on the Sentences [of Lombard], while at the same time being so much briefer and more immediately accessible, that the questions constitute a sort of Summa of Scotus’ theology…
Scotus’ thought is otherwise and ordinarily so hard to track or comprehend. Even Jerome of Montefortino’s Summa, which is basically a re-ordering and re-arranging of Scotus’ own writings, remains hard going.
Of course Andreas, like Jerome, was not using critical editions of Scotus or distinguishing texts from different periods of Scotus’ career (though Andreas must have been personally acquainted with some at least of Scotus’ theological development). But no matter. The Subtle Doctor’s theology, just as such and without the scholars’ qualifications and updatings, deserves to be much more widely known and so needs to be made available in easier forms. Not everyone has to be a scholar or familiar with the scholars’ findings to attain a basic and salutary grasp of Scotism.”
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Prologue
1. Whether for man in his present state there is need for some special doctrine to be supernaturally inspired that he cannot attain by the natural light of his intellect [Yes] 6
2. Whether the supernatural knowledge necessary for the wayfarer is sufficiently handed down in Sacred Scripture [Yes] 13
3. Whether theology is about God as first object or first subject [Yes] 14
1. Whether theology is about God under some special idea [No] 15
2. Whether theology is about everything by way of attribution to the first subject [Yes] 21
3-4. Whether theology is wisdom [Distinguish] or is a subalterning or subalternate science [No] 23
4. Whether theology is a practical or a speculative science [Practical] 25
bk. 1
1st Distinction
1. Whether enjoyment is of the ultimate end only [Yes] 30
2. Whether the ultimate end contains only one idea of being enjoyable [No] 32
3. Whether enjoyment is a feeling received in the will, to wit some delight 37
4. Whether the will must necessarily enjoy the end when the intellect has apprehended it 39
5. Whether God properly enjoys 43
6. Whether the wayfarer enjoys 43
7. Whether the sinner enjoys 43
8. Whether the brute animals enjoy 44
9. Whether all things enjoy 44
Response to Questions 5-9 44
2nd Distinction
1. Whether there is any existing infinite thing among real beings 45
2. Whether the proposition God exists is self-evident 46
3. Whether there is only one God 53
4. Whether a plurality of persons is consistent with the unity of the divine essence 56
5. Whether there are only three persons in the divine essence 57
6. Whether the divine essence can exist in something if that something is produced 57
[sic] 6. Whether there are several productions in God 58
7. Whether there are in God only two productions intrinsically 58
Response to Questions 4-7 58
. To Question Six 58
. To Questions Six bis and Seven 61
. To Question Five 66
. To Question Four 67
3rd Distinction
1. Whether God can be naturally known by the intellect of the wayfarer 71
2. Whether God is the first thing naturally known by the wayfarer 72
Response to Questions 1 & 2
. To Question One 72
. To Question Two 75
3. Whether God is the sufficient object of our intellect 76
4. Whether some sound and certain truth can be known by the intellect of the wayfarer without special illumination from the uncreated light 81
5. Whether a trace or footprint of the Trinity is found in all creatures 88
6. Whether in intellectual nature taken properly there is memory properly, that is, an intellect possessing an intelligible species naturally prior to the act of understanding 89
7. Whether the intellective part of the soul taken properly, or some part of it, is the whole cause, or the whole principle of generating, which generates actual knowledge 91
8. Whether the more principal cause of generated knowledge is the object in itself or present in the species, or the intellective part of the soul 95
9. Whether the image of the Trinity exists in the mind distinctly 97
4th Distinction
1. Whether this proposition is true: “God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit” 101
5th Distinction
1. Whether the divine essence generates or is generated 102
…
26th Distinction
Whether the Divine Persons are constituted in their personal existence by relations of origin 104
pt. 2, bk. 2
…
12th Distinction
1. Whether there is in generable and corruptible things any positive substantial entity really distinct from the form 4
2. Whether matter can, by any power, exist without form 6
…
15th Distinction
1. Whether the elements remain in a mixed body in their substance 8
16th Distinction
1. Whether the Image of the Trinity consists in three powers of the
rational soul really distinct 11
17th Distinction
1. Whether Adam’s soul was created in the body 14
2. Whether paradise is a suitable place for human habitation 15
18th Distinction
1. Whether there are seminal reasons in matter 16
19th Distinction
1. Whether in the state of innocence we would have had immortal Bodies 19
20th Distinction
Question One: Whether in the state of innocence everyone would at once
have been confirmed in justice 21
Question Two: Whether in the state of innocence only those would have
been born who are now the elect 22
21st Distinction
1. Whether Adam’s sin was the gravest sin 23
22nd Distinction
1. Whether the Sin of the First Man came from Ignorance 24
23rd Distinction
1. Whether God could make the will of a rational creature to be naturally incapable of sin 26
24th Distinction
1. Whether the higher part of the intellect is a power distinct from the inferior power 27
25th Distinction
1. Whether anything other than the Will is the effective Cause of an Act of Willing in the Will 28
pt. 3, bk. 3
…
18th Distinction
1. Whether Christ merited in the first instant of his conception 3
19th Distinction
1. Whether Christ merited grace and glory and remission of guilt and punishment for all men 7
20th Distinction
1. Whether it was necessary for the human race to be repaired by the passion of Christ 9
21st Distinction
1. Whether Christ’s body would have putrefied if his resurrection had not been hastened 11
22nd Distinction
1. Whether Christ was a man during the three days 13
23rd Distinction
1. Whether infused faith must be posited for matters revealed to us for belief 18
24th Distinction
1. Whether about revealed matters of belief someone can have science and faith at the same time, speaking of science as it is taken for all the certain knowledge received from the evidence of the thing 21
25th Distinction
1. Whether before Christ’s coming faith about the things we now believe was necessary 25
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1900’s
De Saint-Maurice, Beraud – John Duns Scotus: a Teacher for our Times (Franciscan Institute, 1955) 350 pp. ToC
Harris, C.R.S. – Duns Scotus: vol. 1, Place of Scotus in Medieval Thought; vol. 2, the Philosophic Doctrines of Duns Scotus (Humanities Press, 1959) ToC 1, 2
Bettoni, Efrem – Duns Scotus: the Basic Principles of his Philosophy (Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1961) 230 pp. ToC
Eds. Ryna, John & Bernardine Bonansa – John Duns Scotus, 1265-1965 (Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1965) 385 pp. ToC
Bonansea, B.M. – Man & his Approach to God in John Duns Scotus (University Press of America, 1983) 260 pp. ToC
Wolter, Allan B. – The Philosophical Theology of John Duns Scotus ed. Marilyn Adams (Cornell Univ. Press, 1990) 360 pp. ToC
ed. Bos, E.P. – John Duns Scotus: Renewal of Philosophy: Acts of the Third Symposium organized by the Dutch Society for Medieval Philosophy Medium Aevum (May 23 & 24 1996) (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998) 225 pp. ToC
Cross, Richard – Duns Scotus in Great Medieval Thinkers Pre (Oxford Univ. Press, 1999) 240 pp. ToC
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2000’s
The Cambrdige Companion to Duns Scotus Pre (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003) 408 pp.
Ingham, Mary Beth & Mechthild Dreyer – The Philosophical Vision of John Duns Scotus: an Introduction Pre (Catholic Univ. of America Press, 2004) ToC
Vos, Antonie – The Philosophy of Duns Scotus Abstract (Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2006) 645 pp.
ed. Pini, Giorgio – Interpreting Duns Scotus: Critical Essays (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
Ward, Thomas – Ordered by Love: an Introduction to John Duns Scotus Ref (Angelico Press, 2022) 174 pp.
Blurb: “…offers a sympathetic exploration of a wide range of Scotus’s thought. Topics covered include his understanding of the relationship between faith and reason, his doctrine of individuation by “haecceity” (thisness), his theory of the univocity of the concept of being, his emphasis on God’s freedom and its supposed consequences for moral theory, his defense of Mary’s immaculate conception, and his teaching on the primacy of Christ.”
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Special Topics
Articles
Knowledge, Individuation, Universals, Identity, Being
De Doctrina Ionnis Duns Scoti (Acta Congressus Scotistici Internationalis Oxonii et Edimburgi 11-17 Sept. 1966)
vol. 2
Tonna, Ivo – ‘The Problem of Individuation In Scotus & Other Franciscan Thinkers of Oxford in the 13th Century’, pp. 257-70
vol. 4
Torrance, Thomas – ‘Intuitive & Abstractive Knowledge: From Duns Scotus to Calvin’, pp. 291-305
Paasch, J.T. – ‘Scotus on Universals & Individuation’ (2012)
“It is often said that Scotus is a realist about universals. I present the case that he is not.”
Dan Kemp, M. – ‘John Duns Scotus’ (Non)Naturalism about Goodness: Resurrecting a Metaethical Option’ in History of Philosophy Quarterly, 41 (3) (2024), pp. 251-65
Abstract: “G. E. Moore [d. 1958] argued that goodness cannot be reduced to natural properties. This claim determined the metaethical landscape to follow, which seems to be that goodness and natural properties are either identical in both sense and reference, identical in reference but not in sense, or identical in neither.
In this paper, I show how John Duns Scotus’ formal distinction between being and goodness adds a fourth option to this trichotomy. On the Scotist view, two things are formally distinct if and only if they are really identical and distinct in essence. Scotus therefore offers a way to make a distinction between things that is not merely conceptual but is “on the side of things.” This distinction, however, does not imply that the distinguished things are separable but just the opposite. Scotus further argues that being and goodness are formally distinct. If we take being and goodness to stand in for natural facts and value facts, it follows that the distinction between value facts and natural facts is not merely conceptual but refer to a distinction that exist in the things themselves. These facts are nevertheless identical.”
LaMantia, Dominic – ‘Identity & Real Distinction according to Duns Scotus’ Abstract in British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 33, issue 4 (2025), pp. 756-78
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Hylomorphism & Substantial Form
Ward, Thomas – ‘Animals, Animal Parts & Hylomorphism: John Duns Scotus’s Pluralism about Substantial Form’ Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol. 50, no. 4 (Oct. 2012), pp. 531-57
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Freedom
De Doctrina Ionnis Duns Scoti (Acta Congressus Scotistici Internationalis Oxonii et Edimburgi 11-17 Sept. 1966),
vol. 2
Zavalloni, Roberto – ‘Personal Freedom & Scotus’ Voluntarism’, pp. 613-27
Messerich, Valerius – ‘The Awareness of Causal Initiative & Existential Responsibility…’, pp. 629-44
Gavran, Ignatius – ‘The Idea of Freedom as a Basic Concept of Human Existence according to John Duns Scotus’, pp. 645-69
vol. 4
Marcil, George – ‘The Unconscious & Free Choice: a Comparison between Freud & Scotus’, pp. 647-52
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Christ
De Doctrina Ionnis Duns Scoti (Acta Congressus Scotistici Internationalis Oxonii et Edimburgi 11-17 Sept. 1966), vol. 3
North, Robert – ‘The Scotist Cosmic Christ’, pp. 169-217
This treats of Scotus’s view that Christ would have been incarnated even if man had not fallen into sin.
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Immortality of the Soul
De Doctrina Ionnis Duns Scoti (Acta Congressus Scotistici Internationalis Oxonii et Edimburgi 11-17 Sept. 1966), vol. 2
Ruiz, Bernardino – ‘Scotus & the Immortality of the Soul’, pp. 577-87
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Books
Metaphysics
eds. Honnefelder, Wood, Dreyer – John Duns Scotus: Metaphysics & Ethics (Brill, 1996) 615 pp. ToC
LaZella, Andrew – The Singular Voice of Being: John Duns Scotus & Ultimate Difference in Medieval Philosophy: Texts & Studies (Fordham Univ. Press, 2019) 304 pp.
Abstract: “…reconsiders John Duns Scotus’s well-studied theory of the univocity of being in light of his less explored discussions of ultimate difference. Ultimate difference is a notion introduced by Aristotle and known by the Aristotelian tradition, but one that, this book argues, Scotus radically retrofits to buttress his doctrine of univocity. Scotus broadens ultimate difference to include not only specific differences, but also intrinsic modes of being (e.g., finite/infinite) and principles of individuation (i.e., haecceitates). Furthermore, he deepens it by divorcing it from anything with categorical classification, such as substantial form. Scotus uses his revamped notion of ultimate difference as a means of dividing being, despite the longstanding Parmenidean arguments against such division.
The book highlights the unique role of difference in Scotus’s thought, which conceives of difference not as a fall from the perfect unity of being but rather as a perfective determination of an otherwise indifferent concept. The division of being culminates in individuation as the final degree of perfection, which constitutes indivisible (i.e., singular) degrees of being. This systematic study of ultimate difference opens new dimensions for understanding Scotus’s dense thought with respect to not only univocity, but also to individuation, cognition, and acts of the will.”
Vogt, Berard – The Origin & Development of the Franciscan School; Duns Scotus & St. Thomas; On the Formal Distinction; On the Forma Corporeitatis in Franciscan Studies, no. 3 (August 1925)
Grajewski, Maurice – The Formal Distinction of Duns Scotus (Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1944) ToC
Wolter, Allan B. – The Transcendentals & their Function in the Metaphysics of Duns Scotus (Franciscan Institute, 1946) 215 pp. ToC
Bates, Todd – Duns Scotus & the Problem of Universals (Continuum, 2010) 165 pp.
Heidegger, Martin – Duns Scotus’s Doctrine of Categories & Meaning tr. Bagchee & Gower (Indiana Univ. Press, 2022)
Vier, Peter C. – Evidence & its Function according to John Duns Scotus (Franciscan Institute, 1951) 290 pp. ToC
Cross, Richard – Duns Scotus’s Theory of Cognition (Oxford Univ. Press, 2014) 240 pp.
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Natural Theology
Currey, Cecil – Reason & Revelation: John Duns Scotus on Natural Theology (Franciscan Herald Press, 1977) 55 pp. ToC
Effler, Roy R. – John Duns Scotus & the Principle Omne Quod Movetur Ab Alio Movetur (Franciscan Institute, 1962) 220 pp.
Scotus rejected the Thomistic principle, “Whatever is moved, is moved from another.”
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Theology
Langston, Douglas C. – God’s Willing Knowledge: the Influence of Scotus’ Analysis of Omniscience (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1986) 150 pp. ToC
Franciscan Studies, no. 4 (April, 1926): Scotus, his Life & Works, Dorzweiler; The Doctrine of Scotus concerning the Causality of the Sacraments, Huber; Teaching of Scotus concerning the Immaculate Conception of our Lady, Mayer (NY: Joseph Wagner, 1926) 46 pp.
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Psychology
Devlin, Christopher – The Psychology of Duns Scotus (Oxford: Blackfriars, 1950) 23 pp.
.
Mariology
Various – Blessed John Duns Scotus & his Mariology: Commemoration of the Seventh Centenary of his Death Pre (New Bedford, MA: Academy of the Immaculate, 2009) 450 pp. ToC
.
Ethics
eds. Honnefelder, Wood, Dreyer – John Duns Scotus: Metaphysics & Ethics (Brill, 1996) 615 pp. ToC
ed. Wolter, Allan – Duns Scotus on the Will & Morality (Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1986) 555 pp. ToC
Ingham, Mary Beth – The Harmony of Goodness: Mutuality & Moral Living according to John Duns Scotus (Franciscan Press, 1996) 175 pp. ToC
eds. Campbell, Ian & Todd Rester – Franciscans & Scotists on War: John Duns Scotus’s Theology, Anti-Judaism & Holy War in Early Modernity Pre (Routledge, 2024) 275 pp. ToC
.
Physics
Cross, Richard – The Physics of Duns Scotus: the Scientific Context of a Theological Vision (Clarendon Press, 1998) 310 pp.
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Comparison of the Teachings of Thomas Aquinas with John Duns Scotus
Order of
Article 1
Book 1
.
Article
2000’s
Simpson, Peter L.P. – ‘Have you Tried Scotus? Aquinas Didn’t Know Everything’ in Commonweal (June 14, 2019), pp. 12-15
Simpson mentions differences between Thomas and Scotus, such as:
Thomas’s insufficient explanation for Christ having (an accidental) location on the altar in transubstantiation (whereas Scotus had such an explanation), Scotus’s view of the incarnation of Christ apart from man’s Fall (contra Aquinas), Scotus’s defense of Mary’s immaculate conception (contra Aquinas), Scotus affirmed animals can go to heaven and be resurrected (contra Aquinas) and Scotus affirmed multiple angels can be of the same species and that their first sin is not irrevocable, but it is possible some of them have repented (contra Aquinas).
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Book
1600’s
Macedo, Francisco – Collations of the Teachings of St. Thomas & Scotus, with the Differences between the Two: with the Texts of Both Faithfully Presented, and the Sentences Subtly Examined, with the Commentaries of the Interpreters, Cajetan above all, and Lichetus carefully sifted out, and of nearly all other schools, especially the Jesuit ones, with Suarez and Vasquez as authors, with the Controversies aptly brought forward, vol 1, 2 tr. AI by Vertias (Padua: Frambotti, 1671) A more detailed ToC is given at the beginning of each volume.
Macedo (1596-1681), known as S. Augustino, was a Portuguese Franciscan theologian. While exercising independent judgment, he tends to lean original-Scotus. He had a very good knowledge of Aquinas’s works (and of Thomists and their works) through his life (vol. 2, p. 424).
vol. 1, bk. 1 of the Sentences
Collation 1
1. Necessity of supernatural doctrine for attaining salvation 29
2. On the truth of Thomas’s response 33
3. Diversity of habits 38
4. Subalternation of theology 41
Collation 2
1. Natural receptive potency for supernatural things 45
2. Natural appetite for God as ultimate end 50
3. Thomas’s argument against Avicenna 58
4. How is theology a science 61
Collation 3
1. Theology as speculative or practical 69
[sic] 1. Formal distinction of the divine essence, relations and attributes 88
2. Can the divine essence be seen, by God’s absolute power, without the Persons, and one Person without another? 127
3. “God exists,” is the proposition self-evident or not?
4. Thomas’s argument for proving God’s infinity
Collation 4
1. First and adequate object of our intellect 146
2. Vestige of the Trinity 153
3. Conservation of intelligible species in the intellect 157
4. Does the intellect bear itself purely passively in understanding or not 167
Collation 5
1. Production of the Word: Is it formally intellection or speech? 173
2. Power or formal principle of the notional acts 189
3. Is any creature simple 194
4. Argument by which Thomas proves God does not fall under any genus (and univocity of being) 200
Collation 6
1. Damascene on the Holy Spirit’s procession from the Son 209
2. Whether mutual love is the reason for spirating the Holy Spirit, such that without it the procession cannot subsist 218
3. Thomas’s argument by which he proves it should be said, “Two spirating” and “One Spirator” 236
4. Whether if the Spirit did not proceed from the Son, He would still be really distinguished from Him 242
Collation 7
1. Procession of the Spirit: Whether it proceeds freely or naturally 297
2. Distinction of the processions of the Begotten Son and of the Spirit who is not begotten but spirated 315
3. Increase of charity: Whether it occurs through greater rooting or disposition in the subject, or through the addition of degree to degree 324
4. On the constitution and distinction of the Persons 344
Collation 8
1. Whether the divine relations are formally infinite perfections 386
2. Relations of God and the creature to each other 403
3. Notion of the unbegotten, or innascibility 410
4. Order, identity, equality and similarity of the divine Persons 444
Collation 9
1. Whether the Father and Son love themselves through the Spirit 466
2. God’s knowledge of creatures in all its ideal character 488
3. Whether God’s being present everywhere according to power implies his being everywhere according to essence: whether omnipotence implies immensity 519
4. Cognition of future things: Whether they are known by God as present in eternity 537
Collation 10
1. Necessity of this existence of things as a means for knowing future contingents 548
2. Root of contingency 569
3. Divine foreknowledge 587
4. Conditional knowledge 594
Collation 11
1. Middle knowledge 622
2. On Predestination 714
3. Name, matter and doctrine of predestination 733
4. Whether predestination was made after the foreknowledge of merits 747
Collation 12
1. Reprobation 793
2. General will of God concerning the salvation of all men, 1 Tim. 2:4 841
3. Whether and how God provides sufficient aids to all people 873
4. Whether the predestined can be damned; whether predestination is within the power of the predestined 901-25
vol. 2, bk. 2 of the Sentences
Dedicatory epistle 3
To the reader 7
Letters 8
…
Collation 6
…
2. Whether in the creation of the world things were made gradually, through intervals of time distributed across different days, or all at once 23
3. Cause of man’s immortality in the state of innocence 41
4. Whether in that state, only the predestined would have been born 57
Collation 7
1. Whether Adam in the state of innocence could sin venially before sinning mortally 77
2. Whether sanctifying grace is a power or a form? In what subject does it reside? In the soul, or in a faculty 88
3. Difference between the aids of auxiliary grace in the angels and in the states of integral and fallen nature 103
4. Original Sin 170
Collation 8
1. States of human nature, their constitution, properties and wounds 190
2. Whether human nature in its pure state would share any properties with nature in its integral state 208
[sic] 2. Whether a human being through original sin was merely stripped of gratuitous gifts or also wounded in his natural endowments 217
3. Transmission of original sin 235
4. Punishments of original sin 283
Collation 9
1. Constitution, remission and punishment of original sin in the way of Scotus 305
2. Formal ground of sin 338
3. Whether the created will is the total and immediate cause of its own willing, such that God has no immediate efficacy with respect to it, but only mediate efficacy? 361
4. Whether and how sin is the punishment of sin 429
Collation 10
1. Necessity of grace for avoiding sins 449
2. Scotus’s view concerning the necessity of grace 461
3. Mind of Augustine on the necessity of grace for upright moral thoughts and actions 478
4. Whether there are indifferent acts in species and in the individual 506
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Bibliographies
Articles
1900’s
Grajewski, Maurice – ‘Scotistic Bibliography of the Last Decade (1929-1939)’, pt. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in Franciscan Studies, New Series, vol. 1, no. 1 (March 1941) through vol. 2, no. 2 (1942)
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2000’s
Kent, Mery – ‘The Quaestio de Formalitatibus by John Duns Scotus, sometimes called the Logica Scoti’ in Bulletin de philosophie médiévale 56 (2014), pp. 91-182
This includes a listing and description of the surviving manuscripts of this piece by Scotus, and a critical edition of it in Latin.
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Book
2000’s
Hoffmann, Tobias – Duns Scotus Bibliography from 1950 to the Present 10th ed. (2022)
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Related Pages
On the Reception of Scotus in Church History
Medieval Theology & Philosophy
The Early & Medieval Church Fathers on Scripture
Early & Medieval Church Bible Commentaries
Authoritative Documents of Romanism
On the Reception of Aquinas in Church History
Where Reformed Agreed & Disagreed with Aquinas