Duns Scotus vs Thomas Aquinas
Duns Scotus's philosophy was developed in part as a critical revision of Aquinas's. Both worked within the Aristotelian-Christian synthesis but disagreed sharply on metaphysics and the relation of intellect to will.
At a glance
| Duns Scotus | Thomas Aquinas | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | c. 1266 – 1308 | 1225 – 1274 |
| Nationality | Scottish | Italian |
| Era | Medieval | Medieval |
| Movements | Medieval Philosophy, Scholasticism, Christian Philosophy | Medieval Philosophy, Scholasticism, Christian Philosophy |
| Profile | Duns Scotus → | Thomas Aquinas → |
Where they agree
Both held that the mind can know God through natural reason, both worked within the Aristotelian tradition, and both held a realist view of universals against the nominalists who would follow. Both treated metaphysics as the science of being qua being.
Where they disagree
Scotus is famous for two doctrines that distinguish him sharply from Aquinas: the univocity of being, on which the term being applies to God and creatures in the same sense, and the formal distinction, a logical tool finer than the real distinction but coarser than mere conceptual difference. Where Aquinas held that the will follows the intellect's judgment, Scotus held the will is essentially free and not determined by intellectual cognition. Scotus also articulated the principle of individuation as haecceity, the property of being just this thing — a position with no exact equivalent in Aquinas.
Representative quotes
Duns Scotus
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“sic: si omnes homines natura scire desiderant, ergo maxime scientiam maxime desiderabunt. Ita arguit Philosophus I huius cap. 2. Et ibidem subdit: "quae sit maxime scientia, illa scilicet quae est circa maxime scibilia". Maxime autem dicuntur scibilia dupliciter: uel quia primo omnium sciuntur sine quibus non possunt alia sciri; uel quia sunt certissima cognoscibilia. Utroque autem modo considerat ista scientia maxime scibilia. Haec igitur est maxime scientia, et per consequens maxime desiderabilis.”
If all men by nature desire to know, then they desire most of all the greatest knowledge of science . So the Philosopher argues in chap. 2 of his first book of the work [ Metaphisics ]. And he immediately indicates what the greatest science is, namely the science which is about those things that are most knowable. But there are two senses in which things are said to be maximally knowable: either b -
“Quaestiones subtilissimae de metaphysicam Aristotelis , as translated in: William A. Frank, Allan Bernard Wolter (1995) Duns Scotus, metaphysician . p. 18-19”
sic: si omnes homines natura scire desiderant, ergo maxime scientiam maxime desiderabunt. Ita arguit Philosophus I huius cap. 2. Et ibidem subdit: "quae sit maxime scientia, illa scilicet quae est circa maxime scibilia". Maxime autem dicuntur scibilia dupliciter: uel quia primo omnium sciuntur sine quibus non possunt alia sciri; uel quia sunt certissima cognoscibilia. Utroque autem modo considerat -
“Quaestiones subtilissimae de metaphysicam Aristotelis , as translated in: William A. Frank, Allan Bernard Wolter (1995) Duns Scotus, metaphysician . p. 20-21”
loquimur de materia "circa quam" est scientia, quae dicitur a quibusdam subiectum scientiae, uel magis proprie obiectum, sicut et illud circa quod est uirtus dicitur obiectum uirtutis proprie, non subiectum. De isto autem obiecto huius scientiae ostensum est prius quod haec scientia est circa transcendentia; ostensum est autem quod est circa altissimas causas. Quod autem istorum debeat poni propri
Thomas Aquinas
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“The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions.”
Vita enim in hoc maxime manifestatur quod aliquid movet se ipsum; quod autem non potest moveri nisi ab alio, quasi mortuum esse videtur. -
“Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.”
Tria sunt homini necessaria ad salutem: scilicit scientia credendorum, scientia desiderandorum, et scientia operandorum. -
“Pange, lingua, gloriosi Corporis mysterium Sanguinisque pretiosi, Quem in mundi pretium Fructus ventris generosi Rex effudit gentium.”
Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory, Of His Flesh the mystery sing; Of the Blood, all price exceeding, Shed by our immortal King. | Pange, Lingua (hymn for Vespers on the Feast of Corpus Christi), stanza 1
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- Full profile: Duns Scotus
- Full profile: Thomas Aquinas
- Shared movements: Medieval Philosophy, Scholasticism, Christian Philosophy
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