John Scotus Eriugena Quotes on Truth
John Scotus Eriugena was an Irish theologian and Neoplatonist philosopher active at the court of the Carolingian king Charles the Bald. This page collects quotes attributed to John Scotus Eriugena on the topic of truth, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to John Scotus Eriugena:
“We do not know what God is. God himself does not know what he is because he is not anything.”
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Attributed to John Scotus Eriugena:
“Authority is the source of knowledge, but our own reason remains the norm by which all authority must be judged.”
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“True philosophy is true religion, and true religion is true philosophy.”
Quid est aliud de philosophia tractare, nisi verae religionis, qua summa et principalis omnium rerum causa, Deus, et humiliter colitur, et rationabiliter investigatur, regulas exponere? Conficitur inde, veram esse philosophiam veram religionem, conversimque veram religionem esse veram philosophiam. -
“For authority proceeds from true reason, but reason certainly does not proceed from authority. For every authority which is not upheld by true reason is seen to be weak, whereas true reason is kept firm and immutable by her own powers and does not require to be confirmed by the assent of any authority.”
Auctoritas siquidem ex vera ratione processit, ratio vero nequaquam ex auctoritate. Omnis enim auctoritas, quae vera ratione non approbatur, infirma videtur esse. Vera autem ratio, quum virtutibus suis rata atque immutabilis munitur, nullius auctoritatis adstipulatione roborari indigent.