Johannes Duns Scotus

Johannes Duns Scotus (c. 1265 – 1308) was a Scottish priest, one of the most celebrated of the scholastics of the 13-14th century. Whether he was native of England, Scotland, or Ireland is however uncertain. He entered the Franciscan order, and from his acuteness got the name of "Doctor Subtilis". He lectured at Oxford to crowds of auditors, and also at Paris. He was the contemporary of Thomas Aquinas, and the head of an opposing school of Scotists, as against Thomists, as they were called. Whereas Aquinas "proclaimed the Understanding as principle, he proclaimed the Will, from whose spontaneous exercise he derived all morality; with this separation of theory from practice and thought from thing (which accompanied it) philosophy became divided from theology, reason from faith; reason took a position above faith, above authority (in modern philosophy), and the religious consciousness broke with the traditional dogma (at the Reformation)."

Nearby pages
Johannes Ewald, Johannes Gottfried Schadow, Johannes Lasco, Johannes Muller, Johannes Scotus Erigena, Johannes Von Muller