Scotism
Encyclopedia
Scotism is the name given to the philosophical and theological system or school named after Blessed John Duns Scotus. The word comes from the name of its originator, whose Opus Oxoniense was one of the most important documents in medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD to the Renaissance in the sixteenth century...
and Roman Catholic theology
Roman Catholic theology
Roman Catholic theology comprises the "Roman Catholic teachings" of the Catholic Church which bases its conclusions on Scripture and Sacred Tradition, as interpreted by the Magisterium. The Church teaches that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, keeping of the Ten commandments and...
, defining what would later be declared the Dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...
of the Immaculate conception
Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...
by Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
in his constitution Ineffabilis Deus
Ineffabilis Deus
Ineffabilis Deus is the name of a Papal bull by Pope Pius IX. It defines ex cathedra the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary...
on 8 December 1854.
Development
Scotism developed out of the Old Franciscan School, which dominated theology during the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. This school of thought initially followed Augustinism which dominated theology at the time.
Scotus found the ground already cleared for the conflict with the followers of Aquinas. He made very free use of Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...
, but in its employment exercised sharp criticism, and in important points adhered to the teaching of the Older Franciscan School – especially with regard to the plurality of forms or of souls, the spiritual matter of the angels and of souls, etc., wherein he energetically combatted Aquinas. Scotism, or what is known as the Later Franciscan School, is thus only a continuation or further development of the older school, with a much wider, although not exclusive acceptance of Peripatetic ideas. The difference between Thomism and Scotism could be expressed by saying that, while both derive from Arabic
Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies. It is the continuous search for Hekma in the light of Islamic view of life, universe, ethics, society, and so on...
Neoplatonized
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
Aristotelianism, Thomism is closer to the orthodox Aristotelianism of Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, Averroes
Averroes
' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
and Avicenna
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
, while Scotism reflects the Platonizing tendency going back through Avicebron
Solomon ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol, also Solomon ben Judah , was an Andalucian Hebrew poet and Jewish philosopher with a Neoplatonic bent. He was born in Málaga about 1021; died about 1058 in Valencia.-Biography:...
, the Brethren of Purity
Brethren of Purity
The Brethren of Purity were a secret society of Muslim philosophers in Basra, Iraq, in the 10th century CE....
, the Liber de Causis
Liber de Causis
The Liber de Causis was a philosophical work attributed to Aristotle that became popular in the Middle Ages, first in Arabic and Islamic countries and later in the Latin West. The real authorship remains a mystery, but most of the content is taken from Proclus' Elements of Theology...
and Proclus
Proclus
Proclus Lycaeus , called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" , was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers . He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism...
to Plotinus
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
.
Concerning the relation of these schools to each other, or the relation of Scotus to Alexander of Hales
Alexander of Hales
Alexander Hales also called Doctor Irrefragabilis and Theologorum Monarcha was a notable thinker important in the history of scholasticism and the Franciscan School.-Life:Alexander was born at Hales ,...
and St. Bonaventure, consult the work of the Flemish Recollect, Mathias Hauzeur
Mathias Hauzeur
Mathias Hauzeur was a Belgian Franciscan theologian.-Life:He was for many years professor of theology...
. It is notable that, while Thomism became the official philosophy of the Church, Scotist influence prevailed on a number of important points, not least the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception
Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...
.
Scotism and doctrinal conflicts within the Catholic Church
NominalismNominalism
Nominalism is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist. Thus, there are at least two main versions of nominalism...
is older than Scotus, but its revival in Occamism may be traced to the one-sided exaggeration of some propositions of Scotus. Scotist Formalism is the direct opposite of Nominalism, and the Scotists were at one with the Thomists
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
in combatting the latter; Occam himself was a bitter opponent of Scotus. The Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
defined as dogma a series of doctrines especially emphasized by the Scotists (e.g. freedom of the will, free co-operation with grace, etc..). In other points the canons were intentionally so framed that they do not affect Scotism (e.g. that the first man was constitutus in holiness and justice). This was also done at the Vatican Council. In the Thomistic–Molinistic controversy concerning the foreknowledge of God, predestination, the relation of grace to free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
, the Scotists took little part. They either supported one of the parties, or took up a middle position, rejecting both the predetermination of the Thomists and the scientia media of the Molinists. God recognizes the free future acts in His essence, and provides a free decree of His will, which does not predetermine our free will, but only accompanies it.
Scotism and the Jesuit tradition
JesuitSociety of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
philosophers and theologians adopted a series of the Scotist propositions. Later authorities reject in part many of these propositions and another series of propositions was misunderstood even by Catholic theologians, and then in this false sense rightly rejected – e.g. the doctrine of the univocatio entis, of the acceptation of the merits of Christ and man, etc.
Numerous other propositions have been accepted or at least favourably treated by a large number of Catholic scholars and amongst these are many propositions from psychology: e.g. that the powers of the soul are not merely accidents even natural and necessary of the soul, that they are not really distinct from the substance of the soul or from one another etc.
They also took from Scotism many propositions concerning the doctrine of the angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s.
The influence of Scotism on philosophy and theology
Scotism exercised an influence on the development of philosophy and theology; its importance is not, as is often asserted, purely negative – i.e. it does not consist only in the fact that it exercised a criticism on Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
and the Thomistic
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
school.
A comparison of the Scotist teaching with that of Aquinas has been often attempted – for example, in the abovementioned work of Hauzeur at the end of the first volume; by Sarnano (Costanzo Torri, Conciliatio omnium controversiarum etc. (1589– ). In many cases, the differences are mostly in the terminology and a reconciliation is possible if one emphasize certain parts of Scotus or Aquinas and passes over or tones down others. However, some contradictions remain on a number of points.
Generally speaking, Scotism found its supporters within the Franciscan Order; certainly, opposition to the Dominicans, i.e. to Aquinas, made many members of the order disciples of Scotus. However, this does not mean that the foundation and development of Scotism is to be regarded as a product of the rivalry between the two orders. Even Aquinas at first found a few opponents in his order – not all his fellow-Dominicans followed him in every particular (e.g. Durandus of St. Pourçain).
The Scotist doctrines were also supported by many Minorites. Furthermore, Scotism found not a few supporters among secular professors and in other religious orders (e.g. the Augustinians
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
, Servites, etc.), especially in England, Ireland, and Spain. Of the Minorites who supported Scotist doctrine, the Conventuals seem to have adhered most faithfully to Scotus, particularly at the University of Padua, where many highly esteemed teachers lectured.
Emergence of the Scotist School
It is only at the end of the 15th or the beginning of the sixteenth century that a special Scotist School can be spoken of. The works of the master were then collected, brought out in many editions and commentated, etc. And from 1501 we also find numerous regulations of general chapters recommending or directly prescribing Scotism as the teaching of the order.Scotism appears to have attained its greatest popularity at the beginning of the seventeenth century; during the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries we even find special Scotist chairs, e.g. at Paris, Rome, Coimbra, Salamanca, Alcalá, Padua, and Pavia. In the eighteenth century it had still an important following, but in the 19th it suffered a great decline. One of the reasons for this was the repeated suppressions of the order in almost every country, while the recommendation of the teaching of St. Thomas by several popes could not be favourable to Scotism.
It has even been asserted that it was merely tolerated by the Catholic Church; but this statement is a priori improbable in regard to a school of which not a single proposition has been censured, and to which so many highly venerated men (bishops, cardinals, popes, and saints) have belonged; and it is still less probable in view of the approval of the various general statutes (repeated so often down to the present day), in which Scotism is at least recommended. In their Decrees Leo XIII and Pius X have recommended not alone St. Thomas, but also Scholasticism in general, and this includes also the Scotist School.
Scotists
Most Scotists are both philosophers and theologians. Notable Scotists of the fourteenth century included Francis Mayron, who introduced the actus sorbonicus into the University of ParisUniversity of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
.
Fifteenth and sixteenth century
Scotists of the fifteenth century included two popes, Alexander V and Sixtus IVPope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...
, Elector Frederick III of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
and Angelus of Chivasso. The latter's work on Scotist theology was so notorious that it was publicly burned
Book burning
Book burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched, or shredded...
by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
.
Notable Scotists of the sixteenth century included Paul Scriptoris
Paul Scriptoris
Paul Scriptoris was a German Franciscan mathematician, Scotist, and professor at the University of Tübingen. His surname is a Latin translation of the original German name Schreiber . Born in Weil der Stadt, Scriptoris studied at Paris and joined the Franciscan order. He subsequently began...
, noted professor at the University of Tübingen, and the Archbishop of Athens Anthony Trombetta.
Seventeenth and eighteenth century
Of very many names we may mention:- Angelo Vulpes (Volpe) (d. 1647) wrote Summa and Commen. theologiae Scoti in twelve folio volumes.
- Luke WaddingLuke WaddingLuke Wadding was an Irish Franciscan friar and historian.-Life:Wadding was born in 16 October 1588 at Waterford to Walter Wadding of Waterford, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia Lombard . Educated at the school of Mrs...
(d. 1657), a well-known annalist, edited with other Irishmen in the College of S. Isidore at Rome the complete works of Scotus (12 vols., Lyons, 1639). - LambrechtLambrechtLambrecht is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany lying roughly 6 km northwest of Neustadt an der Weinstraße. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.- Location :...
(about 1696), named the Viennese Scotus. - Bishop Gennari (d. 1684).
- Cardinal Lorenzo Brancati di Lauria (d. 1693), held in high favour by several popes.
- HernandezHernándezHernández is a Spanish and Portuguese surname that came into common use around the 15th century. Originally a patronymic, it means son of Hernán or sometimes son of the traveler-Television and film personalities:...
(d. 1695). - Francisco MacedoFrancisco MacedoFrancisco Macedo , known as S. Augustino, was a Portuguese Franciscan theologian.-Life:...
(d. 1681), a Portuguese, professor at Padua is said to have composed over one hundred writings and was renowned for his public disputations. - Claude FrassenClaude FrassenClaude Frassen was a French Franciscan Scotist theologian and philosopher.-Life:...
(d. 1711) was for thirty years a celebrated professor at the Sorbonne and wrote "Scotus academicus seu universa theo Scoti". - Bartholomaeus Durandus (Bartélemy Durand) (d. 1720) wrote the great Clypeus Scotisticae Theologiae.
Nineteenth century
In the nineteenth century, although Scotism was retained in the schools of the Franciscan Order in accordance with the statutes, there were few works in the Scotist tradition, in any case no celebrated ones.Twentieth Century
Though the use of the term Scotism has become a bit antiquated, several contemporary theologians, especially from among the Franciscan Orders, like Kenan Osborne OFM and Daniel HoranDaniel Horan
Daniel P. Horan, OFM is a Franciscan Friar and a Franciscan theological and spiritual writer. He studied Theology and Journalism at St...
OFM can be seen as in the Scotist tradition. Several recent projects such as the Scotus Project of CUA, the International Scotistic Commission in Rome and the Commission of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition of the English Speaking Conference of the OFM have sought to increase awareness of Duns Scotus and Scotism on contemporary theology.