The Doctrine of Univocity: A Scotist Response to Radical Orthodoxy

An unintended consequence of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Aeterni patris of 1879, which promoted the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, was the sidelining of the Franciscan School, with the consequent maligning of John Duns Scotus in some quarters. As Dorothea Sharp noted in 1930 in "Franciscan Philosophy at Oxford in the Thirteenth Century," Scotus was accused of various heresies: “pantheism, scepticism, Nestorianism, Pelagianism, indeterminism, excessive realism, subjectivism, modernism, destructive criticism and a host of other imaginable iniquities.” Ironically, Scotus is now accused, not of excessive realism, but its opposite, nominalism. One controversial issue in the interpretation of Scotus’s thought is the doctrine of univocity, and its consequences. This article presents Scotus’s doctrine of univocity, following a close reading of his primary text, the Ordinatio I d.3 p.1 qq.1-2, in order to ascertain the most accurate possible reading of his doctrine, and of its implications.

Jaar van publicatie:2020