Metaphysics of a forgotten tradition I. Introduction of the concept of “intrinsic modus of thing” by John Duns Scotus: From the theological explication of “infinity” to the metaphysical problem of “contraction of being”
Abstract
The article is the first part of a study on the notion of the “intrinsic modus” of thing or reality in the metaphysics of the early Scotist tradition (first quarter of the 14th century). This part of the study analyses the circumstances of the first formulation of the notion of “modus intrinsecus” in the theological writings of John Duns Scotus and identifies two main (and one additional) contexts for Scotus’s explication of this concept, which will be important for the subsequent Scotistic tradition of meta[1]physics. The article then puts forward a hypothesis about a historical shift in the use of this concept based on an analysis of Scotus’s texts. Scotus initially introduces it solely for a theological explanation of the concept of “infinite being”, but later, in connection with his discussion of the reality of the concept of being, uses the concept of intrinsic mode as key to his own solution to the metaphysical problem of the “contraction” of the transcendental concept of being, which he thinks of as a particular “modification”. Finally, the article identifies the main structural elements in Scotus’s discussion of “intrinsic mode” and attempts to present the content of this concept by distinguishing between intrinsic mode and Scotus’s other related metaphysical concepts (quiddity, difference, property).
Keywords:
High scholasticism, John Duns Scotus, Scotistic metaphysics, modus intrinsecus rei, the concept of infinity, the beginning of tradition
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
References
Andersen C. A. (2016) Metaphysik im Barockscotismus. Untersuchungen zum Metaphysikwerk des Bartholomaeus Mastrius. Amsterdam, Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Bolliger D. (2003) Infiniti contemplatio: Grundzüge der Scotus- und Scotismusrezeption im Werk Huldrych Zwinglis. Leiden, Brill.
Bridges G. (1959) Indentity and Distinction in Petrus Thomae, O. F. M. St. Bonaventure, New York, The Franciscan Institute Publ.
Duba W. (2017) The Forge of Doctrine. The Academic Year 1330-31 and the Rise of Scotism at the University of Paris. Turnhout, Brepols Publishers (Studia Sententiarum. Vol. 2).
Dumont St. D. (1987) “The Univocity of the Concept of Being in the Fourteenth Century: John Duns Scotus and William of Alnwick”, in Mediaeval Studies, vol. 49, pp. 1–75.
Dumont St. D. (1988) “The Univocity of the Concept of Being in the Fourteenth Century: II. The De ente of Peter Thomae”, in Mediaeval Studies, vol. 50, pp. 186–256.
Dumont St. D. (1992) “Transcendental Being: Scotus and Scotists”, Topoi, vol. 11, pp. 135–148.
Duns Scotus (1950–2013) “Ioannis Duns Scoti OFM Ordinatio I–IV”, in Ioannis Duns Scoti Opera omnia. Vol. I–XIV. Studio et cura Commissionis Scotisticae ad fidem codicum edita, praeside Carolo Balić. Civitas Vaticana, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis.
Duns Scotus (1997) “Quaestiones super libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis. Libri I–V”, in B. Ioannis Duns Scoti OFM Opera Philosophica. Ed. a G. Etzkorn, R. Andrews, G. Gál, R. Green, F. Kelly, G. Marcil, T. Noone, R. Wood. Vol. III. St. Bonaventure, New York, The Franciscan Institute Publ.
Duns Scotus (2004) The Examined Report of the Paris Lecture: Reportatio I–A. Latin Text and English Translation. Transl. and ed. by A. B. Wolter, O. V. Bychkov. Vol. 1 (Prologus. Dist. 1–21). St. Bonaventure, New York, Franciscan Institute Publ.
Duns Scotus (2006) “Quaestiones super secundum et tertium De anima”, in B. Ioannis Duns Scoti OFM Opera Philosophica. Ed. a C. Bazán, K. Emery, R. Green, T. Noone, R. Plevano, A. Traver. Vol. V. Washington, DC, The Catholic University of America Press; St. Bonaventure, New York, Franciscan Institute Publ.
Duns Scotus OFM (1639) “Ioannis Duns Scoti OFM Quaestiones Quodlibetales”, in Ioannis Duns Scoti Opera omnia (editio Wadding). Tomus XII. Lugduni, Durand.
Duns Scotus OFM (1960–2004) “Ioannis Duns Scoti OFM Lectura I–III”, in Ioannis Duns Scoti Opera omnia. Vol. XVI–XXI. Studio et cura Commissionis Scotisticae ad fidem codicum edita, praeside Carolo Balić. Civitas Vaticana, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis.
Duns Scotus OFM (1968). Ioannis Duns Scoti Quaestiones Quodlibetales = Juan Duns Escoto. Cuestiones Cuodlibetales. Ed. bilingüe, introducción, resúmenes y versión de F. Alluntis. Madrid, La Editorial Católica (Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos. Vol. 277).
Duns Scotus OFM (1997) “Quaestiones super libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis. Libri VI–IX”, in B. Ioannis Duns Scoti OFM Opera Philosophica. Ed. a G. Etzkorn, R. Andrews, G. Gál, R. Green, F. Kelly, G. Marcil, T. Noone, R. Wood. Vol. IV. St. Bonaventure, New York, The Franciscan Institute Publ.
Duns Scotus OFM (2008) The Examined Report of the Paris Lecture: Reportatio I–A. Latin Text and English Translation. Transl. and ed. by A. B. Wolter, O. V. Bychkov. Vol. 2 (Dist. 22–48). St. Bonaventure, New York, Franciscan Institute.
Duns Scotus OFM (2016) Iohannis Duns Scoti Collationes Oxonienses. A cura di G. Alliney e M. Fedeli. Firenze, Sismel. Edizioni del Galluzzo.
Franciscus de Mayronis (2013) Conflatus. Kommentar zum ersten Buch der Sentenzen. Übersetzt und eingeleitet von H. Möhle, R. H. Pich. Freiburg, Basel, Wien, Herder Verlag.
Grajewski M. J. (1944) The Formal Distinction of Duns Scotus. A Study in Metaphysics. Washington, D. C., The Catholic University of America Press.
Hoeres W. (1965) “Francis Suarez and the Teaching of John Duns Scotus on Univocatio entis”, in John Duns Scotus, 1265–1965. Ed. by J. K. Ryan, pp. 263–290. Washington, D. C., The Catholic University of America Press.
Hoeres W. (1965) “Wesen und Dasein bei Heinrich von Gent und Duns Scotus”, in Franziskanische Studien, Bd. 47, S. 121–186.
Hoeres W. (2012) Gradatio entis. Sein als Teilhabe bei Duns Scotus und Franz Suárez. Frankfurt am Main, Editiones Scholasticae, Ontos Verlag.
Hoffmann T. (2002) Creatura intellecta: Die Ideen und Possibilien bei Duns Scotus mit Ausblick auf Franz von Mayronis, Poncius und Mastrius. Münster, Aschendorff Verlag.
Honnefelder L. (1979) Ens inquantum ens. Der Begriff des Seienden als solchen als Gegenstand der Metaphysik nach der Lehre des Johannes Duns Scotus. Münster, Aschendorff Verlag.
Honnefelder L. (1990) Scientia transcendens. Die formale Bestimmung der Seiendheit und Realität in der Metaphysik des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit. Hamburg, Felix Meiner Verlag.
Hübener W. (1987) “Robertus Anglicus OFM und die formalistische Tradition”, in Philosophie im Mittelalter. Entwicklungslinien und Paradigmen, S. 329–353. Hrsg. von J. P. Beckmann, L. Honnefelder, G. Schrimpf, G. Wieland. Hamburg, Felix Meiner Verlag.
Ivanov V. L. (2008) “The Problem of Determination of the conceptus entis in the Metaphysics of John Duns Scotus”, in Vestnik LGU im. A. S. Pushkina. Ser. Filosofiia, no. 4 (17), pp. 7–16. (In Russian)
Ivanov V. L. (2010) “The intensive Magnitude of Perfection: The Infinity as the essential Concept in the Theology and Philosophy of John Duns Scotus, OFM”, in Kosmos i Dusha. Ucheniia o prirode i myshlenii v Antichnosti, Srednie veka i Novoe vremia. Ed. by A. V. Seryogin. Iss. 2, pp. 379–431. Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow, Progress-Traditsiia Publ. (In Russian)
Ivanov V. L. (2012) “The Philosophy of the Jesuits as the lost Key Element in the scientific Landscape of the 17th Century: On the Insufficiency of traditional Image of the history of philosophy and sciences in the Early Modern time”, in Filosofiia istorii filosofii: obiazatel’nost’ i naviazchivost’ istoricheskogo. K 70-letiiu professora K. A. Sergeeva. Ed. by E. V. Malyshkin, pp. 120–142. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Press. (In Russian)
Ivanov V. L. (2016) “At the origin of the formalist metaphysics of distinctions: the theological purpose of introduction of distinctio formalis in the work of John Duns Scotus, OFM”, in ESSE: Filosofskie i teologicheskie issledovaniia, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 185–204. (In Russian)
Ivanov V. L. (2018) “Duns Scotus and the Scotists on the Identity and Difference: On the History of two metaphysical Concepts in Scholastic-Aristotelian Philosophy”, in ESSE: Filosofskie i teologicheskie issledovaniia, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 255–290. (In Russian)
Knebel S. K. (1993) “Modus essendi/existendi”, in Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte. Hrsg. von G. Scholtz. Bd. XXXVI, S. 7–42.
LaZella A. T. (2019) The Singular Voice of Being: John Duns Scotus and Ultimate Difference. New York, Fordham University Press.
Marrone Fr. (2005) Res e realitas in Descartes. Tesi di Dottore di Ricerca. Lecce, Conte Editore.
Möhle H. (2007) Formalitas und modus intrinsecus: Die Entwicklung der Scotischen Metaphysik bei Franciscus de Mayronis. Münster, Aschendorff Verlag.
Petrus Thomae (2018) Petri Thomae Quaestiones De Ente. Ed. by G. R. Smith (Petri Thomae Opera, Vol. 2). Leuven, Leuven University Press.
Petrus Thomae (2021) “Questions on the modes of distinctions. Question 11: Is the intrinsic mode of a thing distinct from that thing in some way ex natura rei?” Transl. from Latin into Russian with commentary by V. L. Ivanov, in Philosophy. Journal of the Higher School of Economics. (In print).
Poppi A. (1966). “Il contributo dei formalisti padovani al problema delle distinzioni”, in Problemi e figure della scuola scotista del Santo, pp. 601–790. Padua, Edizioni Messaggero.
Trent Pomplun R. (2016) “John Duns Scotus in the History of Medieval Philosophy from the Sixteenth Century to Étienne Gilson (†1978)”, in Bulletin de philosophie médiévale, vol. 58, pp. 355–445.
Wolter A. B. (1946) The Transcendentals and Their Function in the Metaphysics of Duns Scotus. St. Bonaventure, New York, The Franciscan Institute Publ.
Downloads
Published
2021-07-16
Issue
Section
Research
License
Articles of "Issues of Theology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
