John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308)

Abstract

John Duns Scotus, a Franciscan theologian at the threshold of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, reflects typical trends in Franciscan thought, such as an emphasis on sensory and mental experience with implications for metaphysics and ethics, voluntarism in ethics, and accommodation of the Franciscan concepts of ‘highest poverty’ and ‘poor use’ in ethics and economics. At the same time, Scotus’ thought is innovative and anticipates later fourteenth-century developments in cognitive theory.