Duns Scotus << duhnz SKOH tuhs >>, John (1265 or 1266-1308), was one of the greatest theologians and philosophers of the Middle Ages (about the 400’s through the 1400’s). His ideas on God, knowledge, salvation, and the nature of being influenced many thinkers of the late Middle Ages.
According to tradition, Duns Scotus was born in Duns, Scotland, and entered the Franciscan religious order as a youth. His most important work was the Opus Oxoniense (Oxford Work). The book grew out of lectures Duns Scotus presented at Oxford University on The Four Books of Sentences, an influential book by the Italian theologian Peter Lombard. Duns Scotus also produced commentaries on Aristotle’s ideas on logic and wrote Quaestiones quodlibetales (Various Disputations), which examines a variety of controversial philosophical and theological questions.
Duns Scotus also became known for his defense of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. According to this doctrine, the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin. His defense contributed to its recognition, centuries later, as an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. Duns Scotus died on Nov. 8, 1308.
See also Scholasticism (History).
