Scotism

Abstract

Scotism is a current or school of thought which is linked to the positions that the Franciscan John Duns Scotus taught in Paris. Unlike Thomism, Scotism was not a school in the strict sense (at least not until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries); instead, the term was commonly used to describe philosophers who adopted Scotus’s way of doing philosophy and theology. Scotism did not play an important role in Renaissance philosophy, with one exception: the University of Padua, which continued the medieval tradition of Scotism. Nevertheless, Scotus and Scotist positions were well regarded and made use of from time to time in Renaissance philosophy.

Although Scotism, unlike Thomism, was mainly characterized by its methodological approach to philosophy and theology, some key doctrines can nevertheless be identified: above all, Scotus’s formal distinction and his theory of grades (on both of which, see below). These doctrines, in particular, have been used over many centuries to identify Scotism, Scotist positions, and Scotists. There are, however, other doctrines which also characterized Scotist thought, such as the theory of the univocity of being, the concept of haecceitas (by which something is individualized), and the form of corporeity.