In On Being and Cognition, the first complete translation into English of a pivotal text in the history of philosophy and theology, Scotus addresses fundamental issues concerning the limits of human knowledge and the nature of cognition by developing his doctrine of the univocity of being, refuting skepticism and analyzing the way the intellect and the object cooperate in generating actual knowledge in the case of abstractive cognition. Throughout the work Scotus is in discussion with important theologians of his time, such as Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, and Godfrey of Fontaines. Anyone interested in the pertinent philosophical problems will find in this book the highly sophisticated and subtle answers of a giant in the history of thought.
- Cover
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- Outline of Ordinatio
- Introduction. Scotus on being and cognition: Ordinatio 1, distinction 3
- Univocity of being and natural knowledge of God
- The first object of the human intellect
- The adequate object of the human intellect
- Certain knowledge and illumination
- Intellective memory and intelligible species
- The causes of intellection
- Trinity in man: Trace and image
- PART 1: ON THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
- Question 1: Can God be known naturally by the intellect of the wayfarer?
- Question 2: Is God the first thing that is naturally known by us in our present state?
- Question 3: Is God the first natural and adequate object of the human intellect in its present state?
- Question 4: Can we know a certain and genuine truth by natural means without any special illumination?
- PART 2: ON THE TRACE OF THE TRINITY
- Single Question: Is there in every creature a trace of the Trinity?
- PART 3: ON THE IMAGE OF THE TRINITY
- Question 1: Does the intellective part of the soul contain memory as having an intelligible species naturally preceding the act of thinking (intelligendi)?
- Question 2: Is the intellective part of the soul, taken properly, or a component of it, the total cause generating actual knowledge or the reason for generating it?
- Question 3: Is the object, as present in itself or in a species, or the intellective part of the soul the main cause of the production of a cognition?
- Question 4: Is there an image of the Trinity distinctly present in our mind?
- Notes to the translation
- Notes
- Further reading
- References
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