DUNS SCOTUS, JOHN

born c. 1266, , Duns, Lothian, Scot. died Nov. 8, 1308, Cologne Latin given name Joannes, byname Doctor Subtilis influential Franciscan realist philosopher and scholastic theologian who pioneered the classical defense of the doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived without original sin (the Immaculate Conception). He also argued that the Incarnation was not dependent on the fact that man had sinned, that will is superior to intellect and love to knowledge, and that the essence of heaven consists in beatific love rather than the vision of God. Additional reading Odulf Schafer, Bibliographia de vita, operibus et doctrina Iohannis Duns Scoti, saec. XIX-XX (1955), continued in Resenha Abreviada da Bibliografia Escotistica Mais Recente (19541966), Revista Portuguesa de Filosofa, 23:338363 (1967), are exhaustive bibliographies prepared for the Scotistic Commission. De doctrina Iohannis Duns Scoti, 4 vol. (1968), contains 125 papers given at the 2nd International Scotistic Congress 1966 on the philosophy, theology, and influence of Scotus; Deus et Homo ad mentem I. Duns Scoti (1972), is a similar collection from the 3rd International Scotistic Congress 1970. A.B. Wolter (trans.), Duns Scotus, Philosophical Writings (1962), includes selections from the Ordinatio; and A Treatise on God As First Principle (1966), the De Primo Principio, and selections from the Lectura. On the theology of Scotus, see the article by C. Balic in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (1967). On his philosophy, the following are particularly recommended: A.B. Wolter in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 2 (1967), a concise general introduction; Efrem Bettoni, Duns Scotus: The Basic Principles of His Philosophy (1961), a more detailed analysis with a good bibliography; J.K. Ryan and B.M. Bonansea (eds.), John Duns Scotus, 12651965 (1965), a series of essays; F.C. Copleston, A History of Philosophy, 2nd ed., vol. 2 (1950); and D.E. Sharp, Franciscan Philosophy at Oxford in the Thirteenth Century (1930).