Scotus and Ockham
Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 83:141-153 (2009)
Abstract |
This paper is a defense of John Duns Scotus’s theory of individuation against one of William of Ockham’s objections. In the Ordinatio II. D.3. P. 1, John Duns Scotus argues for the existence of haecceity, a positive, indivisible distinction which makes an individual an individual rather than a kind of thing. He argues for the existence of haecceity by arguing for a form which is a “real less than numerical unity” and is neither universal nor singular. In the Summa Logicae, William of Ockham objects to Scotus’s theory of haecceity by attacking his theory of universals, claiming that the same thing would be proper and common simultaneously. The basis of Ockham’s objections is that only a real distinction is possible: if things are distinct, then they can exist separately. Without universals, a principle of individuation is unnecessary. To defend Scotus’s principle of individuation, an account and defense of the formal distinction is necessary. Without the formal distinction, metaphysical categories, such as being and one, are incoherent or contradictory. The formal distinction gives rise to a new law of contradiction:two or more entities are formally distinct if and only if contradiction or non-being results from their separation and the properties of one being do not match theproperties of the other being(s)
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Keywords | Catholic Tradition Conference Proceedings History of Philosophy Philosophy and Religion |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
ISBN(s) | 0065-7638 |
DOI | 10.5840/acpaproc20098312 |
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Recent Work on the Philosophy of Duns Scotus.Richard Cross - 2010 - Philosophy Compass 5 (8):667-675.
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The Physics of Duns Scotus: The Scientific Context of a Theological Vision.Richard Cross - 1998 - Clarendon Press.
Duns Scotus's Parisian Question on the Formal Distinction.Stephen D. Dumont - 2005 - Vivarium 43 (1):7-62.
Scotus on Accidental and Essential Causes.Eike-Henner W. Kluge - 2008 - Franciscan Studies 66:233 - 246.
Scotus's Realist Conception of the Categories: His Legacy to Late Medieval Debates.Giorgio Pini - 2005 - Vivarium 43 (1):63-110.
Scotus and Haecceitas, Aquinas and Esse.James B. Reichmann - 2006 - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 80 (1):63-75.
Bibliotheca Manuscripta Petri Thomae.Garrett Smith - 2010 - Bulletin de Philosophie Medievale 52:161-200.
Ross and Scotus on the Existence of God: Two Proofs From Possibility.G. Randolph Mayes - 1990 - The Thomist 54 (1):97-114.
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