Abstract

John Scotus Eriugena, a ninth-century philosopher, recently has been recognized for his importance as an original philosopher and a transmitter of Neoplatonism. Although some of Eriugena's positions were condemned as heretical in the Latin West, both during his lifetime and in the thirteenth-century, his direct sources were Christians. In my dissertation, I explore several aspects of the split between Greek and Latin Christians through a critical analysis of Eriugena's Neoplatonic, yet Christian concepts. For example, I clarify what makes a concept a Christian, pagan, orthodox, Latin, Greek, or Neoplatonic concept. Foundational concepts in Eriugena's ontology, such as 'Nature' and 'being', are analyzed. I argue that the novelty of Eriugena's interpretation of the Judaeo-Christian doctrine of creation stems from its similarity to the Neoplatonic theory of emanation. Several twentieth-century methods of interpreting Eriugena's doctrine of creation are proposed, and then the epistemology arising from the doctrine of creation is investigated, beginning with a consideration of the objects of knowledge. Following a tradition steming from Philo of Alexandria, the divine ideas become the objects of knowledge. Yet Eriugena has a high opinion of what the intellect can know without divine assistance. I argue that unlike Augustinian epistemology, Eriugenian epistemology does not include a theory of divine illumination. Eriugena adheres to the doctrine of divine ignorance, the doctrine that God, as he is in himself, is unknown to all intellects. Accordingly, he believes talking accurately about God involves the via negativa, the thesis that only negative predicates truly are applicable to God. The via negativa implies that all knowledge, including knowledge of the physical world, is a theophany or a divine manifestation. So contrary to popular thought, Eriugena's epistemology is not mystical. Moreover, I argue that since the epistemology is quite Aristotelian, the most appropriate label for Eriugena's epistemology is "empiricist."