Thomas Aquinas & John Duns Scotus by Assistant Alex Hall

Thomas Aquinas & John Duns Scotus by Assistant Alex Hall

Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus are arguably the most celebrated representatives of the 'Golden Age' of scholasticism. Looking at the belief of Aquinas maintaining that our knowledge of God is confused and Scotus that it is accurate, here, the author argues that the truth about Aquinas and Scotus lies somewhere in the middle.

Mentioned in The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 23, 2007Volume LIII, No. 29.
"In teasing out the hermeneutical and speculative differences between Aquinas and Scotus, Hall sharpens our view of the similarities between them. He also persuasively advances a more nuanced understanding of the questions driving natural theology at the height of the Middle Ages...Thomistic scholars will be particularly interested in Chapter 2 of Hall's book, for it contains a highly synthetic, ad litteram exposition of Aquinas' interpretation of Aristotle's theory of predication. Hall includes a synoptic comparison of the respective Greek and Latin texts without burdening the readers with excessive lexicographical information. Overall, speculative issues remain at the forefront of Hall's discussion so that philosophers can engage the arguments on their own turf." -Daniel B. Gallagher, Philosophy in Review
"Hall's discussion of...Scotus's account of God and religious language is the best such account known to me...Hall offers a valuable and innovative account of the relations between Aquinas and Scotus on these questions..." British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2008  
"Aquinas's account of per se belonging, the scientific syllogism, and the types of scientific demonstration are rough going for the non-specialist reader, but Hall does his best to make them accessible. These are crucial discussions for his purposes, because in chapter 3 he proceeds on the assumption that Aquinas intends the Five Ways as paradigmatic cases of scientific demonstration...to make his [Hall's] case that the First Way is a paradigmatic instance of scientific demonstration, Hall needs to show that "The ultimate cause of motion exists" is itself the conclusion of a paradigmatic scientific syllogism. But Hall's interests lie elsewhere. He focuses instead on how ‘exists' is predicated analogically in the major premise and conclusion...Accordingly, Hall tries to show for each of the Five Ways how Aquinas's use of analogy enables him to attain scientia of a being that is radically different from the creaturely effects to which he appeals for the starting-points of each proof." - Thomas Williams, Journal of the History of Philosophy, July 2008 -- Thomas Williams * Journal of the History of Philosophy *

Dr Alex Hall is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Clayton State University. His most recent publication is Aquinas, Scientia, and a Medieval Misconstruction of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, 2004).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780826485892
ISBN 10	0826485898
Title	Thomas Aquinas & John Duns Scotus
Author	Assistant Alex Hall
Series	Continuum Studies In Philosophy
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published	2007-02-05
Number of pages	192
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.