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Review of Matthias Laarmann, Deus, primum cognitum. Die Lehre von Gott als dem Ersterkannten des menschlichen Intellekts bei Heinrich von Gent (review)Philosophisches Jahrbuch 108 (1): 175-176. 2001.
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26The most controversial aspect of the interpretation of Scotus’s modal theory concerns the question of whether things are possible because God knows them to be possible, or whether they are possible independently from God. I argue that Scotus thought that the possibles are possibles because of God’s knowledge of them. I adduce a number of relevant texts that previous 20th century discussions of this interpretational problem have not taken into account. In addition, I discuss the modal theory of F…Read more
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The Distinction between Nature and Will in Duns ScotusArchives d'Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Âge 66 189-224. 1999.In the thought of Duns Scotus, the distinction of active potencies into will and nature takes on a fundamental systematic significance. It distinguishes free and self-determining causality from natural and necessary causality. The purpose of this article is to show to what extent this distinction underlies large parts of Duns Scotus’ moral psychology, ethics, metaphysics and Trinitarian theology.
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82Peter Auriol on Free Choice and Free JudgmentVivarium 53 (1): 65-89. 2015.Some medieval authors defend free choice by arguing that, even though human choices are indeed caused by the practical judgment about what is best to do here and now, one is nevertheless able to freely influence that practical judgment’s formation. This paper examines Peter Auriol’s account of free choice, which is a quite elaborate version of this approach and which brings its theoretical problems into focus. I will argue in favor of Auriol’s basic theory, but I will also propose an emendation …Read more
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2566Aquinas on Free Will and Intellectual DeterminismPhilosophers' Imprint 17. 2017.From the early reception of Thomas Aquinas up to the present, many have interpreted his theory of liberum arbitrium to imply intellectual determinism: we do not control our choices, because we do not control the practical judgments that cause our choices. In this paper we argue instead that he rejects determinism in general and intellectual determinism in particular, which would effectively destroy liberum arbitrium as he conceives of it. We clarify that for Aquinas moral responsibility presuppo…Read more
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18Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2013.Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is the text which had the single greatest influence on Aquinas's ethical writings, and the historical and philosophical value of Aquinas's appropriation of this text provokes lively debate. In this volume of new essays, thirteen distinguished scholars explore how Aquinas receives, expands on and transforms Aristotle's insights about the attainability of happiness, the scope of moral virtue, the foundation of morality and the nature of pleasure. They examine Aquinas…Read more
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8Conscience and synderesisIn Brian Davies & Eleonore Stump (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Aquinas, Oxford University Press. 2011.This article gives a basic account of Aquinas’s theory of “synderesis” and conscience. Aquinas understands synderesis as an infallible moral awareness and conscience as the fallible judgment that applies a general moral conviction to a concrete case. The article also compares Aquinas’s and his contemporaries’ theories of whether erring conscience is morally binding, that is, whether to act in accord with erring conscience or against erring conscience is sinful.
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3Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas on magnanimityIn István Pieter Bejczy (ed.), Virtue ethics in the Middle Ages: commentaries on Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics, 1200 -1500, Brill. 2008.Certain traits of the magnanimous man of the Nicomachean Ethics seem incompatible with gratitude and humility. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas are the first commentators of the Latin West who had access to the integral portrayal of magnanimity in the Nicomachean Ethics. Surprisingly, they welcomed the Aristotelian ideal of magnanimity without reservations. The paper summarizes Aristotle’s account of magnanimity, discusses briefly the transformation of this notion in Stoicism and early schola…Read more
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46Aquinas on the Moral Progress of the Weak WilledIn Tobias Hoffmann, Jörn Müller & Matthias Perkams (eds.), The Problem of Weakness of Will in Medieval Philosophy, Peeters. 2006.The paper investigates Aquinas’s explanation of how the incontinent can make moral progress. The incontinent cannot be healed by moral instruction, because they already know what is best, but fail to act accordingly. Their moral knowledge has to be interiorized. Thus by attaining prudence and the moral virtues, moral knowledge becomes practically effective knowledge. Yet these virtues are no remedy for the incontinent, who are still struggling to attain them. By reason and will they can resist i…Read more
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122Aquinas and intellectual determinism: The test case of angelic sinArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 89 (2): 122-156. 2007.This paper intends to show that Aquinas gives a non-deterministic account of free decision. Angelic sin is the eminent test case: ex hypothesi, angels are supremely intelligent and not subject to ignorance, passions, or negatively disposing habits. Nothing predetermines their choice; rather it ultimately depends on their freedom alone. All angels acted based upon reasons, but why certain angels acted for an inadequate reason whereas others for an adequate reason cannot be fully explained. Thomas…Read more
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Ideen der Individuen und intentio naturae. Duns Scotus im Dialog mit Thomas von Aquin und Heinrich von GentFreiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie Und Theologie 46 (1/2): 138-152. 1999.Duns Scotus vigorously defends an idea foreign to Greek philosophers, namely that the individual has a higher ontological dignity than the species. He develops this view in two contexts: the problem of the principle of individuation and the discussion of divine ideas of individuals. This article focuses on the latter, in which Scotus critiques Aquinas, whom he mistakenly interprets as denying that there are divine ideas of individuals, as well as Henry of Ghent, who repeatedly rejects this hypot…Read more
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1275This bibliography contains primary and secondary literature on Duns Scotus and Scotism.
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65A Companion to Angels in Medieval Philosophy (edited book)Brill. 2012.This book studies medieval theories of angelology insofar as they made groundbreaking contributions to medieval philosophy. The discussion of angels, made famous by the humanist caricature of ‘how many angels can dance on the head of a pin’, was nevertheless a crucial one in medieval philosophical debates. All scholastic masters pronounced themselves on angelology, if only in their Sentence commentaries. The questions concerning angelic cognition, speech, free decision, movement, etc. were sprin…Read more
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55Weakness of Will from Plato to the Present (edited book)Catholic University of America Press. 2008.This volume contains thirteen original essays on weakness of will by scholars of contemporary philosophy and the history of philosophy. It covers the major periods of Western philosophy.
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27Henry of Ghent's Voluntarist Account of Weakness of WillIn Weakness of Will from Plato to the Present, Catholic University of America Press. 2008.According to Henry of Ghent, akrasia (incontinence or weakness of will) does not presuppose, but rather produces a cognitive defect. By tracing akratic actions and other evil actions to a corruption in the will rather than to a cognitive defect, Henry wants to safeguard their freedom. Though the will is able to reject what the intellect judges as best here and now, strength and freedom of the will increase to the degree that one adheres more firmly to the good. What strengthens the will are the …Read more
Université de Fribourg
PhD, 2002
Areas of Specialization
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Action |
Normative Ethics |