William A. Frank

This book collects Stephen Toulmin's thoughts about philosophical cosmology as it has developed over the past thirty years. The development shows three distinct phases. Representing the first phase is Part 1 of the book entitled "Scientific Mythology". Part 2 is entitled "A Consideration of Cosmologists". And his latest thinking is developed in Part 3, "The Future of Cosmology: Postmodern Science and Natural Religion." The last part is the most interesting, and is surely the reason for the book. Because of it, the book's title is an honest one.

With this book Allan Wolter makes available the essential writings of Duns Scotus on the will and morality. The book fills a major lacuna in medieval and Scotistic studies. In making the book Wolter tells us that his primary purpose was twofold. First of all, he wished to "correct common misconceptions that arose because of [Scotus's] voluntarist notion of God's relationship to creatures". The means he chose toward this therapeutic end in the history of philosophy is simply a matter of putting forth an accurate and complete report of Scotus's teaching. The second purpose was "to show the unity of [Scotus's] ethical system based on right reason". Measured by these criteria, I would judge the book to be remarkably successful. Duns Scotus on Will and Morality gives a complete view of Scotus's ethical system. The selections are made carefully and generously so that the reader can appreciate the fullness of Scotistic moral teachings.

This massive study makes an important contribution to the history of philosophy for two reasons. First of all, it stands as the most complete and careful philosophical analysis of Ockham's thought to date. Adams's expositions and analyses will become the gloss which generations of students will have to reckon with as they confront the text of Ockham. Secondly, this work represents an exemplary method of philosophical commentary, one that proves to be a remarkably illuminating way into the mind of a medieval scholastic disputant. Because Ockham's thought is intensely dialectical and argumentative, Adams appropriately exposes his doctrines through an exacting recovery of his argument within its dialogical context. For example, in the crucial chapter 2, "Universals Are Not Things other than Names," we come to understand Ockham's nominalism as it emerges from his rejection of moderate realism; Adams presents this rejection through a reconstruction of Ockham's encounter with the living tradition of Aquinas, Scotus, Walter Burleigh, William of Alnwick, Nervaeus Natalis, and Henry of Harclay. As the dialectic proceeds from figure to figure, the issue of the universal reshapes itself with great sophistication. Adams's formidable analytic powers and her sharp focus on the key philosophical issue enable her to succeed in this method. The reader also gets the sense that Adams herself believes one can come to truth through philosophical argument, and not just the truth of what Ockham taught but the truth of what he sought. This earnestness enables her to keep a fix on the dialectic's "emerging rule" which becomes the source of unity in what could otherwise degenerate into a bewildering complexity of historical detail or the vanity of analytic logic-chopping.

In this book the foremost philosophical exegete of Scotus's thought presents an extensive commentary on a metaphysical masterpiece of the great Franciscan master. As many well know, A Treatise on God is one of the most sustained purely philosophical arguments for the existence and nature of God to come from the middle ages. But the original work makes hard reading. Informing Scotus's argumentation are a host of vital metaphysical doctrines that barely reach the surface of the written text. Without a knowledge of these submerged positions Scotus's thought in the Treatise strikes one as a hardly penetrable code. Typical hurdles for the reader include severely foreshortened arguments, almost complete absence of examples, and obliquely relevant objections. In addition, Scotus seems to be working through an intellectual agenda that involves a sophisticated conversation with the great minds of the metaphysical tradition. The reader needs to be cognizant of the terms and principals of this dialogue. Wolter's commentary is a superb companion that clearly establishes the context and flow of argumentation in Scotus's treatise.

Despite Newman’s negligible direct familiarity with the works and thought of John Duns Scotus, there has been recent discussion of affinities between the two along a range of philosophical approaches and sensibilities. These notes introduce the thesis that both Scotus and Newman share a disposition to appeal to aesthetic rationality when it comes to asserting certain basic truths critical to Christian understanding. Recent Scotus studies have demonstrated the deep and pervasive presence of the aesthetic dimension in Duns Scotus’s thought. In the latter half of this paper I argue for the importance of aesthetic rationality in understanding Newman’s illative sense, which is perhaps his most important contribution to philosophical thought.

The idea of translating Gerdil into English is brilliant, the translation is very good and the introduction of William Frank precise and inspiring.... Rousseau proposes a complete break with tradition. A new man will arise who is severed from the whole heritage of the past. With him the history of mankind begins anew. In one sense we have here a transposition in the field of philosophy of education of the Cartesian cogito. The subject begins with himself. To this philosophical project Gerdil opposes the idea of tradition. We have not made ourselves. Our parents have procreated us. The parents do not only procreate their offspring, they also introduce them into the natural and social reality, that is they educate. No education is possible without a lively dialogue with history and society. Since the beginning man stands in a close relationship to others, is made for the human society.... In these our times one form of modernity is collapsing and the mood of the day is an unclear postmodernity that in some of its versions could well be a return to barbarianism. All the more important is then that another form of modernity be rediscovered and brought to the attention of the American public. - Rocco Buttiglione, University of St. Pius V, Rome A timely translation of a compelling 18th century critique of Rousseau by the neglected Italian author, Hyacinth S. Gerdil. Gerdil's Anti-Emile may have been written as a critique of Rousseau's Emile, but it can equally be read as a critique of the philosophy embraced by the American educational establishment. Through the influence of John Dewey, Rousseau came to inform much of the educational theory regnant in the United States, with disastrous consequences, now acknowledge by nearly all. In a valuable preface to his translation, Professor Frank, drawing upon his experience both here and abroad, not only places Emile in context, but defends Gerdil's time-transcending, classical view of education against its modern detractors. "Gerdil," Frank tells us, "addressed his Anti-Emile to elders responsible for education, be they parents, teachers, or political authorities, who might find themselves swayed by the powerful rhetoric of Rousseau's Emile." The same may be said of this translation and its informative prefatory material, for it is clearly a study that will be valued by anyone interested in principled education. - Jude P. Dougherty, Catholic University of America Cover image: "Adam and Eve" by Tintoretto. St. Augustine's Press acknowledges the kind permission granted by la Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice, for the use of the image. All rights reserved by la Scuola Grande di San Rocco.

The work provides a safe edition of Duns Scotus' Quaestiones quodlibetales qq. 16, 17, and 18, together with a commentary that develops Scotus' mature teaching on the will. The intent here is to present a textually accurate and philosophically significant sketch of the Subtle Doctor's quodlibetal teaching on the will. ;To insure a reliable text, an edition of the three questions is generated from three manuscripts judged by the Scotus Commission to be sufficient for the purpose: Munich Staatsbibliothek Clm 8717 , Clm 26309 , and Worcester Cathedral F. 60 . ;The commentary consists of five chapters. The chief task of the first three chapters is to so understand the will that its freedom is compatible with the necessary volition of God's self-love and trinitarian spiration, and the source of the radical contingency in God's love of others and the love of finite agents for any object. In developing the ontology of the will, reference is made to Scotus' Questions on the Metaphysics Book. IX, Q. 15 and Ordinatio I, DD. 38 - 39. ;The teaching on the will's self-mastery, established in the prior chapters, is further emphasized in the fourth. The heart of 0.17 concerns the role of grace and its bearing on the will's freedom and self-determination. Scotus is found to affirm freedom unequivocally denying legitimate play to grace and charity. ;Chapter V casts the issue of free will into the context of moral goodness and right reason. The specific task is to discover the foundation in the will for the imputability of its acts. The interpretation concludes that intrinsic to the will's freedom is the will's innate inclination to justice. ;The net results of the study are a fresh appreciation of the unity of theme in Quodlibet QQ. 16 - 18, provision of a safe edition of the text, and a presentation of Scotus' ontology of the will, taken in its systematic breadth and placed in the lively context of the 14th century quodlibet