The Shadow of Scotus: Philosophy and Faith in Pre-Reformation Scotland

A unique study of Pre-Reformation Scottish philosophers and philosophy.The greatest of the philosophers was John Duns Scotus, but there were others such as John Ireland, John Mair of Haddington and George Lokert of Ayr. Focusing on the concepts of will, intellect and faith, Professor Broadie investigates the philosophy of these men and the relationships between their ideas. He places them within the framework of the medieval dispute between nominalists and realists which so characterised philosophy and theology in the Middle Ages.Scotus' account of the primacy of will over intellect was demonstrably influenced by his Franciscan inheritance. Will is the faculty of freedom. However, how can our acts be free if God has known from eternity that we will perform them? This question is examined in relation to John Ireland's major theological work, The Mirror of Wisdom. Professor Broadie analyses the concept of faith as presented by John Mair and his Scottish contemporaries, and their doctrine that giving assent as an act of faith involves two stages, an act of intellect by which hesitant assent is given, and an act of free will by which hesitancy is replaced by certainty.