Scotus and God's Arbitrary Will: A Reassessment
Most agree that Scotus is a voluntarist of some kind. In this paper we argue against recent interpretations of Scotus's ethics (and metaethics) according to which the norms concerning human actions are largely, if not wholly, the arbitrary products of God's will. On our reading, the Scotis...
| Authors: | ; |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Philosophy Documentation Center
[2017]
|
| In: |
American catholic philosophical quarterly
Year: 2017, Volume: 91, Issue: 3, Pages: 399-429 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethics
B VOLUNTARISM (Philosophy) B Natural Law B Metaethics B Social norms B DUNS Scotus, John, ca. 1266-1308 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Most agree that Scotus is a voluntarist of some kind. In this paper we argue against recent interpretations of Scotus's ethics (and metaethics) according to which the norms concerning human actions are largely, if not wholly, the arbitrary products of God's will. On our reading, the Scotistic variety of voluntarism on offer is much more nuanced. Key to our interpretation is keeping distinct what is too often conflated: the reasons why Scotus maintains that the laws of the Second Table of the Decalogue are (a) contingent (a modal distinction) as well as (b) not universal (a categorical distinction). A proper interpretation of Scotus must also take seriously the fact that these Second Table laws are natural laws "exceedingly in harmony with" (multum consona) the necessary laws, and are distinct from and not reducible to divine positive laws. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2153-8441 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic philosophical quarterly
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5840/acpq2017523117 |