Duns Scotus's Interlocutors at Paris

Duns Scotus (d. 1308) was one of the most important philosophers of the Middle Ages. But little remains known about the immediate responses to Scotus's philosophy, even though it is often proposed that Scotus changed his mind as he himself critized, weighed and appropriated these responses. Unlike many of his fellow students, Scotus commented on the Sentences twice: once in Oxford, then in Paris. The result of the latter is the Reportatio Parsiensis. It is usually held that Scotus was confronted with arguments and criticism at Paris then he did not encounter in Oxford. Although Scotus already formulated an extensive philosophical system, he was forced to sharpen his arguments on the whetstone of the Parisian milieu. Much of this criticism goes to the heart of Scotus's philosophy and criticizes his theories of the univocity of being, the adequate object of the intellect, the formal distinction, and his theory of the will. The present conference will investigate this criticism.

The speakers at the conference are: William J. Courtenay, Richard Cross, Stephen D. Dumont, William Duba, Marina Fedeli, Wouter Goris, Hernán Guerrero-Troncoso, Timothy Noone, Mikolaj Olszewski, Francesco Pica, Martin Pickavé, Christopher Schabel, Garrett Smith, Anik Stanbury, and Simona Vucu.