Un’indagine intorno alla negazione nelle opere di Giovanni Duns Scoto

Abstract

This work aims at developing a first in-depth analysis about the topic of negation within the philosophical and theological production of John Duns Scotus. This research has been carried out resorting to two different approaches: (i) keeping a rigorous historical and critical analysis of the writings while (ii) deploying recent conceptual tools, unbound to the medieval speculation. The thesis is structured in two sections and five chapters according to a chronological and thematic criterion, hence the first section is devoted to Scotus’ Parva logicalia. (I) The first chapter displays both the historiographical and conceptual frame which upholds the following analyses. (II) The topics of syntax and semantics of negative expressions are then explored, endorsing a compositional approach over the complexity of the linguistic items involved; (III) the understanding of negation as an instance of relation is then addressed, specifically dealing with the concept of ‘opposition’. The second section is instead concerned with some latter writings, such as the commentaries on the Metaphysics and on the Libri Sententiarum, and pivots around the metatheoretical criterion of ‘asimmetricalism’. The specific instances of (IV) negative knowledge and (V) fictitious beings are in fact developed in the last chapters, showing both the limits and the power of Scotus’ asymmetricalistic claims. In conclusion, the work shows how negation is involved in several crucial aspects of Scotus’ philosophical and theological system, sometimes leading to inconsistencies. The concept of repugnantia, in particular, plays a fundamental role although being more than often highly problematic. [edited by Author]