The Harmony of Goodness: Mutuality and Moral Living According to John Duns Scotus

Chapter One: A Structure for Mutuality

ChaPTer one a sTruCTure for muTualiTy In this first chapter, we consider several significant elements from Scotus’s philosophical and theological vision, drawn from spirituality, metaphysics and epistemology. These elements correspond to the overall context of the wind chime. In addition, they help us appreciate the deeper metaphysical and spiritual structure from which to understand his ethical vision. The elements themselves underscore the central Franciscan commitment to the dignity of the created order and to the value of freedom as essential to rationality. We begin our study of Scotus’s moral theory with a vision of the whole: a presentation of his spiritual tradition, in its Augustinian and Franciscan aspects. Following this, we consider the centrality of relationship: first in God as Trinity of persons and then in creation and the contingent particular. We then turn to the order of freedom as foundational to moral living, a topic that is explored in greater detail in chapter two. Finally, the chapter concludes with a brief summary of two historical influences: the significance of medieval Stoicism for Franciscan moral theory, as well as the poverty controversy of the late thirteenth century. a sPiriTual TradiTion for moral living An appreciation for salvation history grounds Scotus’s vision of human life. God’s choice for creation, he argues, was in view of the Covenant with Abraham and, ultimately, THE HARMONY OF GOODNESS 20 in view of the Incarnation. As we map the moral domain in this first chapter, we must not lose sight of its Trinitarian and Christocentric focus. Here is a Christian moral vision framed entirely around the Incarnation, divine relationship, liberality and creativity. Moral living mirrors divine life. This is not to diminish the dignity of human action but to contextualize human moral living within a larger frame of divine desire and love. Because of this broader spiritual context, moral life is not limited to a narrow set of cases or moral situations. Rather, it unifies and integrates all aspects of a human life. In Scotist thought, created reality possesses a dignity and value precisely insofar as it is contingent and particular. What’s more, contingent beings point to their Creator, since contingency reveals dependence. Indeed, as Scotus reasons, a truly contingent being (one which might not have existed) only begins to exist thanks to the operation of a free, rational and creative cause. When we recognize the contingent particular as contingent, we are open to consider its foundation in divine creative freedom. In other words, this world is not necessary. It is not the only one possible, even though it may be the only one actualized. In fact, for Scotus, it is precisely insofar as the Creator is free to choose other possible worlds that the existence of this world is singularly precious. Scotus’s philosophical vision is highly spiritual; it enables him to move from an awareness of the beauty and value of creation to the affirmation that such beauty could only be the result of a rational, free and creative act. The connection he draws between contingent effects and free causes enables him to move back and forth between divine and human domains. Moral living, as rational and free, ultimately involves participation and transformation into divine life. Divine life perfects freedom: it is rational, loving, ordered and creative. As we shall see, once he has conceived and described the sort of the freedom necessary in God, Scotus returns to ground the possibility of human moral action in imitation of divine rational freedom. Because love grounds freedom in God, the perfection of freedom in us demands loving, interpersonal relationships. A STRUCTURE FOR MUTUALITY 21 The Franciscan tradition belongs to the broader frame of Augustinian spirituality. The centerpiece of this spiritual approach is love for God as that “Beauty ever ancient and ever new.”1 Like others in his spiritual family, Scotus understands moral living as a spiritual journey centered on love and beauty.2 As a result, moral education is dynamic: its interest lies beyond a narrow focus on laws or moral norms alone. Likewise, because it involves an entire life, it is not a “crisis driven” discipline that focuses on particular cases. Rather, informed by spiritual intuitions, moral living expresses a way of life that, quite simply, takes a lifetime to perfect. It is a life of reflective praxis drawn by beauty and intimately joined to wisdom spirituality, whose goal is growth in that practical and pastoral...