The Univocity of the Concept of Being in the Philosophy of John Duns Scotus by Cyril L. Shircel, O. F. M. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 295 efforts in Canada and the United States. The editor deserves highest com­ mendation for her excellent work. T h eo d o re R o e m e r , O. F. M. Ca p . St. Lawrence College, Mount Calvary, Wis. The Univocity of the Concept of Being in the Philosophy of John Duns Scotus. (A dissertation for the Doctorate in Philosophy submitted to the Catholic University of America.) By Cyril L. Shircel, O. F. M. (Wash­ ington, D. C., 1942.) The author sets himself the task of presenting a historical solution of one of the fundamental problems in the philosophy of Duns Scotus, his doctrine on the univocity of the concept of being. To add perspective to the exposition, a comparative study of St. Thomas supplies the corresponding doctrinal positions of the Angelic Doctor. An introductory chapter treats of analogy and predication in their various modes. The author then considers the nature ana character of univocity for the logician. This leads to an inquiry into the object of the intellect and the nature of being as the object of the intellect. Here it becomes apparent that a fundamental difference in their views concerning the nature of the object of the intellect underlies the differing theories of Duns Scotus and St. Thomas, causing one to consider being univocal and the other to pronounce in favor of its analogy. There follows an inquiry into the nature of con­ ceptual univocity for the metaphysician and a study of the relation of uni­ vocal and categorical predication, and of the contraction of being to God and the creature. A final chapter sums up the conclusions reached, and presents a brief comparative synthesis of the thought of St. Thomas and Duns Scotus. The author shows how the nature of being as the object of thought underlies the differences between Duns Scotus and St. Thomas. The Angelic Doctor maintained that the human intellect can understand nothing without the aid of the phantasm, and that in consequence the quiddity of material things only is the proper and natural object of the human intellect. Hence our notion of being is purely abstractive. Scotus on the other hand holds that in addition to this abstractive mode, we possess another mode of in­ tellectual knowledge, namely intuition. Abstractive cognition prescinds from existence; whereas in our intuitive cognition we behold the object directly as existing being: we perceive it in its existence. In other words, being as such (in se), not merely abstractive being, is the primary, natural, and adequate object of the human intellect. The implications of these differing views are apparent. The being of St. Thomas as the exclusive product of abstraction from material things can be applied only improperly and ana­ logously to the realm of spiritual things; whereas the being of Duns Scotus is not restricted in its proper signification to the material realm, but is co­ extensive with the realm of existing being, both material and immaterial, and thus applies properly and univocally also to spiritual beings such as God, the soul, etc. Being as the adequate object of the intellect implies univocity of being. 296 FRANCISCAN STUDIES In point of fact, when St. Thomas and Duns Scotus speak of being, its character and nature, they are not speaking of the same thing. The being of St. Thomas is knowable only mediately by means of abstraction from the phantasm. The being of Scotus is knowable also intuitively, hence is wider in extension, including the total existential realm of being, material and im­ material. And so when St. Thomas maintains that his notion of being is analogous, this was his only possible logical conclusion. And when Scotus maintained that his notion of being is univocal, this was his only possible logical conclusion. Both views are not merely random positions, but organic details within their respective general doctrinal systems. The concept of being plays a central role in the philosophical system of Duns Scotus. Being as the primary, natural, and adequate object of the mind is exhaustively analyzed by him, and made one of the keystones of his system. Thus his arguments for the existence of God are based upon the order of being, and...