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

1. A Structure for Mutuality

A ny discussion of Scotist ethical insights must take into account the stereotype of this Franciscan which exists in the minds of many students of history. It is true that Scotus is oftenjudged against the imposing figure of Thomas Aquinas and found wanting. Aquinas has provided Western thought with one of the most compelling ethical visions within Christianity. Huge portions of his Summa Theologiae are devoted to an intricate examination of happiness, natural virtue, moral law and rational moraljudgment.Against this Dominican vision, Scotus often appears to defend an arbitrary moral universe, dependent upon the whim of a divine lawgiver. The centrality of freedom in Scotist thought is often portrayed as devoid of rationality. The God of Scotus seems too unpredictable. Some of this misunderstanding is due to the fragmented and sparse treatment ofethical issues found inScotist texts. True enough, it is not possible to discover a full-blown ethical theory or procedure whichwe mightattribute to DunsScotus. However, when we consider the importance of freedom for modern thought, it would be misguided to dismiss Scotus as an insignificant contributor to moral discussion His is a vision of reality which emphasizes the value of each individual being as a concrete manifestation of divine love and creativity. Scotus's attention to the value of the contingent reveals his deeper concern to defend divine initiative operative in history. His focus on the "thisness" of each thing points to the value of creationprecisely as willedby God. The connection he draws between contingency and freedom does 1 2 THEHARMONYOFGOODN~ not remain within the domain of divine activity: it grounds his discussion of the value of moral living as a process of transformation and participation in divine life. In other words, the structure ofScotist thought moves from an awareness of the value and beauty of creation to the affirmation that such beauty could only be the result of a free and rational act. Once he has described the sort of freedom necessary in God, he concludes that moral living involves human imitation of divine perfection: the fullness of freedom is creativity in love. This perfection is ultimately creative of relationship,just as all reality forms a whole, just as the Covenant with Abraham established a friendship between God and Israel,just as the Incarnation reveals a divine-human union, so too the goal of human moral living is the creation of a moral community and participation in the Trinitarian communion. These important threads are woven together in Scotist thought: they form a dense fabric which is difficult to analyze. In addition, the close relationship between philosophy and theology for medieval thinkers influences the way in which human and divine realities overlap in Scotist texts. Because he sees the human journey as revealing divine activity, Scotus accepts that any discussion of the human person reveals something about divine nature and, conversely, that any discussion of God points out a potential perfectibility within human life. So it is not surprising to find that his discussion of freedom moves easily between the consideration of human freedom and of its basis in divine activity. In 1990, Marilyn McCord Adams edited a collection of articles written by Allan B. Wolter, OFM entitled The Philosophical Theology o/John Duns Scotus.' This title is an especially apt description of the overall nature of Scotus's work: philosophical theology. As was the case for many medieval thinkers, Scotus viewed philosophy and theology as collaborative sciences: reason and faith are not at odds. The two disciplines seek to explain, each in its own way and from its own point of view (Scotus would say"itsown formal object"), the intricate mystery of reality . This mystery includes both the naturally knowable and the revealed. For this reason, Scotus opens his SentenceCommentary with a Prologue in which he defends the "necessity of revealed doctrine" for a proper 1 CornellUniversity Press. A Structure/or Mutuality 3 understanding of what it means to be human2 His analysis considers reality according to a double axis: conscious of the limitations ofhuman cognition and in lightofthe importance ofdivine freedom. In the Prologue,Scoms clearly sets forth his philosophical-theological perspective. This perspective involves the central intuition about the limitS of human understanding and, consequently, the need for divine assistance. No discussion of human nature, human fulfillment, the present condition of human life after the Fall,' or the limitations of human understanding appears without an allusion to divine grace and the importance...