Scientia propter quid nobis - the epistemic independence of metaphysics and theology in the "Quaestio de cognitione Dei" attributed to Duns Scotus

Wouter Goris

"This study is part of a larger project on the primacy of adequacy in the philosophical thought of Duns Scotus. It offers, together with a critical edition, the first attempt at an overall interpretation of the Quaestio de cognitione Dei attributed to Duns Scotus - a text famous for its enhancement of Scotuss conception of metaphysics with the systematic distinction between metaphysics as a science in itself and for us. In line with the theory of science in the Lectura Parisiensis, in which Duns Scotus casts theology as a strictly demonstrative science in the present state (a scientia propter quid nobis), the Quaestio de cognitione Dei is seen to demand that the same be allowed for metaphysics as well - its conception of metaphysics as a scientia in se distinct from theology hence critically amends Scotuss conception of metaphysics. This criticism not only shows that the Quaestio de...