Duns Scotus

John Duns (commonly called Duns Scotus) was a Scotsman generally considered to be one of the three most important philosopher-theologians of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages (the other two being Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham). Scotus has had considerable influence on both Christian and secular thought. The doctrines for which he is best known are the ‘univocity of being’ (that existence is the most abstract concept we have, applicable to everything that exists); the ‘formal distinction’ (a way of distinguishing between different aspects of the same thing); and the idea of ‘haecceity’ (the property supposed to be in each individual thing that makes it an individual). Scotus also developed a complex argument for the existence of God based upon cause and effect.