Sunday, July 23, 2006

John the Scot

(Originally written July 23, 2006 in Book 5)

The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell

Chapter VIII - John the Scot

John the Scot is the most astonishing person of the 9th century.

He was:
1) Irish
2) A Neoplatonist
3) A Greek scholar
4) A Pelagian
5) A pantheist

He placed reason above faith.

John the Scot lived from approximately 800 - 877.

He believed that philosophy and revelation both provided truth and if they conflicted then reason should be preferred.

He believed that Evil was a privation of good.

He rejected the Aristotelian notion of refusing the substance of particular things.

He believed Plato to be the summit of philosophers.

His big book was the On the Division of Nature. It was condemned numerous times and ordered to be burned, but luckily it survived.

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