MODERN DÜŞÜNCEYİ JOHN DUNS SCOTUS MU BAŞLATTI? ‐Scotus’un Tanrı Anlayışı Bağlamında Bir Değerlendirme‐

The problem of which factors played an effective role in the emergence of modern thinking has been a significant debate in the history of philosophy. In this regard, it has been focused on philosophical, political, economic and similar causes. Although modern thinking usually tends to deny what preceded it through its epistemological claims it has put forward, it must be noted that “the modern” is consequently an outcome of Medieval Age, and all these factors stem from some developments that took place during this time period. It can be argued that this became more salient regarding perception of God, and particularly the existence and knowledge of God in the context of basic theological claims. It can be said that the first reaction of medieval Christian West upon coming into contact with the Classical Ancient Greek texts was negative overall. Particularly, the extremely cautious attitude towards Aristotle’s philosophy was geared towards protecting the Christian faith against the relatively destructive effect of this philosophy in terms of religious beliefs. This attitude continued to exist during a significant part of the Patristic period, yet the subsequent struggle to create a systematic structure against opposing or rival worldviews through building a Christian metaphysics and thus reformulating Christian opinion on issues such as universe and humanity gave birth to the need of producing a new theology. It can be argued that Thomism came as a result of such a struggle. The adoption of Thomistic tradition as official doctrine when it prevailed along with Scholastic philosophy deeply affected Christian thought for a long time, but also resulted in some criticism. Some of it was that this thought tradition Christian faith too theoretic or incomprehensible and that it removed the importance of some underlying Christian principles such as personal piety and humble lifestyle. Members of Franciscan school are among the ones who leveled criticism coming up with some new arguments against Thomistic philosophy. According to the Franciscans who emphasized a religious understanding based on practicality, emotions, mysticism, personality and worship by bringing Plato’s and St. Augustine’s philosophy to the attention again, the will is more important than reason, and the ethical and religious contents of Christianity are more important than the theoretical teachings of Jesus. Thus, Duns Scotus, as a leading figure of Scholastic period Franciscanism, spearheaded the opposition within the church with his criticism against Thomism which was then the central doctrine of the church, and rebelled against the Scholastic philosophy by opposing to coexistence of Christian faith with Aristotelianism. Scotus explains the relationship between reason and revelation in the context of will. He argues that the law is the fruit of God’s will, totally independent from all orders and obligations. God Himself is the will and the will is the creator of everything. The holy will encompasses everything, and there is nothing that determines or restricts it. According to Scotus, God has absolute power and uses His power to create this world where a certain order exists. The existence of the world is not a necessity. It exists due to God’s creative and regulative power. Thus, we can point out a structure based on the incomprehensibility of God and sole godly order in the universe rather than a salvation doctrine necessarily existing between God‐Jesus and humans. In this sense, an epistemological gap occurs in Scotus philosophy in the relationship between the reason and revelation, and Scotus tries to overcome this problem through godly will. Placing godly freedom in the center of theology to such an extent would mean that it is now in a station which could not be reached through reason. This would accelerate the break between practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge particularly in Godhuman relationship in philosophical thought process, and lead to the conclusion that the object suitable for human mind can only be known on the basis of sensory perception. It is clear that Scotus separated the physical and metaphysical dominions in the universe through the concept of existence, and argued that the former cannot be known through the means of reason, while the latter can be explored through experimental methods, and thus brought about ideas which are reminiscent of the epistemological view dominant in the modern thought. Having moved theology out of rational domain in the matter of reason‐revelation relationship, Scotus expanded the field of the philosophy which contained the knowledge gained by natural reason, and paved the way for the modern thought in this sense. Although Scotus protested the coexistence of Christianity with Aristotelianism and opposed to the Scholastic system by asserting that belief is improvable and argued that definite and absolute truth cannot be naturally known without a special illumination of the uncreated light, he accepted the authority of reason and expressed that the Holy Scripture complies with the reason. Indeed, Scotus believed that searching or trying to understand the matters of faith did not amount to loss of belief virtues with regard to the faithful. Thus, the theologians need to adopt a critical approach rather than an overprotective attitude towards their belief. Nevertheless, arguing that Scotus’ philosophy is the founder of modern philosophy appears to be quite an assertive approach. Undoubtedly, it can be said that modern thought is an outcome and product of medieval philosophy. Yet, besides Scotus, the effect of Islamic scholars such as Avicenna, Averroes and Western philosophers such as Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, William of Ockham and Henry of Ghent cannot be ignored. The present study attempts to bring into question the discussion whether there is a source relationship between these two quite different ages (Medieval‐Modern) in the history of philosophy, going beyond the relationship of successiveness. We tried to evaluate this discussion through the claim that Duns Scotus, one of the most influential philosophers of the Scholastic age, started the Modern thinking by his philosophical and theological views, focusing on his perception of God which lies at the heart of his theological views.