Metaphysica secundum ethymon nominis dicitur scientia transcendens. On the Etymology of ‘metaphysica’ in the Scotist Tradition
(2009) Medioevo (Padua) : rivista di storia della filosofia medievale — Vol. 34, n° 34, p. 61-104 (2009)
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- The title of this study is taken from a Scotist exposition of ontology from the mid-18th century (cf. 4.1 below). At first sight it is no suprise that a Scotist should give this etymological explanation of ‘metaphysica’ as Duns Scotus himself understood metaphysics exactly as a scientia transcendens. However, the history of the etymology of ‘metaphysica’ within the Scotist tradition is complicated. The versions of this etymology are many. It is notable that this tradition was not taken into account in the influential paper of Hans Reiner on the interpretation of the title ‘metaphysica’ from 1955. His aim was to trace the origin of the famous Verlegenheitsbezeichnung of metaphysics, whose proponents think that this science got its name simply because Andronicos from Rhodes, antique organizer of the extant writings of Aristotle, placed the books of Aristotle here in question « after physics ». Reiner found the origin of this historically important and until the present day, at least in the class rooms, vivid explanation in the work of the Renaissance scholar Franciscus Patritius. However, along the development and diffusion of this explanation other explanations of the name ‘metaphysica’ were still at hand and even developped in their own way, as a look e.g. on the Scotist tradition will evidently show. The aim of this study is to investigate the etymology of ‘metaphysica’ in the Scotist tradition. It is not a study of the development of metaphysics within the Scotist school over the centuries. But insofar as the way in which is spoken of metaphysics also reflects the understanding of this science it does at least provide some material which would be relevant for such a story. To some readers it will also be a surprising documentation of the continuity of the Scotist tradition. I shall begin with recalling the etymological explanation of ‘metaphysica’ in the proloque to Duns Scotus’ Metaphysical Questions (1). After this the immediate, late medieval, traditions of this etymology are exposed (2). Then the etymologies of ‘metaphysica’ in Scotist authors of the Baroque are represented (3). In a further step the etymologies of ‘metaphysica’ in Scotist authors of the 18th century and later are exposed, stressing their relation to the more or less overall wolffianization of European academic philososophy of this period (4). Insofar as the last point is concerned, it seems to have been overall neglected in research so far. Therefore I shall finally at least document the shift in the metaphysical terminology and in the structure of this science as seen in some Scotist authors after the Christian Wolff reception in Catholic school philosophy of the 18th century (appendices).
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Andersen, C. (2009). Metaphysica secundum ethymon nominis dicitur scientia transcendens. On the Etymology of ‘metaphysica’ in the Scotist Tradition. Medioevo (Padua) : rivista di storia della filosofia medievale, 34(34), 61-104. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/241646 (Original work published 2009)