Please join us Wednesday, October 14, for another History of Philosophy Works-in-Progress Luncheon! Our speaker for this event will be Bruce McCuskey, PhD student in Philosophy, who will speak on the topic of "Identifying the Only Scotist Commentary on Proclus's Elements of Theology: A Preliminary Study of MS Vat. lat 4567."
Each meeting consists of a presentation by a graduate student, faculty member, or visitor on a project that they are working on in the history of philosophy, followed by a period of comments/questions from other participants. The workshop is designed to give contributors the opportunity to develop ideas and receive helpful feedback on projects/papers in a friendly and low stakes environment.
Lunch is provided for registered attendees (to ensure we order enough lunches, please register by noon on the Monday of the presentation).
Abstract: The anonymous Declaratio on Proclus's Elements of Theology transmitted in MS Vat. lat. 4567 is one of three surviving commentaries on Moerbeke's Latin translation of the text. Accompanying the commentary are two quaestiones, the first of which deals with whether it is possible for something to be known without divine illumination and the second of which deals with whether God is the first known. Building upon the work of Evan King (2023), I will first present some evidence to show that these questions were composed by the same author as the commentary. I will then argue that these questions present demonstrably Scotist answers to those questions, but show how the Scotistic positions taken in each question has been reworked in light of the method and metaphysics of the Elements of Theology. I will conclude with some speculations on the particular strand of the Scotist tradition to which the author of the questions adhered.