At the end of the XIII century the landscape of philosophy and theology was marked by different approaches, by the influence of the Islamic philosophy (Avicenna, Averroes), by contrasts between philosophers and theologians and by some official condemnations of philosophy. The common reference to Christian faith and Revelation could not hide the reality of dissonant truths.
In this context Aquinas's ideas acquired a great relevance but the Franciscans continued preferring to refer to the Augustinian tradition.
Friar John Duns Scotus gave a substantial contribution, which has an extraordinary philosophical meaning, to a new definition of the relationships between philosophy (metaphysics) and theology.
The course aims at giving a picture of philosophy in the XIII century, at considering some main philosophers of that time, and at enlightening the main philosophical tenets of Scotus and his new definition of metaphysics.
The course will give to students the knowledge on a main chapter in the history of medieval philosophy, but also wants to suggest that medieval discussions had a substantial impact on modern and contemporary philosophy. Scotus is a reference for many XX century philosophers who were interested in the problem of ontology.