On Contingency, Human Will and Divine Will in Duns Scotus

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the following questions proposed by Duns Scotus in Texts on Power, Knowledge and Contingency: (1) how is there contingency in things, (2) the connection between contingency and its first cause, (3) how the human will relates to contingency and, finally, (4) how the divine will is the cause of contingency in things. The research was developed from the analysis of Ordinatio I, Appendix A, Second Part of the Thirty-Eighth Distinction and Thirty-Ninth Distinction, analyzing mainly the section of paragraphs 13 to 22. Therefore, it is a study that is based on this section of the work. Starting from this point, this article will discuss each of the questions successively, presenting Duns Scotus' arguments and also raising questions about his arguments, dialoguing his theses with the perspective of other philosophers, such as Aristotle and al-Kindī.