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Duns Scotus, or John Duns the Scot, was born in Scotland about 1266. His family name of Duns was taken from a place in the county of Berwick. Entering the Franciscan Order at an early age, he pursued his studies at Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1291. He taught at Oxford and later at Paris with great distinction. In 1305 he received his doctorate in Theology from the University of Paris and continued to teach there until 1307, when he was called to Cologne, where he died suddenly on November 8, 1308. He was buried there in the Minorite Franciscan Church.

His most famous writings are the Opus Oxoniense, or Oxford Work, and the Reportata Parisiensia, or Paris Commentaries two theological treatises in the form of commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. The latter were the official textbooks of the theological schools of the Middle Ages.

Duns Scotus is the founder of the Later Franciscan School, which is more pronouncedly Aristotelian than the older Augustinian Franciscan branch led by St. Bonaventure. He possessed a subtle mind of uncommon force, hence his name the Subtle Doctor. He applied himself to the critical evaluation of the great problems of his day and of their solutions as offered by his great contemporaries. Thus his writings are a rich mine of information on contemporary philosophy and theology.

Duns Scotus stresses the distinction between philosophy and theology. He is famous for his "formal distinction,” based upon the specific grades of being VII