LIST OF CONTENTS

English translation of John Duns Scotus’ Ordinatio, as it is given in the Vatican critical text (Ioannis Duns Scoti Opera Omnia. Iussu et auctoritate Pacifici M. Perantoni; studio et cura Commissionis Scotisticae ad Fidem Codicum Edita, praeside Carolo Balić. Civitas Vaticana: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1950 -.)

Notes on these Scotus Translations

These translations are first attempts at putting into English the whole of Scotus Ordinatio as it is given in the Vatican critical text. They are complete but not final or polished attempts.

The aim has been to make a literal translation available so that others may have it to hand for their own use and comparison as they read the original Latin and, as far as possible (or as I have been able), to see how it actually works, however tortuous in style. Not all readers of Latin have a knowledge of it such that they can always or readily work out all instances of it for themselves and especially so perhaps in the case of Scotus. Such readers may benefit if they have the aid of a literal translation first as guide; and they might perhaps benefit less if the translation has been rendered into more facile, but less literal, English. A more facile English translation may also hide some of the peculiarity of Scotus Latin, and there is a certain value in seeing Scotus in the raw, as it were, since it was this Scotus that lay behind his followers Scholastic debates, especially with Thomists or devotees of other Scholastic masters. Proponents of Scotus, as notably Antonius Andreas, produced easier Latin and simpler expositions of Scotus. Reading them, therefore, may give readier access to Scotism but not necessarily to Scotus whom, of course, these proponents first had to read directly themselves before producing their own versions.

A more facile English translation might also mislead about what Scotus is saying or arguing. Scotus arguments are sometimes so subtle that a more facile or fluid translation could give a false sense. Such translation would anyway have to begin with a literal translation to ensure that it remained accurate. Once a literal translation is available, producing more fluid ones can be done with fewer risks of misinterpretation, even by those whose knowledge of Latin is less developed than they would wish.

Of course readers without Latin would want as fluid an English translation as possible, but a first literal translation will, one hopes, facilitate this result too, since others who do have Latin, and an eagerness to make Scotus more fluid for those who do not, will be able to do so with greater success and expedition.

It is hard, nevertheless, in any translation, literal or not, to avoid all mistakes, or even omissions. Some mistakes and omissions in the translations posted here have already been noted and been corrected. As for any that remain, the translator would be grateful if readers would alert him to what and where they are, so that the necessary corrections can be made. The translator would also be grateful if readers sent him any of their own attempts at more facile translations of particular passages. Let Scotus in English, and in other modern languages, be a joint and growing project. After all, we mortals are fallible and it is through mutual cooperation that we are able to lessen our fallibility and its effects. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him!” Ecclesiastes 4.9-10.

Peter Simpson
psimpson@gc.cuny.edu
Christmas 2020