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The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Joannes Duns Scotus (c. 1265–1308)
Duns Scotus, Joannes (duns skō’tus). A Scotch metaphysician, head of the Schoolmen, called “the subtle doctor”; born in Scotland (?), 1265 or 1274; died at Cologne (?), Nov. 8, 1308?. His opposition to the Thomists or adherents of Thomas Aquinas was spirited. He wrote an ‘Exposition of Aristotelian Physics’; ‘Questions on Aristotle’s Work on the Soul’; and similar works. The word dunce, in its present application, probably comes from his name used ironically.