John Duns Scotus on Original sin & the human will
Nature wounded but not destroyed; grace perfects it
THE POSITION
Original sin as the privation of original justice — the loss of a supernatural gift rather than a positive corruption of nature. He treats concupiscence more lightly than the Augustinian tradition does, since on his account what is missing is the ordering gift, not something added to nature.
WHY THERE IS NO QUOTATIONNo quotations. Scotus died in 1308 and the Latin is public domain, but the usable English translations are modern and in copyright, so these positions are paraphrased from standard scholarly accounts rather than reproduced.
4 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Franciscan, the Subtle Doctor. Argued for the univocity of being and for a will free in its own right rather than moved by the intellect's judgment — the point where the Franciscan schools part from Aquinas.
Cite this page
"John Duns Scotus on Original sin & the human will", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/scotus/original-sin (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/scotus/original-sin).