ISSN: 1734-9923 eISSN: 2300-7621 OAI
DOI: 10.18276/aie.2026.75-02
Issue archive /
75 (2026)
Concepts of Bareness (Nuditas) in Medieval Philosophy
| Authors: |
Edit Anna
Lukacs
Austrian Academy of Sciences |
| Keywords: | Empricisim Metaphysics of the Will Nudity Oxford Calculators |
| Whole issue publication date: | 2026 |
| Page range: | 18 (25-42) |
Abstract
The Aristotelian idiom, according to which the intellect is a “blank” or “bare slate” before it has experienced the sensory world was also used in empiricist arguments
during the Middle Ages. In this short inquiry, I examine the use of the adjective bare (or naked) in both epistemology and metaphysics, focusing on fourteenth-century
Oxford and the theologies of John Duns Scotus (in opposition to Henry of Ghent), as well as on the Oxford Calculators Thomas Bradwardine and Robert Halifax.
While the metaphysical notion of bareness developed along the lines defined by Scotus, it constituted a counterpart to the empiricist strand of the same notion and
represents an intriguing episode in the history of metaphysics.
Download file
Article file
Bibliography
| 1. | Primary Sources |
| 2. | Adam Wodeham. (Online). Ordinatio Oxoniensis (J. C. Witt, Transcr.). Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://reader.lombardpress.org/text/aw98wa/aw98wa-xg2664 |
| 3. | Aristotle. (1984). De anima. In Sentencia libri de anima (Ed. Commissio Leonina, pp. 3–258, passim). Editori di San Tommaso. |
| 4. | Averroes. (1953). Commentum libri de anima (Ed. F. S. Crawford). Corpus Commentariorum Averrois in Aristotelem (Vol. VI.1). Mediaeval Academy of America. |
| 5. | Corpus Iuris Civilis Iustinianei. (1560). Vol. IV. Lyon: Hugues de La Porte. Gaii Institutionum Commentarii Quattuor. (1841). Ed. A. W. Heffter. Berlin: Adolphus Marcus. |
| 6. | John Duns Scotus. (1950). Opera omnia. Vol. II: Ordinatio. Liber primus, distinctio 1–2 (Ed. Commissio Scotistica). Polyglottis. English translation by P. Simpson. Retrieved October 7, 2025, from https://www.logicmuseum.com/wiki/Authors/ Duns_Scotus/Ordinatio/Ordinatio_I/D2/P2Q4A |
| 7. | Henry of Ghent. (1953). Summa quaestionum ordinarium (Vols. 1–2). The Franciscan Institute. (Original work published 1520 in Paris by J. Badius Ascensius) |
| 8. | Richard FitzRalph. (2025). Richard FitzRalph on the will and instantaneous volition: A critical edition of Book I, Question 10 from Richard FitzRalph’s Lectura in Sententias (Ed. M. Michałowska & M. W. Dunne). Brill. |
| 9. | Robert Halifax. (Forthcoming). Quaestiones super libros Sententiarum. Q. 5, Utrum aliquis actus voluntatis possit esse subito productus a voluntate (Ed. M. Michałowska & E. A. Lukács). |
| 10. | Thomas Bradwardine. (1618). De causa Dei contra Pelagium et de virtute causarum (Ed. H. Savile). London: Apud Joannem Billium. |
| 11. | Secondary Sources |
| 12. | Benjamin, A. (2018). Redressing the metaphysics of nudity: Notes on Seneca, Arendt, and Dignity. Classical Philology, 113(1), 39–52. |
| 13. | Châtillon, J. (1992). Nudum Christum nudus sequere: Notes sur les origines et la signification du thème de la nudité spirituelle dans les écrits de saint Bonaventure [Follow the naked Christ naked: Notes on the origins and significance of the theme of spiritual nudity in the writings of Saint Bonaventure]. In P. Sicard (Ed.), Le mouvement canonial au Moyen Age: Réforme de l´église, spiritualité et culture (pp. 201–254). Brepols. |
| 14. | Courtenay, W. J. (1997). The dialectic of divine omnipotence in the age of Chaucer: A reconsideration. In H. Keiper, C. Bode, & R. J. Utz (Eds.), Nominalism and literary discourse: New perspectives (pp. 111–121). Rodopi. |
| 15. | Dawes, G. W. (2023). Ancient and medieval empiricism. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved October 3, 2025, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/empiricism-ancient-medieval/ |
| 16. | Denery II, D. G. (2008). Seeing and being seen: Optics, theology and religious life. Cambridge University Press. |
| 17. | Dettloff, W. (1954). Die Lehre von der acceptatio divina bei Johannes Duns Scotus mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Rechtfertigungslehre [The doctrine of divine acceptance in John Duns Scotus with special reference to the doctrine of justification]. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag. |
| 18. | Lukács, E. A. (2022). On the foundations of faith in Thomas Bradwardine’s De causa Dei, Book I: Dialogues about otherness in the circle of Richard de Bury. In M. W. Dunne & S. Gottlöber (Eds.), Tolerance and concepts of otherness in medieval philosophy (pp. 223–248). Brepols. |
| 19. | Lukács, E. A. (2023). Robert Halifax, an Oxford Calculator of shadows. Revista española de filosofía medieval, 29(1), 77–95. |
| 20. | Lukács, E. A. (2024). Immovable truth. Divine knowledge and the Bible at the University of Vienna (1384–1419). Brill. |
| 21. | Macken, R. (1972). La théorie de lʼillumination divine dans la philosophie dʼHenri de Gand [The theory of divine illumination in the philosophy of Henry of Ghent]. Recherches de philosophie et de théologie ancienne et médiévale, 39, 82–112. |
| 22. | Michałowska, M., & Lukács, E. A. (2024). Calculatory ethics: Methods, arguments, cases. An Introduction. In E. A. Lukács & M. Michałowska (Eds.), Calculating ethics in the fourteenth century (pp. 1–25). Brill. |
| 23. | Nickl, P. (2005). Ordnung der Gefühle. Studien zum Begriff des habitus [Order of emotions: Studies on the concept of habitus]. Felix Meiner. |
| 24. | Perler, D. (1996). Things in the mind: Fourteenth-century controversies over “intelligible species.” Vivarium, 34(2), 231–253. |
| 25. | Pickavé, M. (2007). Heinrich von Ghent über Metaphysik als erste Wissenschaft [Henry of Ghent on metaphysics as first science]. Brill. |
| 26. | Pini, G. (2022). Sense, intellect, and certainty: Another look at Henry of Ghent and John Duns Scotus on divine illumination. Quaestio, 22(1), 433–450. |
| 27. | Schuhmacher, L. (2023). Early Franciscans on active perception and cognition. In J. F. Silva (Ed.), Rationality in perception in medieval philosophy (pp. 33–55). Brill. |
| 28. | Silva, J. F. (2019). The chameleonic mind: The activity versus the actuality of perception. In E. Baltuta (Ed.), Medieval perceptual puzzles: Theories of sense perception in the 13th and 14th centuries (pp. 38–72). Brill. |
| 29. | Sorichetti, E. (2018). Per actum et modum voluntatis: Giovanni Duns Scoto a confronto con Enrico di Gand sulla produzione del Spirito Santo [By the act and mode of the will: John Duns Scotus in comparison with Henry of Ghent on the procession of the Holy Spirit] (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Università degli Studi di Macerata. |
| 30. | Stolte, B. H. (2014). Theophilus and the “incorporeal” heir. Fundamina, 20(2), 891–897. |