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Taklit Etmeden Taklit: Duns Scotus’un İnsanlarda Imago Dei Olarak Kendi Kendini Belirleyen Akıl Üzerine Görüşleri

Year 2025, Issue: 9, 47 - 59, 23.10.2025
https://doi.org/10.64957/nesir.1797816

Abstract

Taklit kavramı, Duns Scotus’un düşüncesinde paradoksal bir paradigma oluşturur. Geleneksel çerçeveyi takip eden bu Orta Çağ filozofu, rasyonel gücü imago Dei, yani Tanrı’nın insandaki sureti olarak kabul eder. İnsanın sonlu aklı, bir tasvirin kendisini konu aldığı nesneye benzemesi ve onu taklit etmesi gibi, ilahi varlığı taklit eder. Teolojik bağlamla sıkı biçimde ilişkili olan bu yaygın Orta Çağ varsayımı, varlıkların ilkesi ile bizatihi varlıkların kendisi arasındaki ilişkiye dair tarihsel söylemi açıklığa kavuşturduğu için ontolojik bakımdan da önem taşır. Duns Scotus’un taklit kuramı, yalnızca zorunlu nedensel boyutu değil, aynı zamanda ilişkinin olumsal ve özgür unsurlarını da içerdiği için dikkate değerdir. Scotus, rasyonel gücü özgür irade ile özdeşleştirir. Bu kabul, düşünürün provokatif bir taklit kuramına ulaşmasına yol açar. Rasyonel sınırlı varlıklar için taklit etmenin yolu paradoksal biçimde “taklit etmemektir.” Önceden belirlenmiş doğalarını izleyerek taklit eden akıldışı irrasyonel varlıkların aksine, rasyonel varlıklar taklit etmeden ve iradî eylemlerinde özgür olarak taklit edebilirler.

References

  • Adams, Marilyn M. “Duns Scotus on the Will as Rational Power.” In Via Scoti: Methodologica Ad Mentem Joannis Duns Scoti, edited by Leonardo Sileo, 839–854. Antonianum, 1995.
  • Alexander of Aphrodisias. “De anima” of Alexander of Aphrodisias: A Translation and Commentary. Edited by Athanasios P. Fotinis. University Press of America, 1980.
  • Aristotle. De interpretatione: (Peri hermeneias). Edited by Hermann Weidemann. Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
  • ———. Metaphysica. Edited by Werner Jaeger. Clarendon Press, 1957.
  • Augustine. De Trinitate, libri XV. Edited by William J. Mountain and Franciscus Glorie. Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 50–50A. Brepols, 1968.
  • Baktır, Hasan. “The Concept of Imitation in Plato and Aristotle (Aristo ve Plato’da Taklit).” Erciyes Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 1, no. 15 (2003): 167-179.
  • Baleng, Godfrey T. “Mimetic Desire in Augustine’s Confessiones as a Model for Natural Theology and Virtue Ethics.” In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi 58, no. 1 (2024): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v58i1.3030
  • David, Marian. “The Correspondence Theory of Truth.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 1995. Article published May 10, 2002; last modified December 21, 2025. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2025/entries/truth- correspondence/
  • Gilson, Étienne. The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Laurence K. Shook. University of Notre Dame Press, 1957.
  • Honnefelder, Ludger. “Franciscan Spirit and Aristotelian Rationality: John Duns Scotus’s New Approach to Theology and Philosophy.” Franciscan Studies 66, no. 1 (2008): 465-478. https://doi.org/10.1353/FRC.0.0014
  • John Duns Scotus. Opera omnia: Ordinatio. Edited by the Vatican Commission for the Critical Edition of the Works of John Duns Scotus (Commissionis Scotisticae). 21 vols. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1950–2023.
  • ———. Opera omnia: Quaestiones super libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis. Edited by Louis Vivès. 7 vols. Vivès, 1891–1895.
  • Kellner, Menachem. “Gersonides on Imitatio Dei and the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 85, no. 3-4 (1995): 275-296.
  • Klima, Gyula. “The Medieval Problem of Universals.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 1995. Article published September 10, 2000; last modified December 21, 2022. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/universals-medieval/
  • Taylor, Richard. C. “Averroes’ Philosophical Conception of Separate Intellect and God.” In La Lumière de l'intellect. La Pensée Scientifique et Philosophique d'Averroès dans son Temps, edited by Ahmad Hasnawi, 391-404. Peeters Publishers, 2011.
  • Thomas Aquinas. Quaestiones disputatae de veritate. Vol. 22 of Opera Omnia iussu Leonis XIII edita. Editori di San Tommaso, 1970–1976.
  • ———. Summa Theologiae. Edited by the Leonine Commission (Commission Leonina). 5 vols. Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide, 1888–1906.
  • William of Ockham. Summa Logicae. Edited by Philotheus Boehner, Gedeon Gál, and Stephen Brown. 3 vols. The Franciscan Institute, 1974–1985.
  • Ziolkowski, Jan. “The Highest Form of Compliment: Imitatio in Medieval Latin Culture.” In Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages, edited by John Marenbon, 293-307. Brill, 2001.

The Imitation by Not Imitating: Duns Scotus on Self-determined Rationality as Imago Dei in Humans

Year 2025, Issue: 9, 47 - 59, 23.10.2025
https://doi.org/10.64957/nesir.1797816

Abstract

The concept of imitation creates a paradoxical paradigm in Duns Scotus’ philosophy. Following the traditional framework, this medieval thinker considered rational power to be imago Dei, i.e., God’s image in humans. A human’s finite rationality imitates the divine being as an image resembles and imitates the object it depicts. This common medieval assumption—strongly connected with the theological context—is also interesting from an ontological point of view, as it clarifies historical discourse concerning the relation between the principle of beings and beings themselves. Duns Scotus’ theory of imitation merits consideration because it includes not only the necessary causal aspect but also the contingent, free element of the relation. Scotus identifies rational power with free will. This presumption leads the thinker to a provocative theory of imitation. For rational finite beings, the method of imitation is paradoxically “not to imitate.” Unlike all nonrational beings, which imitate by following pre-determined nature, rational beings can imitate by not imitating and being free in their volitional acts.

Supporting Institution

The author declares that no specific funding was received for this research.

Thanks

In this study, artificial intelligence-supported tools were used to a limited extent within the acceptable boundaries defined in Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies’ Artificial Intelligence Use Policy; all content has been reviewed and approved in its final form by the author.

References

  • Adams, Marilyn M. “Duns Scotus on the Will as Rational Power.” In Via Scoti: Methodologica Ad Mentem Joannis Duns Scoti, edited by Leonardo Sileo, 839–854. Antonianum, 1995.
  • Alexander of Aphrodisias. “De anima” of Alexander of Aphrodisias: A Translation and Commentary. Edited by Athanasios P. Fotinis. University Press of America, 1980.
  • Aristotle. De interpretatione: (Peri hermeneias). Edited by Hermann Weidemann. Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
  • ———. Metaphysica. Edited by Werner Jaeger. Clarendon Press, 1957.
  • Augustine. De Trinitate, libri XV. Edited by William J. Mountain and Franciscus Glorie. Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 50–50A. Brepols, 1968.
  • Baktır, Hasan. “The Concept of Imitation in Plato and Aristotle (Aristo ve Plato’da Taklit).” Erciyes Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 1, no. 15 (2003): 167-179.
  • Baleng, Godfrey T. “Mimetic Desire in Augustine’s Confessiones as a Model for Natural Theology and Virtue Ethics.” In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi 58, no. 1 (2024): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v58i1.3030
  • David, Marian. “The Correspondence Theory of Truth.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 1995. Article published May 10, 2002; last modified December 21, 2025. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2025/entries/truth- correspondence/
  • Gilson, Étienne. The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Laurence K. Shook. University of Notre Dame Press, 1957.
  • Honnefelder, Ludger. “Franciscan Spirit and Aristotelian Rationality: John Duns Scotus’s New Approach to Theology and Philosophy.” Franciscan Studies 66, no. 1 (2008): 465-478. https://doi.org/10.1353/FRC.0.0014
  • John Duns Scotus. Opera omnia: Ordinatio. Edited by the Vatican Commission for the Critical Edition of the Works of John Duns Scotus (Commissionis Scotisticae). 21 vols. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1950–2023.
  • ———. Opera omnia: Quaestiones super libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis. Edited by Louis Vivès. 7 vols. Vivès, 1891–1895.
  • Kellner, Menachem. “Gersonides on Imitatio Dei and the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 85, no. 3-4 (1995): 275-296.
  • Klima, Gyula. “The Medieval Problem of Universals.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 1995. Article published September 10, 2000; last modified December 21, 2022. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/universals-medieval/
  • Taylor, Richard. C. “Averroes’ Philosophical Conception of Separate Intellect and God.” In La Lumière de l'intellect. La Pensée Scientifique et Philosophique d'Averroès dans son Temps, edited by Ahmad Hasnawi, 391-404. Peeters Publishers, 2011.
  • Thomas Aquinas. Quaestiones disputatae de veritate. Vol. 22 of Opera Omnia iussu Leonis XIII edita. Editori di San Tommaso, 1970–1976.
  • ———. Summa Theologiae. Edited by the Leonine Commission (Commission Leonina). 5 vols. Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide, 1888–1906.
  • William of Ockham. Summa Logicae. Edited by Philotheus Boehner, Gedeon Gál, and Stephen Brown. 3 vols. The Franciscan Institute, 1974–1985.
  • Ziolkowski, Jan. “The Highest Form of Compliment: Imitatio in Medieval Latin Culture.” In Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages, edited by John Marenbon, 293-307. Brill, 2001.
There are 19 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Literary Theory, Comparative and Transnational Literature, Literary Studies (Other)
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Ana Lomadze This is me 0009-0007-3691-3601

Publication Date October 23, 2025
Submission Date July 28, 2025
Acceptance Date September 21, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Issue: 9

Cite

Chicago Lomadze, Ana. “The Imitation by Not Imitating: Duns Scotus on Self-Determined Rationality As Imago Dei in Humans”. Nesir: Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. 9 (October 2025): 47-59. https://doi.org/10.64957/nesir.1797816.

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