Nihil per privationem and the Conception of Eriugena of the Formula creatio ex nihilo
Abstract
In his Periphyseon, John Scottus Eriugena presents the notion of nihil per excellentiam. The application he makes of it in order to elaborate his interpretation of the formula ex nihilo (or, as he prefers: de nihilo) from Maccabees 7,28, in book III of the Periphyseon, is famous. The Carolingian thinker defends there his idea of nihil understood as the excellence of the divine “super-essentiality”. However, it is also possible to find in Eriugena an analysis of the notion of non-being understood as privation, already present in his De praedestinatione liber. This paper intends to show the intimate bond between this analysis and his interpretation of Maccabees.Downloads
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