Duns Escoto y un caso de movimiento local: los cuerpos en caída libre

Abstract

This work focuses on the subject of local motion in relation to free fall as presented by Duns Scotus in his commentary to the Sentences. His explanation is based on the Aristotelian doctrine found especially in Physica, VIII, 4, 255a3-18. The Subtle Doctor studies the causal relationship between motor and mobile, a key relationship to solve the problem at hand. He thus presents the essential difference between univocal and equivocal actions. The former suppose that the subject causes a form with the same ratio as himself in the patient. On the other hand, the latter cause a form with a different ratio in the patient. Scotus poses that motion in free-falling bodies comes from within the body itself. This original conclusion separates him from the previous tradition. He outlines different arguments, highlighting the need to establish the principle of motion inside the body experiencing it. This explanation is later completed with the understanding that free fall is a case of equivocal action, in which motor and mobile are identified.