Medieval · c. 815–877
Who influenced John Scotus Eriugena?
Influences and legacy
Ireland's gift to the ninth century: nature read as the self-unfolding of God.
John Scotus Eriugena was influenced by Augustine of Hippo and Pseudo-Dionysius, and went on to influence Nicholas of Cusa. That is 3 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Who was John Scotus Eriugena?
John Scotus Eriugena was an Irish philosopher, theologian and poet who headed the palace school of the Carolingian court; Bertrand Russell called him the most astonishing person of the ninth century. He was one of the few Western scholars of his day who knew Greek.
His main work, the Periphyseon or Division of Nature, tries to unfold the whole structure of reality from "all things which are and which are not", through a movement out from God and back. He is usually called a Neoplatonist, though he drew more on the Christian author known as Pseudo-Dionysius than on Plotinus. Legend says his students stabbed him to death with their pens.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced John Scotus Eriugena?
2 direct influences on this map, earliest first.
- Augustine of Hippo AD 354–430
- Pseudo-Dionysius c. 5th–6th c.
Who did John Scotus Eriugena influence?
1 thinker on this map draws directly on John Scotus Eriugena.
- Nicholas of Cusa 1401–1464
The line of teachers behind John Scotus Eriugena
The longest documented line of influence ending at John Scotus Eriugena runs 11 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
Two steps away from John Scotus Eriugena
Indirect influences
- Through Augustine of Hippo: Plato, Tertullian, Plotinus
- Through Pseudo-Dionysius: Proclus
The second generation
- Through Nicholas of Cusa: Giordano Bruno
Contemporaries of John Scotus Eriugena
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of John Scotus Eriugena, with no direct line between them.
- Al-Kindi c. 801–873
John Scotus Eriugena by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 2
- Direct followers
- 1
- Thinkers upstream
- 28
- Thinkers downstream
- 112
- Wikipedia languages
- 49 — #38 of 58 among medieval philosophers
- Card rarity
- Rare
Questions about John Scotus Eriugena
- Who influenced John Scotus Eriugena?
- Augustine of Hippo and Pseudo-Dionysius.
- Who did John Scotus Eriugena influence?
- Nicholas of Cusa.
- When did John Scotus Eriugena live?
- c. 815–877. The map files John Scotus Eriugena under the medieval period.
- How rare is the John Scotus Eriugena card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on John Scotus Eriugena in 49 languages, which makes it a Rare card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More medieval philosophers
- Augustine of Hippo AD 354–430
- Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
- Avicenna 980–1037
- Ibn Khaldun 1332–1406
- Al-Ghazali c. 1058–1111
- Averroes 1126–1198
- Erasmus 1466–1536
- Hypatia c. 355–415