Durandus

(c. 1275–1334)

   Bishop and Philosopher.

   Durandus of Saint-Pourcain was a member of the Dominican Order and taught at the University of Paris.

   After a time as Lector at the papal court in Avignon, he became Bishop of Limoux in 1317, Bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay in 1318 and Bishop of Meaux in 1326. His teachings can be found in his commentary on the ‘Sentences’ of peter lombard, in his De Paupertate Christi et Apostolorum, in his De Origine Potestatum et Jurisdictionum and in his De Visione Dei. Durandus was a nominalist. He believed that universals can only be derived from instances and that understanding is a psychological, not a metaphysical, phenomenon. Despite the greater prestige of thomas aquinas, Durandus’ ideas were much studied in the Middle Ages.

   P. Fournier, ‘Durand de Saint-Pourcain, Theologien’, Histoire Littéraire de la France, xxxvii (1938) [no English translation available];

   J. Koch, Durandus de S. Porciano (1927) [no English translation available].