Biography

ERIGENA, or SCOTUS, JOHN (fl. 850). —Philosopher, b. in Scotland or Ireland, was employed at the Court of Charles the Bald, King of France. He was a pantheistic mystic, and made translations from the Alexandrian philosophers. He was bold in the exposition of his principles, and had both strength and subtlety of intellect. His chief work is De Divisione Naturæ, a dialogue in which he places reason above authority.