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Webberlily · 11-07-2010, 10:21 PM

Today is Dunce Day, seriously. This day marks the death on Nov 8, 1308, of medieval scholar John Duns Scotus. Scotus was born in the town of Duns, Scotland, in 1266. He was known as “The Subtle Doctor” and was a master philosopher in the late medieval days, teaching at Oxford, Cambridge and in Paris. He wrote books on grammar, logic and metaphysics which were widely used as textbooks in the medieval British universities. He founded the school of Scholastic thought, and his followers were called Dunsmen (or Dunces for short).

Duns Scotus favoured extremely subtle and indirect reasoning that one might call “hair-splitting” today; but back then, his teachings were highly respected, and Scholastics included such famous persons as Saint Thomas Aquinas. In fact, Duns Scotus himself was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

As Renaissance began and new knowledge replaced Duns Scotus' theories, his followers refused the new progress. The word "dunce" then began to acquire its modern meaning of "someone who stubbornly refuses to learn anything new."

About the hat... Duns Scotus noticed that wizards wore pointy hats, and he believed that cone shaped hats increased learning potential. He believed knowledge would flow from the point of the cap, down and into the head of the wearer, making that person smarter. The more you wore the Dunce Cap, the smarter you got. Scholar critics of his work derived the term "dunce" from his name and place of birth.