Introduction

Contingency thought presupposes that reality is complicated. Because our reality is complicated, a simple set of parallel distinctions does not satisfy if we have to cope with true, and sometimes harsh, reality. There is no simple one-dimension reality. Since there is only multidimensional reality, we need logical complexity and more devices to do justice to reality. Contingency thought derives its inspiration from the positive drive of biblical revelation that reality has to be better than it usually is. The logic of conversion does not square with the idea of the only one best possible world Actua is. Scholasticism is often ridiculed for piling up unnecessary distinctions, but what is scholasticism?

Apart from the over-technicalities of some authors, the gist of this approach is to the point. Reality is not simple, let alone simplistic, and it is of no help to dream away in the presumption that we can start with clarity and simplicity. If we recognize that reality is complicated and that this complexity has to be acknowledged, there has to be a search for tools which are able to do justice to this complex reality. This is the Sitz im Leben of Scotus' ramified logic and analytical method. Scholastic method is to be explained as analytical method avant la lettre.