This thinker compared interpretations of scripture to the innumerable colors in a peacock’s tail feathers. This thinker replied “only a table” when a king seated across from him asked what separates him from a fool. In a five-book dialogue between a magister and a student, this thinker differentiated species such as “that which creates and is not created” and “that which was created and does not create.” Using his then-unusual knowledge of Greek, this thinker translated writings he thought were by an Athenian disciple of Saint Paul, the Divine Names and the Celestial Hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius. This author succeeded Alcuin as leader of the Palace School and wrote The Division of Nature. For 10 points, name this 9th-century Neoplatonist philosopher, whose Gaelic origin earned him the same nickname as a 13th-century scholastic named Duns. ■END■
ANSWER: John Scotus Eriugena [accept variants like Johannes Scotus Erigena or John the Scott Erigena; prompt on John Scotus or John the Scott; reject “John Duns Scotus”]
<Philosophy>
= Average correct buzz position