John Duns Scotus, “Duns the Scot”, born in the late 1200’s came from the village of Duns in Scotland. A Franciscan priest, scholar, linguist, metaphysical thinker and philosopher, Duns taught at the University of Paris and at Oxford. As part of his teaching method, he came up with the idea of using a pointy hat for his students to wear, a sort of, metaphysical funnel designed to allow information to flow into those students’ brains. He created a metaphysical argument for the existence of God and the Immaculate Conception.

Duns died young, in 1308, probably in his early 40’s or late 30’s. The followers of his teachings, Dunsmen, continued his work, but fell out of favor in the 16th century with the advent of Renaissance humanism and they became known as Duns (later Dunce), a term of scorn eventually meaning a dull-witted or stupid person. Them and their pointy hats, which became a symbol of stupidity.

So, what started out as something smart people with higher thinking abilities would wear, soon became synonymous with being dumb. Kids from the Victorian era up through the 1950’s would be forced to wear the pointy hat and sit in the dunce corner for acting up in class. Pictures of the class clown in the corner of the classroom wearing a tall cone on their head is the classic image of a dunce cap.

As for John Dun Scotus, he is now thought be one of the great thinkers of the Middle Ages and was beatified in 1993 by Pope John Paul II, in recognition for contributions to religious theory. Not sure the dunce cap’s image will rebound as much as its inventor, but we don’t mind. Besides, to us it sort of looks like a wizard hat, right? That’s why we chose it!

As always, play more games!