COWTON (de COUTON), ROBERT. - English philosopher, Franciscan. The life and doctrine of C. are too little known for an exact idea to be formed of his importance in the history of Scholasticism. He was with Scotus at Oxford in 1300 and, not long after him, commented on Lombard’s Sentences at that university (Pelster and Schwamm nevertheless maintain that C. cannot be counted among the Scotists). His name is not found in the list of Oxford masters; it is not, however, excluded that he obtained his doctorate in Paris.
Almost unknown on the Continent, his Commentarium in Sententiam was highly esteemed in England. T. Sutton devotes the first three books of his Sententiarum to defending St Thomas against C.’s objections, while the fourth is directed against Scotus.