As of May 31, 2023, we have updated our Code of Conduct.

Questions tagged [aquinas]

[St. Thomas Aquinas][1] (1225–1274), scholastic philosopher, Catholic theologian, and most famous commentator on Aristotle. [Thomism][2] is his school of thought. [1]: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas [2]: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14698b.htm

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
0 votes
1 answer
52 views

Is obedience necessary for friendship?

Is obedience necessary for friendship? Aristotle doesn't speak of obedience in his discussion of friendship in Ethics bk. 9, but he does speak of a sort of friendship: concord, which St. Thomas says ...
Geremia's user avatar
  • 7,584
2 votes
0 answers
24 views

What difference does Aquinas's 'actus essendi' really make?

According to Wikipedia, Aristotle didn't have the notion of actus essendi. In fact, the contribution of Aquinas to the philosophy of being is precisely that he discovered that all Aristotelian acts ...
Doubt's user avatar
  • 178
0 votes
1 answer
29 views

In what sense is the polis/city self-sufficient for St. Thomas Aquinas?

De Regno cap. 2 n. 14: Now since man must live in a group, because he is not sufficient unto himself to procure the necessities of life were he to remain solitary, it follows that a society will be ...
Guilherme de Souza's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
67 views

For St. Thomas Aquinas, is speaking what is true with the intent to deceive a immoral?

For Saint Thomas Aquinas, the essence of lying (lying is always immoral for him) has nothing to do with the intention to deceive (Summa Theologica II-II q. 110 a. 1 co.): Accordingly if these three ...
Guilherme de Souza's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
61 views

Seeking insights on the origin of the term "Peripatetic Axiom"

I have been researching the origins of the "Peripatetic Axiom," which states that nothing is in the mind that was not first in the senses. While I understand that this principle was first ...
cricket900's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
37 views

Where did Aristotle say that a relation is an accident?

I believe Aristotle listed "relations" as one of the accidents. I am in need of a citation (or at least the name of the work) where I can find this in Aristotle. Appreciate the help! A bit ...
Travis Dougherty's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
72 views

What does the phrase "predicated of" mean in the context of scholastic theology?

In Summa Theologica's article on "Whether God is altogether simple?" (and I believe in some other locations), Aquinas regularly uses the phrase "predicated of." For example: The ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
55 views

Why is natural law ethics based on what happens in most cases? (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Summa Theologica II-II q. 154 a. 2: Nor does it matter if a man having knowledge of a woman by fornication, make sufficient provision for the upbringing of the child: because a matter that comes ...
Guilherme de Souza's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
184 views

Why did Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas believe that the fetus only receives a rational soul at a later stage of pregnancy?

What is different about a fetus at this later stage to deserve a rational soul?
Guilherme de Souza's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
85 views

How can our country be our "principle of being"? (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Summa Theologica II-II q. 101 a. 1: In the second place, the principles of our being and government (nostri esse et gubernationis principium) are our parents and our country (patria), that have given ...
Guilherme de Souza's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
112 views

St. Thomas Aquinas on the purposes of punishment

"The punishments of the present life are not sought for their own sake, because this is not the time of final retribution; but they are sought insofar as they are medicinal, aiding either the ...
Guilherme de Souza's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
88 views

Why cannot man be his own judge (St. Thomas Aquinas)?

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II q. 64 a. 5 ad 2: One who exercises public authority may lawfully put to death an evil-doer, since he can pass judgment on him. But no man is judge of ...
Guilherme de Souza's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
155 views

What is the difference between "actus elicitus" and "actus imperatus"?

I have encountered the distinction between actus elicitus and actus imperatus, in the context of the will, in St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica I-II q. 1 a. 1 ("Whether it belongs to man to ...
Chris's user avatar
  • 31
4 votes
5 answers
322 views

How to understand Prime matter?

In the Aristotle-Aquinas tradition prime matter is the thing that underlies all other things in the world. It is described as completely indeterminate-pure potentiality, it was not created and cannot ...
ArAj's user avatar
  • 729
2 votes
1 answer
180 views

Question about the Thomistic view of God's attributes

According to Thomism, God's essence must be identical with his attributes, lest God has real attributes he is dependent upon for his being and "compose" his essence, compromising God's ...
bob myers's user avatar
  • 333
0 votes
1 answer
53 views

How do proponents of the New Natural Law Theory (NNLT), such as John Finnis & Germain Grisez, define natural law?

I looked in the main books of NNLT, namely Natural Law and Natural Rights by John Finnis and The Way of the Lord Jesus by Germain Grisez, but I did not find a definition of natural law.
Prof Leon's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
34 views

In which part of his treatise on law does Thomas Aquinas provide rules for ranking basic goods?

I know that it provides such rules as I read it in an article but there was no reference to this statement.
Prof Leon's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
97 views

Is John Finnis' list of basic goods different in the two editions (1980, 2011) of his book Natural Law and Natural Rights?

I can't find it in the first edition but here is the list of the second edition : life, knowledge, play, aesthetic experience, sociability (friendship), practical reason and religion. On what page can ...
Prof Leon's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
170 views

Existence being analytic of God vs. God being analytic of existence

Elsewhere, in light of the idea that understanding is not a species of knowledge but an epistemic genus parallel to knowledge, and then in terms of an understanding logic, I asked whether knowledge of ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
226 views

How does hylomorphism solve mind-body and form-matter problem? How do they interact?

So, I have been reading Aristotle and Aquinas for quite a while, but their nuanced terms make their philosophy hardly graspable. It is not clear to me how do they solve mind-body and form-matter ...
Eauriel's user avatar
  • 136
1 vote
1 answer
67 views

How did the existence-essence distinction help Aquinas explain finite being?

In a tortuously compressed passage, Frederick Copleston writes [Aquinas] adopted the (originally) Platonic notion of participation, [but] he did not employ it in a manner which would conflict with ...
Doubt's user avatar
  • 178
0 votes
2 answers
124 views

How again can 2 actions be morally different when they have exactly the same effect (if they can)?

(i have something to ask on meta stackexchange or maths meta stackexchange, but I want to ask a philosophy thing first. In fact, I may not even need to ask on meta stackexchange after this.) I could ...
BCLC's user avatar
  • 143
1 vote
0 answers
307 views

Grim Reaper Paradox Objections

I find the argument from first cause, contingency, and actualization to be emboldened by the very compelling thought experiment known as the Grim Reaper Paradox. For those unaware, Alexander Pruss and ...
Luke Hill's user avatar
  • 269
4 votes
3 answers
299 views

If Actus Purus is true, how can God be eternally creator?

If the Actus Purus of God, the complete perfection, is true, if God has no potentiality, and He was always what He is, then God was a creator from eternity. But God could not be eternally creator if ...
bob myers's user avatar
  • 333
3 votes
1 answer
56 views

How is a mere substance different from an "individual substance"?

The Scholastic philosophers defined a person as "an individual substance of a rational nature" (e.g., Boethius, Aquinas). I understand how an individual could not be a substance (it would be ...
Doubt's user avatar
  • 178
1 vote
4 answers
405 views

Principle of proportionate causality → the most eminent cause is intelligent?

In Five Proofs of the Existence of God, Edward Feser mentions the principle of proportionate causality: whatever is in some effect must in some way or other be in the cause, even if not always in the ...
Youssef Ahmed's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
233 views

According to Aquinas, what is the relationship between the substantial form of a bodily being and its act of existing, ie. its esse?

Consider, for example, an existing bodily being. Because it is bodily, we know that it is composed of prime matter and substantial form. Also, because the bodily being is existing (not just made up in ...
Ph Ex's user avatar
  • 41
0 votes
1 answer
509 views

A simple way to explain the argument from efficient causes for the existence of god according to Aquinas? [closed]

According to Aquinas but not originally, I'm not exactly sure whose theory it was that Aquinas reworded.
mira666's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
76 views

Where does Aquinas get his "logical-metaphysical presuppositions"?

In the Summa, Aquinas frequently invokes (for lack of a better term) certain "logical-metaphysical presuppositions." Here are two examples drawn from I-II, qq. 90-91: "that which is ...
Doubt's user avatar
  • 178
1 vote
0 answers
399 views

Why does Thomas Aquinas conclude that the First Mover is God?

It appears to me that the First Mover of any motion must not move only with respect to the change it is producing, but otherwise could be moved in a way unrelated to what it is changing, or moved ...
Internet User's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
326 views

How do Aquinas' and Aristotle's mixed regimes differ?

Both Aristotle and Aquinas seem to subscribe to the idea of a mixed constitution as the form of government best disposed to the common good. By "mixed constitution", I mean mixing between ...
The One's user avatar
  • 125
1 vote
1 answer
136 views

How can I change Aquinas's Fifth Way to prove there is not one ultimate first designer?

My philosophy textbook was asking to make a reconstruction of his argument to avoid his logical error where he basically says that there is 1 being that makes sure that natural things do their ...
moh abdi's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
198 views

How is Socrates's daimon related to one of Aquinas's laws/views of virtue and justice

In Plato's Apology of Socrates, Socrates talks about having a daimon, a divine being/voice that tells him of things not to do. For Aquinas, what would this be?
Shadow's user avatar
  • 11
0 votes
0 answers
46 views

Parfit's mountain

Let Parfit's mountain be a moral theory based on combining previous moral theories in a certain way. (Readers of the book referenced will be familiar with the form of this way. I read part of it, ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
155 views

How can a soul have parts if it's the unifying principle of the person? (Aquinas)

Context: Aquinas The problem is something like this: for the parts of the human body to be 'one', they must have a form — this form is the principle of the body's unity. But if the soul itself has ...
Cal's user avatar
  • 77
3 votes
1 answer
256 views

How can God be in the genus of efficient causes?

In Summa Theologica I q. 3 a. 5 "Whether God is contained in a genus?", Aquinas says that if God were in a genus, it would be the genus of "being," but being cannot be the genus of anything (cf. ...
Rob's user avatar
  • 696
0 votes
0 answers
48 views

What does St.Thomas Aquinas teach about state of the univerese after renewal in Summa Theologica?

In Summa Theologica suppl.q.91, St.Thomas teaches clearly about the state of the world after its renewal. In article 5 of the same question I said above, he says plants and animals will not remain in ...
melon's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
1 answer
142 views

Are you a 'body' according to Thomas Aquinas?

Usually we say that we 'have' a body than that we 'are' a body. Essentially we are human beings but is it wrong to deny that we are bodies according to Thomas?
Marijn 's user avatar
  • 989
-1 votes
2 answers
118 views

Identifying a contradiction - to demonstrate hylemorphism

I am trying to create a mind map that shows the shortest possible logical path of necessary entailments from the first principles of reason & nature, leading to the basic principles of scholastic ...
James Weiss's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
131 views

How does Buddhist soteriology link to the first cause argument?

Aquinas argued that the observable order of causation is not self-explanatory. It can only be accounted for by the existence of a first cause; this first cause, however, must not be considered ...
user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
138 views

Does the act-potency distinction lead to Meinong's jungle?

The Aristotelian-Thomistic distinction of act-potency is, among other things, supposed to solve Parmenides' paradoxes of change. Since change requires something non-existent popping into existence ex ...
Adam Sharpe's user avatar
  • 3,766
5 votes
4 answers
390 views

Where did Suárez say the principle of non-contradiction does not apply to the Trinity?

Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., says, in Le Sens du Mystère et le Clair-Obscur Intellectuel: Nature et Surnaturel p. 128 fn. 1 (Engl. transl. p. 142 fn. 41): St. Thomas never would have ...
Geremia's user avatar
  • 7,584
2 votes
5 answers
458 views

According to Aquinas, why doesn't God need a cause but everything else does? Why would God resolve the problem of infinite regress?

Do you think the explanation for the universe could be something physical or does it have to be metaphysical?
bloomsdayforever's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
5k views

What should you do in this situation?

You've been on a cruise for two days when there's an accident that forces everyone on board to abandon ship. During the evacuation, one of the boats is damaged, leaving it with a hole that fills it ...
Amiothenes's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
539 views

What are all attributes of God and what is the manner of knowing them according to Aquinas?

What are all of the divine attributes, and in which way is each of them predicted of God (univocal, equivocal or analogical way; if in an analogical way, what kind of analogy)? An answer should be ...
Thom's user avatar
  • 288
1 vote
1 answer
373 views

Did Aquinas or Aristotle discuss what happens to the man when he feels bored?

Question: Did Aquinas or Aristotle discuss what happens to the man when he feels bored? What do they say about it? How do they explain that feeling? I coupled Aristotle and Aquinas in this question ...
Thom's user avatar
  • 288
2 votes
1 answer
106 views

How did Suarez defend objectivity of human knowledge (cognition)?

It seems that Aquinas (and the first scholastics) founded objectivity of knowledge in the unity of intellect and the thing known. Namely, the intellect receives the form of the thing and literally ...
Thom's user avatar
  • 288
4 votes
1 answer
479 views

Does St. Thomas Aquinas' cosmological argument from contingency assume that an infinite regress of contingent things is impossible?

The Third Way: Argument from Possibility and Necessity (Reductio argument) We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, that come into being and go out of being i.e., ...
Jonah Pate's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
270 views

Divine simplicity vs. divine aseity

Although the concept of divine simplicity is so poetic that I almost wish I could believe it, as it turns out, I can't believe it. Here's my argument: [Assumption for reductio] The creatrix is a se ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
441 views

Do those who deny a univocal understanding of "God is good" conflate sense and connotation?

Several theologians following Aquinas have said that when we say things like "God is good" that this must mean something different to when we call other things good; this is called analogical use of ...
curiousdannii's user avatar