Questions tagged [medieval]
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According to Aristotle, do all substances have final causes?
I know that in order to know something, in some cases we don't necessarily need to know its final cause, because sometimes the efficient cause might be enough to give a full explanation. But I wonder ...
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Who first said: "Never deny, seldom affirm, always distinguish"?
In the context of medieval scholastic disputations, what is the origin of the axiom "Never deny, seldom affirm, always distinguish" ("Numquam negare, raro affirmare, semper distinguere&...
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When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body, or does it make the body as perfect as possible?
I would be grateful if you could answer the question above. When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body or does it make the body perfect [or should I say that as perfect as the body ...
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Can someone explain the terms "virtual cause" and "eminent cause"?
I would highly appreciate it if you could explain the two terms virtual and eminent. Please also refer me to a book or an article where this issue has been discussed, preferably extensively.
This ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
2
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2
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101
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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 ...
1
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2
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92
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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 ...
1
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1
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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 ...
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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 ...
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What is the bridge between Agrippa's and Descartes' mindsets? What to read to understand the radical change
After Reading a couple of works by Descartes (XVI century), I am now reading "Three Books of Occult Philosophy" by Cornelius Agrippa (around 1530). The difference in mindset and worldview is ...
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How much medieval philosophy do I need to know to understand modern philosophy?
I have read Plato's dialogues, Aristotles's "Nicomachean Ethics" and also Peter Adamson's two books about classical and hellenistic philosophies. Do I need to read primary texts of medieval ...
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235
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The Byzantine intellectual tradition....an underreported History?
There are of course volumes and volumes of questions on Ancient Greek Philosophy and Philosophers; this is to be expected since Ancient Greece was and is still largely viewed as the Fountainhead of ...
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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 ...
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Did the medievals have a philosophy of childhood?
St. Augustine is last philosopher I know who treats childhood as interesting in the particular until Thomas Aquinas,* and after that it's basically straight on until Locke's theories of development ...
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Duns Scotus : how can the " concept of being" be univocal without there being a nature common to God and to creatures?
Source : Paul Vincent Spade, Survey Of Medieval Philoosphy (https://pvspade.com/Logic/index.html)
Dunst Scotus is said to hold the thesis of univocity of being: i.e. the thesis according to which the ...
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