by Revista Espíritu | 168-2024
This work exposes three theses on the concept of idea that, from the “rosmi- nian platonism” of Giuseppe Buroni, can be maintained as genuine from saint Thomas.
The first is that the esse commune has an ideal existence, namely, it exists in the mind of God. The second is that the idea of being is not a mental act or product, but the na- tural object of intelligence; it has its seat in eternity and, from the augustinian–thomist perspective, corresponds to rationes.
The third thesis, more problematic, is the constant distinction between the ideal plane, which corresponds to being, and that of the real, which corresponds to entities.
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The year was 1256. The chancellor of the University of Paris, Heimericus, had ordered a young bachelor sententiary to prepare to receive the “licentia docendi” or doctorate, which was to incorporate him with full rights into the cloister of the university.
by Revista Espíritu | 167-2024
‘Theistic evolution’… for many the title may seem an oxymoron in linking theism with evolution. Indeed, since its emergence in the 19th century, the theory of evolution has often been presented as being in conflict with belief in God, and this idea still seems to be alive and well. Mariusz Tabaczek, however, shows in this book how they can be perfectly compatible, and therefore prudently points out in the general conclusion that ‘if true, evolution does not oppose or contradict the classical philosophical and theological view of reality proper to Aristotelian-Thomistic thought’.
by Revista Espíritu | 167-2024
The work by Lucas Prieto Sánchez La conservación del universo según santo Tomás de Aquino responds perfectly to what its title indicates, and constitutes an important and up-to-date contribution on this subject in the extensive bibliography on the Angelic doctor. It is an issue that has not always been given sufficient attention, as it has been hidden behind others, which has sometimes contributed to its disfigurement. The present study, some of whose contributions have already been published in the form of articles, allows us to enter into the depth of this subject. We present below the main contents of the book under review, which corresponds to the author’s doctoral thesis, supervised by Fr Bonino op, at the Angelicum.
by Revista Espíritu | 167-2024
‘It is intended to be a brief handbook, suitable for both specialists and students. An attempt has been made to provide an orderly summary of a subject which, until now, has lacked a complete overview of the whole. There were very valuable studies on various parts (…) However, an overview with perspective was lacking’. These words, written by the author in the introduction to the book under review, perfectly summarise both the purpose and the result of this work.
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Mother Marie de l’Assomption op (Émilie d’Arvieu), a Dominican of the Holy Spirit born in 1974, has published two extensive works, which form a unit, on nature and grace in Saint Thomas. They are Nature et grâce chez saint Thomas d’Aquin, L’homme capable de Dieu (Paris, Parole et Silence, 2021) [=NG1] and De la grâce à la béatitude, Nature et grâce chez saint Thomas d’Aquin II. Nouvelles perspectives (Paris, Parole et Silence, 2022) [=NG2]. These are two voluminous volumes of 858 and 828 pages, corresponding respectively to his civil (the first) and canonical (the second) doctoral theses.
by Revista Espíritu | 167-2024
The aim of this contribution is to provide an updated account of the main trends of Thomism in the analytical field, hoping for greater attention to the origins of the interest in Aquinas on the part of English-speaking philosophers. After having introduced the term “Analytical Thomism” and having analyzed the main strands that can be traced back to it, I will focus on the figure of the Dominican Herbert McCabe, who was among the first to propose comparing the thought of Aquinas to that of Wittgenstein. The final proposal envisages replacing the too generic term of “Analytic Thomism”, replacing it with the more precise ones of “Geachian-Fregean Thomism”, “Wittgensteinian Thomism” and “Grammatical Thomism”.
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The paper focuses on the ontology of Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church with the aim of reshaping the relation between the tradition of the commentaries on Aristotle’s Categories and Aquinas’ conception on the relationships within the Trinity, as well as of establishing possible dependences. In particular, a closer proximity with the Eastern tradition than the Augustinian heritage can be acknowledged. In the end, I will put forward a number of hypotheses concerning the role of the works by Gregory of Nazianzus and John of Damascus, that are available in Latin translation.
by Revista Espíritu | 167-2024
In Joseph Maréchal’s thought, the overcoming of the Kantian critique relies on the Absolute to justify the value of knowledge. In particular, it is in judgement – as the affirmation of the principle of identity and non-contradiction – that the being of the immediate content of thought is revealed and the Absolute is implied as the condition of objective knowledge. This attention to the relationship between the first principles of being and the “a priori synthesis” dimension of knowledge is also found in the metaphysical School of Milan. In both perspectives, philosophical modernity has contributed to the revival and rigorization of the classical transcendental.
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Gustavo Bontadini retrieved the reasons to adfirm of transcendence and creation within a philosophical context that was profoundly shaped by Kant’s Transcendental Dialectic. The first aim of my paper is to reconstruct Bontadini’s reading of the Critique of Pure Reason (KrV), which he considered as an exemplary case of gnoseological naturalism. Secondly, it highlights the passages of KrV, in which Kant problematically introduces the different aspects of the noumenon and of the relation of this latter with empirical reality. Finally, it shows that Bontadini’s philosophy values the relevant concern of Kantian critique of metaphysics, that is to avoid to apply to positive noumenon the categories that govern the experience. Thus, while attempting to determinate the transcendent reality without empirically categorizing it, classical metaphysics, in Bontadini’s thought, becomes more essential and rigorous.
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In this paper I shall examine the most representative authors of two important trends that dominated the classical-metaphysical debate in Italy during the second half of the XX century. On a hand, the conception of being qua perfection of all perfections, transcendental and analogical, which is closer to Aquinas’ written doctrine. On the other, the univocity of a notion of being that it is basically equalized to that of existence. Which stance appears more suitable to cope with modern and contemporary critiques today? What I am aiming to do in this paper is to show that metaphysical knowledge can be rephrased in a way that it is able to overcome a number of rigidnesses that are present in both the aforementioned settings.
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The collection of papers that we have the honour to introduce here includes some of the contributions presented at the conference Thinking with St Thomas today, held at the Pontifical University of St Thomas in Urbe (Angelicum, Rome) from 17 to 18 February 2023. This event, promoted by the Thomistic Institute of the Roman Athenaeum, directed by Prof. Fr. Simon Gaine o.p., in collaboration with the Thomas Aquinas International Society (SITA), chaired by Prof. Lorella Congiunti, was intended as the third moment1 of an ongoing interlocution between two academic worlds that tend to run on two parallel tracks: that of the Pontifical Universities and that of Italian civil universities.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
by Revista Espíritu | 166-2023
“This is Addicts to Philosophy, your reference channel on philosophical issues, carrying out on YouTube the ancestral mission of this beautiful discipline: corrupting people by teaching them to think.” With this subtle irony, Enric F. Gel, doctor in philosophy from the University of Barcelona, began some of his philosophical dissemination videos on the internet.
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The 2022-2023 academic year was the eighty-fourth in the history of Fundación Balmesiana, and the twentieth of Instituto Santo Tomás.
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Repertoire of publications appeared in 2022 regarding Aquinas, or his historic influence, in any of the languages of the Iberian Peninsula.
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The purpose of this article is to expose some recents attempts pertaining to the formalization of saint Thomas of Aquinas’s metaphysics of participation. Firstly, certain frequent objections related to the use of logic formalization in Philosophy are refuted, as if this supposed a collapse in the univocity of being or in a rationalist type approach. Next, the use of certain modal logic systems in the formalization of the metaphysics of participation of the Aquinian will be briefly explained. Finally, the present author applies the same tools in the formalization of certain transcendentals of the being.
by Revista Espíritu | 166-2023
In this article we want to show the rigorous and enlightening contribution that saint Thomas Aquinas makes to the relationship between the two definitions of soul presented by the Stagirite in De anima. At the beginning of Book II of that work, Aristotle gives two definitions of the soul that stand with each other in a demonstrative relationship. Aquinas’ commentary on said passage explains this demonstration keeping in mind Aristotelian epistemology and physics, allowing a scientific understanding of that key piece that is the definition of soul, since the definition and essence of the subject is the principle of science.
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The paper deals with Aquinas’ critique of the Averroist and Avicennist interpretations of Aristotle, who stated (i) that the human intellect has a passive aspect in which the intelligible species are received, and an active aspect that abstracts the species from matter; and (ii) that those two aspects of the intellect are separate from matter and therefore are not corruptible as the body is. The position of St. Thomas is examined, which solidly concludes that the intellect is a power of the soul separated from matter, and that man is gifted with all the powers necessary to perform his natural operation, even if man has his intellect by participation from separated substances.
by Revista Espíritu | 166-2023
30 years after Veritatis splendor, the understanding of christian moral life continues to challenge moral theology. Since the hermeneutics of moral truth is anthropological and theological, it is necessary to think about the relationship between the dynamism of practical reason and the christian faith in a way that respects both the novelty of revelation and grace, as well as this dynamism itself. From the perspective of virtue ethics, it is possible to assume this challenge to theorize the unity of christian practical reason, pointing out the link between practical reason and the principles of christian life. In this study we present a proposal of understanding the dynamism of christian practical reason from the theological perspective of the ultimate end.
by Revista Espíritu | 166-2023
During an inhospitable and difficult moral atmosphere, the article raises the question of sociability and friendship in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. The core of the text raises the relations between sociability and friendship; friendship and love; friendship and justice and friendship and charity as adequate moral frameworks, in societies that need to overcome the liberal justice established in the limits of contemporary ethics.
