Relationship between entitative and intelligible perfection in Thomas Aquinas in the light of Francisco Canals’ teaching

Abstract:

This article aims to show the relationship between the entitative and the intelligible in Saint Thomas Aquinas’ thought in the light of Francisco Canals. We will expose how in Aquinas the entitative and the intelligible differ just in virtue of the finitude of the being. The different grades of intelligibility derived from the ontological perfection of being will be examined: the human soul, the separate substances and God. Following Canals, the argumentation will lead to identify self intellection with the presence of the act to itself, overcoming the paradigm of subject-object opposition. Finally, some considerations in relation to human knowledge are posed.

Key words:

intelligibility, self-knowledge, esse, immateriality.