Two Conceptions of Experience King, Peter (University of Toronto) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 11 (2003) Abstract The canonical text relating experience to knowledge for the philosophers of the HighMiddle Ages was Aristotle’s Metaphysics A.1. The very first remarks in First Philosophy describe how humans, after repeated exposure to the world, come to have art and […]
Power Made Perfect in Weakness: Aquinas’s Transformation of the Virtue of CouragePower Made Perfect in Weakness: Aquinas’s Transformation of the Virtue of Courage
November 20, 2010 By
Power Made Perfect in Weakness: Aquinas’s Transformation of the Virtue of Courage Konyndyk De Young, Rebecca (Calvin College) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 11 (2003) Abstract In Plato’s Republic, the moral education necessary to live the just life requires a transformation of the learner, a transformation that is both moral and intellectual. The result of the […]
Aquinas’s Impediment Argument for the Spirituality of the Human Intellect
November 20, 2010 By
Aquinas’s Impediment Argument for the Spirituality of the Human Intellect Lang, David P. (Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 11 (2003) Abstract In several texts, Thomas Aquinas employs a controversial demonstration for the spirituality (that is, intrinsic independence from matter) of the human potential intellect—an argument deriving from a famous, though somewhat […]
The Angelic Doctor and Angelic Speech: The Development of Thomas Aquinas’s Thought on How Angels Communicate
November 20, 2010 By
The Angelic Doctor and Angelic Speech: The Development of Thomas Aquinas’s Thought on How Angels Communicate Goris, Harm (Catholic Theological University Utrecht) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 11 (2003) Abstract The doctrine of angels is not currently one of the most studied parts of Aquinas’s thought, and this goes a fortiori for the topic of angelic […]
Aquinas on Attributes
November 19, 2010 By
Aquinas on Attributes Leftow, Brian (Oriel College, Oxford) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 11 (2003) Abstract Aquinas’ theory of attributes is one of the most obscure, controversial parts of his thought. There is no agreement even on so basic a matter as where he falls in the standard scheme of classifying such theories: to Copleston, he […]
Divine Needs, Divine Illusions: Preliminary Remarks Toward a Comparative Study of Meister Eckhart and Ibn AľArabi
November 15, 2010 By
Divine Needs, Divine Illusions: Preliminary Remarks Toward a Comparative Study of Meister Eckhart and Ibn AľArabi Almond, Ian (Bosphorus University, Istanbul) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 10 (2001) Abstract A surprising number of Western studies or translations of the Sufi thinker and mystic Ibn Al’Arabi (1165–1240) make some kind of reference to the German preacher Meister […]
Suárez and the Problem of External Sensation
November 15, 2010 By
Suárez and the Problem of External Sensation South, James B. Medieval Philosophy and Theology 10 (2001) Abstract In this article I will demonstrate Francisco Su´arez’s coherent and powerful method for addressing Lear’s concerns. I will outline Su´arez’s account against the background of Aquinas’s theory of sensation, emphasizing those areas where Su´arez believes that Aquinas’s theory […]
Aquinas’s Abstractionism
November 9, 2010 By
Aquinas’s Abstractionism Houston, Smit (University of Arizona) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 10 (2001) Abstract According to St. Thomas, the natures of material things are the proper objects of human understanding. And he holds that, at least in this life, humans cognize these natures, not through innate species or by perceiving the divine exemplars, but only […]
God as Nature’s Goal
November 3, 2010 By
God as Nature’s Goal Kretzmann, Norman Medieval Philosophy and Theology, Volume 9, Number 2, September 2000 Abstract IV. GOD AS NATURE’S GOAL 1. Reorientation At the end of Book III’s first, introductory chapter, Aquinas divides his projected investigation of divine providence into three big topics, the first of which he characterizes as having to do […]
Badness
November 3, 2010 By
Badness Kretzmann, Norman Medieval Philosophy and Theology, Volume 9, Number 2, September 2000 Abstract 1. The Badness Thesis Badness’ is not a good word. It sounds faintly infantile, perhaps especially now, at the end of the twentieth century. Still, ‘imperfection’ and its bland companions are too broad to serve all the purposes of this investigation, […]
Agents, Actions and Ends
November 3, 2010 By
Agents, Actions and Ends Kretzmann, Norman Medieval Philosophy and Theology, Volume 9, Number 2, September 2000 Abstract Aquinas concludes his introductory chapter by announcing that his first task in Book III, a task to which he devotes sixty-two chapters, is to investigate “God himself in so far as he is the end of all things” […]
From Creation to Providence
November 3, 2010 By
From Creation to Providence Kretzmann, Norman Medieval Philosophy and Theology, Volume 9, Number 2, September 2000 Abstract 1. The Aims of the Book This book is the third in a series of three volumes. In 1997 and 1999, Oxford’s Clarendon Press published my books The Metaphysics of Theism and The Metaphysics of Creation, which are […]
Happiness and Freedom in Aquinas’s Theory of Action
November 2, 2010 By
Happiness and Freedom in Aquinas’s Theory of Action McCluskey, Colleen (Saint Louis University) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 9 (2000) Abstract Thomas Aquinas is commonly thought to hold that human beings will happiness and do so necessarily. This is taken to mean first that human beings are not able to will misery for the sake of […]
The Discovery of a Normative Theory of Justice in Medieval Philosophy: On the Reception and Further Development of Aristotle’s Theory of Justice by St. Thomas Aquinas
November 2, 2010 By
The Discovery of a Normative Theory of Justice in Medieval Philosophy: On the Reception and Further Development of Aristotle’s Theory of Justice by St. Thomas Aquinas Lutz-Bachmann, Matthias (Institute for Philosophy of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt) Translated from the German by John D. Cochrane Medieval Philosophy and Theology 9 (2000) Abstract Aristotle earns […]
Robert Kilwardby on the Relation of Virtue to Happiness
October 26, 2010 By
Robert Kilwardby on the Relation of Virtue to Happiness Celano, Anthony J. (Stonehill College) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 8 (1999) Abstract The growing sophistication of philosophical speculation together with the increasingly contentious claims of the thirteenth-centurymasters of Arts and Theology is reflected in the literary career of Robert Kilwardby. As a young Parisian Arts master, […]
Aquinas on Our Responsibility for Our Emotions
October 26, 2010 By
Aquinas on Our Responsibility for Our Emotions Murphy, Claudia Eisen (University of Toronto) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 8 (1999) Abstract Philosophical investigations of the concept of responsibility, mirroring its most common function in ordinary language and thought, have been geared for the most part to clarifying intuitions concerning moral and legal accountability for actions. But […]
Meister Eckhart and Jan Van Ruusbroec: A Comparison
October 19, 2010 By
Meister Eckhart and Jan Van Ruusbroec: A Comparison van Nieuwenhove, Rik (Trinity College, Dublin) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 7 (1998) Abstract Jan Van Ruusbroec (1293–1381), the most important spiritual writer of the Low Countries, is often associated (with or without some qualifications) with the tradition of the Rhineland Mystics, of which Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1327) […]
Psychology and Theodicy in Aquinas
October 19, 2010 By
Psychology and Theodicy in Aquinas Bowlin, John R. (University of Tulsa) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 7 (1998) Abstract Throughout much of this century the most prominent exegetes maintained that Aquinas’s mature moral psychology is fundamentally voluntarist, that he considers the will an independent cause of action, most conspicuously in his later works. Disagreement over the […]
Creation as Existential Contingency: A Response
October 11, 2010 By
Creation as Existential Contingency: A Response Muller, S.J., Earl (Sacred Heart Seminary (Detroit) ) The Saint Anselm Journal 1.1 (Fall 2003) Abstract Donald Keefe has consistently provided a trenchant critique of traditional Thomism. His paper for this conference focuses this critique on the question of contingency in Thomas’s thought and the necessity ingredient in the […]
Creation as Existential Contingency
October 11, 2010 By
Creation as Existential Contingency Keefe, S.J., Donald J. (Fordham University (Emeritus) ) The Saint Anselm Journal 1.1 (Fall 2003) Abstract This article criticizes St. Thomas’ reliance upon “contingency” as the basis for his postulate of the prior possibility of a natural creation, whether creation be understood actively as a divine action independent of the Father’s […]
Aquinas on Continuity and Identity
October 6, 2010 By
Aquinas on Continuity and Identity Hughes, Christopher Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 6, no. 1 (1997) Abstract In what follows, I shall argue that there is a difficulty in fitting together Aquinas’s general account of the individuation of substances and their forms with his account of identity through time. Aquinas’s account of individuation entails that […]
As It Is, It Is an Ax: Some Medieval Reflections on De Anima II
October 6, 2010 By
As It Is, It Is an Ax: Some Medieval Reflections on De Anima II Sirridge, Mary Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 6, no. 1 (1997) Abstract If an instrument, e.g., an ax, were a natural body, then its substance would be being ax,l and this would be its soul; if this were removed, it would […]
A First Glance at Albert the Great’s Teachings on Analogy of Words
October 5, 2010 By
A First Glance at Albert the Great’s Teachings on Analogy of Words Tremblay, Bruno (Universite Laval) Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 5, no. 2 (1996) Abstract Although any fair-minded reader will readily admit that Albert the Great was surpassed in solidity and clarity by his most famous pupil, Thomas Aquinas, his writings are generally of […]
Back to Nature in Aquinas
October 5, 2010 By
Back to Nature in Aquinas Twetten, David B. (Marquette University) Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 5, no. 2 (1996) Abstract Perhaps the most famous achievement of Thomas Aquinas lies in his robust conception of nature and the natural world in the face of an uncompromising theology of grace and divine operation. As is well known, […]
The Second Way
October 4, 2010 By
The Second Way Cartwright, Richard L. Medieval Philosophy and Theology, vol. 5, no. 2 (1996) Abstract My title refers to the second of the arguments for the existence of God commonly called Aquinas’s “Five Ways.” The conclusion is that there exists “some first efficient cause” {aliquant causam efficientem pήmam). Now, anything that is a first […]
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