Download or read book Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Principle of Sufficient Reason written by Scott Sullivan and published by . This book was released on 2016-06-28 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Common sense tells us all that things just do not pop into existence out of nothing. It takes work and effort to make things happen. Buildings are made by builders, diseases are the result of germs, headaches come from sinus pressure, plane crashes occur when there is some major malfunction, bumps occur in the middle of the night because of the wind blowing a shutter, an alley cat knocking over a trash can, or a burglar attempting a break-in.In other words, all of these assumptions about the world proceed on a principle. But what exactly is this principle? In our unreflective, intuitional, everyday speech, it goes something like "Things do not just happen 'out of the blue,' something has to make them happen!" In ancient and medieval times, the principle about which we are concerned was sometimes implicit, and other times explicit, albeit with various formulations, such as; "Nothing gives what it does not have," "There cannot be more in the effect than what was contained in the cause," "Whatever begins to exist must have a cause," or more frequently, ex nihilo nihil fit - "Out of nothing, nothing comes."In this work, I will propose that the principle of sufficient reason is the grand formulation of these intuitions and scholastic dictums, and thus is the principle that lies behind all of our casual inferences. Leibniz explicitly coined this term, yet he claimed not to discover any new principle, rather only to encapsulate all the implicit formulations used in the history of philosophy. The principle of sufficient reason is commonly formulated as such: "Every being has the sufficient reason for its existence (i.e., the adequate ground or basis in existence) either in itself or in another." Stated negatively, "Out of nothing, nothing comes" (being neither comes from nor can be determined by sheer nothing). The principle of sufficient reason, then, is simply an attempt to conveniently summarize, in one basic formula, the common intuitions of everyday life and what other great philosophers have either presupposed or loosely articulated in these more specialized formulas of the "principle of causality."Leibniz once said that without the principle of sufficient reason, very little in philosophy and science could be demonstrated. In a similar vein, the contemporary Thomistic philosopher, Norris Clarke, has called the principle of sufficient reason the dynamic principle of metaphysics, since it is in virtue of this very principle that enables the mind to pass from one being to another in order to make sense out of it: "All advance in thought to infer the existence of some new being from what we already know depends upon this principle."Using primarily, but not exclusively, the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the purpose of this book is to argue that there are good reasons for thinking that the principle of sufficient reason is true.
Download or read book The Principle of Sufficient Reason written by Alexander R. Pruss and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-03-20 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) says that all contingent facts must have explanation. In this 2006 volume, which was the first on the topic in the English language in nearly half a century, Alexander Pruss examines the substantive philosophical issues raised by the Principle Reason. Discussing various forms of the PSR and selected historical episodes, from Parmenides, Leibnez, and Hume, Pruss defends the claim that every true contingent proposition must have an explanation against major objections, including Hume's imaginability argument and Peter van Inwagen's argument that the PSR entails modal fatalism. Pruss also provides a number of positive arguments for the PSR, based on considerations as different as the metaphysics of existence, counterfactuals and modality, negative explanations, and the everyday applicability of the PSR. Moreover, Pruss shows how the PSR would advance the discussion in a number of disparate fields, including meta-ethics and the philosophy of mathematics.
Download or read book The Metaphysics of Being of St Thomas Aquinas in a Historical Perspective written by Leo J. Elders and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-12-06 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphysics, formerly the queen of science, fell into oblivion under the onslaught of empiricism and positivism and its very possibllity came to be denied. Professor Elders traces the history of this process and shows how St. Thomas innovated in determining both the subject of metaphysics and the manner in which one enters this science, particularly in the framework of his Aristotle commentaries. The work then considers being and its properties, its divisions into being in act and being in potency, into the act of being essence, and into substance and the accidents. Finally the causes of being are considered. The work also introduces and surveys the extensive literature of Thomas interpretation of the past 50 years.
Download or read book Summa Theologica Volume 1 written by St Thomas Aquinas and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Summa Theologica is the best-known work of Italian philosopher, scholar, and Dominican friar SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS (1225 1274), widely considered the Catholic Church s greatest theologian. Famously consulted (immediately after the Bible) on religious questions at the Council of Trent, Aquinas s masterpiece has been considered a summary of official Church philosophy ever since. Aquinas considers approximately 10,000 questions on Church doctrine covering the roles and nature of God, man, and Jesus, then lays out objections to Church teachings and systematically confronts each, using Biblical verses, theologians, and philosophers to bolster his arguments. In Volume I, Aquinas addresses: the existence and perfection of God the justice and mercy of God predestination the cause of evil the union of body and soul free will and fate and much more. This massive work of scholarship, spanning five volumes, addresses just about every possible query or argument that any believer or atheist could have, and remains essential, more than seven hundred years after it was written, for clergy, religious historians, and serious students of Catholic thought."
Download or read book Commentary on Thomas Aquinas s Treatise on Law written by J. Budziszewski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural moral law stands at the center of Western ethics and jurisprudence and plays a leading role in interreligious dialogue. Although the greatest source of the classical natural law tradition is Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law, the Treatise is notoriously difficult, especially for nonspecialists. J. Budziszewski has made this formidable work luminous. This book - the first classically styled, line-by-line commentary on the Treatise in centuries - reaches out to philosophers, theologians, social scientists, students, and general readers alike. Budziszewski shows how the Treatise facilitates a dialogue between author and reader. Explaining and expanding upon the text in light of modern philosophical developments, he expounds this work of the great thinker not by diminishing his reasoning, but by amplifying it.
Download or read book Treatise on Law written by Thomas Aquinas and published by . This book was released on 2016-10-13 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to St. Thomas, law, far from supplanting virtue as a basic principle of action, serves as an independent principle of action that complements virtue and is itself capable of being factored into practical deliberation. The reason is that all of God's precepts, prohibitions, and punishments are aimed at promoting the good of the whole universe and, more particularly, the good for human beings, both individually and within the various forms of social life. Because of this, law serves as both a restraint on bad actions and a spur to good action, i.e., a restraint on actions that take us away from virtue and genuine human flourishing and a spur to actions that promote virtue and flourishing.
Download or read book Introduction to the Philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas Volume 4 written by H. D. Gardeil and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2012-01-30 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphysics now joins the series of translations of Father Gardeil's Initiation a la Philosophie de S. Thomas d'Aquin. After an Introduction which discusses the general notion of metaphysics as a science, the relation of metaphysics to the critical analysis of knowledge and metaphysics as developed by Aristotle and St. Thomas, the author turns to the questions of First Philosophy which have concerned philosophers from Parmenides to Sartre and Heidegger. In seven chapters he considers being in itself and as it is known, the transcendental, the categories of being, act and potency, essence and existence and causality. As in the other volumes of this series, the author includes a generous selection of texts from the works of St. Thomas carefully correlated with the various chapters of the work itself. These are not mere snippets, but substantial quotations drawn from the Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, De ente et existentia, the Disputed Questions and the two Summas. The reader has the words of Aquinas in the best modern English versions before him. Here is St. Thomas for the thinker--unfiltered. A most valuable addition in this fourth volume is the technical vocabulary of Thomistic and scholastic terms, covering all four volumes of the Initiation. The beginner in metaphysics will find this book most valuable, for it presents clearly the basic problematics and the Thomistic solution of them. For the more profound student here is a clear, concise (but not cursory) review of the science. Thomistic metaphysics, in Father Gardeil's presentation, is not an historical curiosity but a living and lively discipline. While the aim of the work is to give a synthetic view of St. Thomas' thought, the insights of modern or contemporary philosophers is not neglected. The translator's notes offer clarification and add bibliographical information on works published since the French edition. Valuable as a class manual, indispensable as supplementary reading, this book can serve the needs of a strictly philosophical course or one designed as a preparation for theology.
Download or read book The Metaphysical Presuppositions of Being in the World written by Caitlin Smith Gilson and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-10-27 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Aquinas Ethicus Or The Moral Teaching of St Thomas written by Saint Thomas (Aquinas) and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Basic Writings of St Thomas Aquinas Volume 1 written by Thomas Aquinas and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 1997-09-15 with total page 1152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the whole of the First Part of the Summa Theologica. Pegis's revision and correction of the English Dominican Translation renders Aquinas' technical terminology consistently as it conveys the directness and simplicity of Aquinas' writing; the Introduction, notes, and index aim at giving the text its proper historical setting, and the reader the means of studying St. Thomas within that setting.
Download or read book Traces of Otherness in St Thomas Aquinas Theology of Grace written by Michael Fagge and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Aquinas on the Beginning and End of Human Life written by Fabrizio Amerini and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-06-10 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contemporary discussions of abortion, both sides argue well-worn positions, particularly concerning the question, When does human life begin? Though often invoked by the Catholic Church for support, Thomas Aquinas in fact held that human life begins after conception, not at the moment of union. But his overall thinking on questions of how humans come into being, and cease to be, is more subtle than either side in this polarized debate imagines. Fabrizio Amerini—an internationally-renowned scholar of medieval philosophy—does justice to Aquinas’ views on these controversial issues. Some pro-life proponents hold that Aquinas’ position is simply due to faulty biological knowledge, and if he knew what we know today about embryology, he would agree that human life begins at conception. Others argue that nothing Aquinas could learn from modern biology would have changed his mind. Amerini follows the twists and turns of Aquinas’ thinking to reach a nuanced and detailed solution in the final chapters that will unsettle familiar assumptions and arguments. Systematically examining all the pertinent texts and placing each in historical context, Amerini provides an accurate reconstruction of Aquinas’ account of the beginning and end of human life and assesses its bioethical implications for today. This major contribution is available to an English-speaking audience through translation by Mark Henninger, himself a noted scholar of medieval philosophy.
Download or read book Summa Theologica written by Thomas Aquinas and published by Xist Publishing. This book was released on 2015-08-16 with total page 1363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the Greatest Philosophical and Theological Masterpieces of All Time “The human mind may perceive truth only through thinking, as is clear from Augustine.” - Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Summa Theologica is an extensive five-volume masterpiece about the meaning of life and the presence of God in our everyday lives. Just like the universe, the compendium starts and ends with God; everything in between is related to God’s creation and how we as human beings can be saved. This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it. Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes
Download or read book Concerning Being and Essence written by Aquinas Thomas, Saint and published by Aquinas Press. This book was released on 2007-03 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This early work of philosophy is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. It contains metaphysical ideas of being and essence by influential philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas. This is a fascinating work and thoroughly recommended for anyone interested in philosophy. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Download or read book The Light That Binds written by Rev. Stephen L. Brock and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-03-30 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If there is any one author in the history of moral thought who has come to be associated with the idea of natural law, it is Saint Thomas Aquinas. Many things have been written about Aquinas's natural law teaching, and from many different perspectives. The aim of this book is to help see it from his own perspective. That is why the focus is metaphysical. Aquinas's whole moral doctrine is laden with metaphysics, and his natural law teaching especially so, because it is all about first principles. The book centers on how Aquinas thinks the first principles of practical reason, which for him are what make up natural law, function as laws. It is a controversial question, and the book engages a variety of readers of Aquinas, including Francisco Suarez, Jacques Maritain, prominent analytical philosophers, Straussians, and the initiators of the New Natural Law theory. Among the issues addressed are the relation between natural law and natural inclination, how far natural law depends on knowledge of human nature, what its obligatory force consists in, and, above all, how it is related to what for Aquinas is the first principle of all being, the divine will.
Download or read book St Thomas Aquinas written by Saint Thomas (Aquinas) and published by . This book was released on 1960 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Thomas Aquinas Ethical and Political Writings written by Thomas Aquinas and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enjoy this handsome addition to your Greatest Books Collection for self-study and to grace your intellect and home library. The first of three volumes containing the political and ethical writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Saint Thomas is especially valuable for his contribution to law and politics from both the philosophical perspective of reason and theological perspective of faith. He picks up where Aristotle left off by examining man's final end and the relation of habits and passions to its attainment or default.
