Aquinas on Matter and Form and the Elements : A Translation and Interpretation of the De Principiis Naturae and the De Mixtione Elementorum of St. Thomas Aquinas

Joseph Bobik offers a translation of Aquinas's De Principiis Naturae (circa 1252) and De Mixtione Elementorum (1273) accompanied by a continuous commentary, followed by two essays: “Elements in the Composition of Physical Substances” and “The Elements in Aquinas and the Elements Today.” The Principles of Nature introduces the reader to the basic Aristotelian principles such as matter and form, the four causes so fundamental to Aquinas's philosophy. On Mixture of the Elements examines the question of how the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water) remain within the physical things composed from them. Aquinas on Matter and Form and the Elements Contents PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PART ONE— DE PRINCIPIIS NATURAE Chapter One— Generation and Corruption Being: Potential and Actual; Substantial and Accidental Matter: Prime Matter and Subject Form: Substantial and Accidental Generation: Substantial and Accidental Corruption: Substantial and Accidental Generation Requires Matter, Form and Privation The Meaning of "Nature" in the Title: De Principiis Naturae Chapter Two— Matter, Form and Privation Privation Is a Principle per accidens, but Necessary for Generation Privation, Not Negation Privation Is a Principle of Coming to Be, but Not of Being Matter and Privation Prime Matter, Simply Prime and Relatively Prime Prime Matter and Substantial Form Are Ingenerable and Incorruptible The Numerical Oneness of Prime Matter Though Prime Matter Exists, It Does Not Exist Through Itself Chapter Three— Agent and End; Principle, Cause and Element In Addition to Matter and Form, There Must Be an Agent In Addition to the Agent, There Must Be an End Four Causes, Three Principles The Meaning of "Reduced" The Point of Observing That per accidens Causes Are Reduced to per se Causes Principle and Cause Defined Element Defined Prime Matter Survives in One Way, the Elements in Another Concluding Reflection Chapter Four— Relations among the Four Causes An Effect Can Have More Than One Cause; and A Cause, More Than One Effect An Agent Can Be Both Cause and Effect in Relation to an End; So Too Matter in Relation to Form The Matter and the Agent Are Both Prior and Posterior to the Form and the End Absolute Necessity and Conditional Necessity The Necessity of Death Three of the Causes — Form, End, Agent — Can Coincide with One Another; The Fourth, i.e., Matter, Ca... Chapter Five— Divisions within Each of the Four Causes Prior Causes and Posterior Causes Remote Causes and Proximate Causes: The Same As Prior Causes and Posterior Causes, Respectively Semper Debemus Reducere Quaestionem Ad Primam Causam Causes per se and Causes per accidens Simple Causes and Composite Causes Causes in Act and Causes in Potency Universal Causes and Singular Causes Chapter Six— Sameness and Difference in Matter and Form Things: The Same in Number, the Same in Species, the Same in Genus, and the Same Only According to ... Univocal Predication, Equivocal Predication, and Analogical Predication One End, or One Agent, or One Subject Matter and Form: The Same in Number, the Same in Species, the Same in Genus, and the Same Only Accor... PART TWO— DE MIXTIONE ELEMENTORUM The Question How Do Elements Remain in the Physical Things Which Are Made Up Out of Them? A First Answer— The Elements Remain with Their Substantial Forms, but Their Active and Passive Quali... Arguments of Aquinas Against the First Answer A Second Answer— The Elements Remain with Their Substantial Forms, but Their Substantial Forms Thems... Arguments of Aquinas Against the Second Answer The Answer of Aquinas: The Elements Remain with Their Powers and with Retrievability, but Not with T... PART THREE— ELEMENTS IN THE COMPOSITION OF PHYSICAL SUBSTANCES 1— If a Physical Substance Is Composed Out of Elements, Must It Also Be Composed Out of Prime Matter... 2— If a Physical Substance Is Composed Out of Elements As Well As Out of Prime Matter and Substantia... 3— Is an Element in Any Way an Agent Cause, in Addition to Being a Special Sort of Material Cause? 4— Is a Mixed Body, i.e., a Physical Thing Made Out of Certain Elements Combined in a Certain Ratio,... 5— Elements in the Definition of a Mixed Body (The Elements As Definientia) 6— Ingredients in the Definition of an Element (The Elements As Definienda) 7— The Elements and Creation 8— Opus Creationis, Opus Distinctionis, Et Opus Ornatus 9— The Elements and the Heavenly Bodies The Nature of the Heavens and of the Heavenly Bodies The Causality of the Heavens and of the Heavenly Bodies 10— The Seventh Day and Beyond, Like the First Day and Beyond: Unfolding, Developing, Evolving Out o... 11— The Elements and the Eduction of Substantial Forms from the Potency of Matter PART FOUR— THE ELEMENTS IN AQUINASAND THE ELEMENTS TODAY 1— How Quarks Remain in Protons 2— A Quark, Like Any Element, Is an Agent Cause of a Special Sort, Besides Being a Material Cause of... 3— Ingredients in the Definitions of Quarks and Leptons Matter Particles: 4— Is There Such a Thing As a Mixing? Are Protons Mixings of Quarks? 5— Particle Physics and Prime Matter The Neutrino The Rishon 6— Eddington's Two Tables 7— Searle On Micro-Properties and Macro-Properties 8— Nahmanides' Thirteenth Century Theological Big Bang 9— Schroeder On Nahmanides' Account of the Beginning and Expansion of the Universe 10— What Aquinas Might Have Said About Nahmanides' Account INDEX OF NAMES A B C D E G J L M N P S T W INDEX OF SUBJECTS A B C D E F G H I M M N O P Q R S T U W