Medieval Philosophy And The Transcendentals: The Case Of Thomas Aquinas (studien Und Texte Zur Geistesgeschichte Des Mittelalters)

"Students of Thomas Aquinas have so far lacked a comprehensive study of his doctrine of the transcendentals. This volume fills this lacuna, showing the fundamental character of the notions of being, one, true and good for his thought." "The book inquires into the beginnings of the doctrine in the thirteenth century and explains the relation of the transcendental way of thought to Aquinas's conception of metaphysics. It analyzes 'Being', 'One', 'True', 'Good' and 'Beautiful' individually and discusses their importance for the philosophical knowledge of God." "Medieval Philosophy and the Transcendentals: The Case of Thomas Aquinas is intended as a contribution to the question 'What is philosophy in the Middle Ages?' It argues that the doctrine of the transcendentals is essential for understanding medieval philosophy."--BOOK JACKET Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Introduction 0.1. Medieval philosophy as “Christian philosophy” (E. Gilson) 0.2. “The linguistic turn” 0.3. “The other spirit of medieval philosophy” (A. de Libera) 0.4. Medieval philosophy and transcendental thought Chapter One The Beginnings of the Doctrine of the Transcendentals 1.1. Philip the Chancellor’s Summa de bono 1.2. The Summa theologica attributed to Alexander of Hales 1.3. Albert the Great’s Early Works Chapter Two Thomas’s General Account of the Transcendentals 2.1. The resolution into something first 2.2. The first known: Being (ens) 2.3. The problem of the addition to being 2.4. Explication of the special modes of being: The categories 2.5. Explication of the general modes of being: The transcendentals 2.6. The derivation of the transcendentals 2.7. Evaluation Chapter Three Metaphysics and the Transcendentals 3.1. Thomas’s commentary on Boethius’s De trinitate 5.4 3.2. The transformation of the concept of metaphysics 3.3. The prologue of Thomas’s commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 3.4. The method of resolution and metaphysics 3.5. The importance of Thomas’s commentary on Metaph. IV 3.6. The inquiry into the “per se” accidents of being 3.7. Metaphysics and the first principle of demonstration 3.8. The question of being and the history of philosophy 3.9 Concluding observations Chapter Four Being as the first Transcendental 4.1. The firstness of being 4.2. The knowledge of being (I) 4.3. The knowledge of being (II) 4.4. The ratio of being: Actuality 4.5. “Being” and “thing” 4.6. Conclusion Chapter Five One as Transcendental 5.1. The Philosopher: The convertibility of being and one 5.2. Thomas: The convertibility of being and one 5.3. Transcendentality versus substantiality of the one 5.4. Transcendentality versus accidentality of the one (Avicenna) 5.5. The one and the many 5.6. The one and the composed 5.7. The one and the good 5.8. The one and the true Chapter Six True as Transcendental 6.1. A “magisterial” definition of truth: “The indivision of being and that which is” 6.2. “Truth is not in things, but in the mind” (Aristotle) 6.3. “There is the same disposition in being and in truth” 6.4. Thomas’s ratio of truth: “Adequation of thing and intellect” 6.5. Thomas’s innovations in the doctrine of the transcendentals 6.6. The convertibility of being and the true 6.7. True as a relational transcendental 6.8. Excursus: “The true and what is made are convertible” (Vico) 6.9. The true and the false 6.10. The order of the true and the good Chapter Seven Good as Transcendental 7.1. The Platonic thesis: The good is beyond being 7.2. The Manichaean thesis 7.3. The ratio of the good 7.4. The convertibility of being and good 7.5. Objections to the convertibility 7.6. The difference between being and goodness 7.7. The good of human action 7.8. The good is the first in practical reason 7.9. The opposition between good and evil Chapter Eight Beauty: A forgotten Transcendental? 8.1. Introduction 8.2. The ratio of the beautiful 8.3. Pseudo-Dionysius and the beautiful 8.4. Two texts in the Summa theologiae 8.5. Historical background: The Summa fratTis Alexandri 8.6. Conclusions 8.7. The place of beauty Chapter Nine Transcendentale and the Divine 9.1. Being, Unity, Truth and Goodness as divine names 9.2. God as cause of the maxime communia 9.3. Participation, Maximum and Analogy 9.4. Being in general (esse commune) and divine being 9.5. Is there only one truth by which all things are true? 9.6. Are all things good by the divine goodness? 9.7. The transcendentale and the Trinity Chapter Ten Conclusions 10.1. Sources for the doctrine of the transcendentals 10.2. Systematic importance 10.3. Medieval philosophy as a transcendental philosophy Bibliography Index Nominum Index Rerum STUDIEN UND TEXTE ZUR GEISTESGESCHICHTE DES MITTElALTERS Students of Thomas Aquinas have so far lacked a comprehensive study of the transcendentals. This volume fills this lacuna, arguing that the notions of being, one, true and good are both fundamental for his thought and essential for understanding medieval philosophy. By Jan A. Aertsen. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.