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articles
1. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Daniel J. Pierson Thomas Aquinas on Assimilation to God through Efficient Causality
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This article is a contribution to the field of study that Jacques Maritain once described as “metaphysical Axiomatics.” I discuss Aquinas’s use of the metaphysical principle “omne agens agit sibi simile,” focusing on perhaps the most manifest instance of this principle, namely, univocal generation. It is well known that Aquinas holds what could be called a “static” or “formal” view of likeness between God and creatures: creatures are like God because they share in certain exemplar perfections that preexist in God. My focus instead is on an efficient likeness to God, which reflects a foundational truth about reality for Aquinas: all creatures produce something like themselves through their operations, in imitation of God, who does so on a more fundamental level. My discussion will also clarify Aquinas’s derivation of the principle of similitude from a prior metaphysical principle, “every agent acts insofar as it is in act.”
2. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Rosabel Ansari, Jon McGinnis One Way of Being Ambiguous: The Univocity of “Existence” and the Theory of Tashkīk Predication in Rāzī and Ṭūsī’s Commentaries on Avicenna’s Pointers and Reminders
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This study provides the historical background to, and analysis and translations of, two seminal texts from the medieval Islamic world concerning the univocity of being/existence and a theory of “ambiguous predication” (tashkīk), which is similar to the Thomistic theory of analogy. The disputants are Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (1149–1210), who defended a theory of the univocity of being, and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (1201–1274), who defended the theory of ambiguous predication. While the purported issue is whether a quiddity can cause its own existence, the debate extends further. Rāzī draws on several arguments that “existence” must be predicated univocally of God and creature and then concludes that, given the univocity of “existence,” God cannot be simple, but is a composite of the divine quiddity and distinct attributes. In contrast, Ṭūsī denies that “existence” is said univocally of God and creature and rather is predicated ambiguously/analogously, and then defends divine simplicity.
3. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Catherine A. Levri Light Metaphysics and Scripture in the Inaugural Sermons of Robert Grosseteste and St. Bonaventure
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Robert Grosseteste delivered his inaugural sermon, Dictum 19, in 1229/1230. Like many inaugural sermons, Dictum 19 praises Scripture, its divine author, and the study of the sacred text. Grosseteste’s sermon, however, is unique in that its author had an extensive background in the natural sciences. I propose that his understanding of the nature of light influences his understanding of Scripture in Dictum 19. Specifically, Scripture, like light, gives form to others, creating a hierarchy of bodies which mediate this form. Grosseteste’s thought influenced Saint Bonaventure, who delivered his inaugural sermon Omnium artifex docuit me sapientia at his 1254 inception. Like Grosseteste, Bonaventure’s understanding of the nature of Scripture is based in part on his light metaphysics. I conclude that, for both Grosseteste and Bonaventure, their use of light as an analogy for Scripture is rooted not only in traditional theological metaphors but also in their metaphysics of light.
4. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Brett W. Smith Scotus and Grosseteste on Phantasms and Illumination
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This article examines the reception of Robert Grosseteste by John Duns Scotus on two related questions in epistemology. The first concerns the need of phantasms for cognition, and the second concerns divine illumination. The study first examines Scotus’s Questions on the De Anima with comparison to Grosseteste’s Commentary on the Posterior Analytics, a text Scotus cites specifically. It is argued that Grosseteste is the main influence behind Scotus’s opinion that the need for phantasms is not proper to human nature as such. The second part shows how Scotus disagrees with Grosseteste on a related question. Grosseteste retains a version of divine illumination with a qualified need for phantasms, whereas Scotus maintains the strict necessity of phantasms in this life and rejects illumination. The two parts of this study taken together indicate that Scotus saw Grosseteste as an authority but also felt free to ignore him where the two disagreed.
5. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Daniel Heider The Metaphysics of Perfect Vital Acts in Second Scholasticism
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In this paper I deal with the issues in Second Scholasticism of the nature, genesis and creatability of perfect vital acts of cognition and appetition in vital powers. I present the theories of Francisco Suárez (1548–1617), Raffaele Aversa (1589–1657), and Bartolomeo Mastri (1602–1673) together with Bonaventura Belluto (1603–1676). I show that while for Aversa these acts are action-like items merely emanating from the soul and vital powers and as such cannot be produced from the outside, even by God, for Mastri and Belluto they are absolute qualities proceeding from their principles by efficient causation proper, which is a kind of procession that can be replaced by God. I argue that Suárez’s position attempts to steer a middle ground between these two theories.
book reviews
6. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Gary Michael Atkinson The Abuse Of Conscience: A Century Of Catholic Moral Theology
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7. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Caleb Estep After Certainty: A History Of Our Epistemic Ideals And Illusions
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8. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Turner C. Nevitt Thomas Aquinas On The Immateriality Of The Human Intellect
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9. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Mirela Oliva Ethics
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10. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 4
Patrick Toner Eternal Life and Human Happiness in Heaven: Philosophical Problems, Thomistic Solutions
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