Abstract

This dissertation presents an explication of the fundamental principle of metaphysical ordination whereby an entity "exists" according to a preordained way of Being. Different ways of Being are manifested in different kinds of beings. The principle of metaphysical ordination is expressed in Edith Stein's phrase, Alles Sein ist Sein eines Seienden . ;The impetus behind selection of the theme of metaphysical ordination for the dissertation stems from the author's philosophical reflections while translating Edith Stein's magnum opus from German into English. The dissertation discusses the responsibility of the translator to accurately render the philosophizing into another language and to properly identify the use of traditional termini technici--tasks that inspire depth of philosophical reflection. ;The dissertation explores the overlapping meanings and etymological links of Being and being towards an understanding of Aristotle's , the medieval ens ut ens, and Edith Stein's Seiendes als solches. For a further understanding of the relation between "Being" and "being," the meanings of , nature, form, and substance are carefully analyzed. ;The dissertation explores and expands the theme of Seinsvorzug with which Edith Stein characterizes as the "being which has an advantage in Being over others." The dissertation also explicates Seinsvorzug as the expression of the differences in "excellence of Being" within the hierarchy of beings. These themes provide the basis for the discussion of the categories, act and potency, and the medieval transcendentals as determinations of Being. ;In the last chapter the dissertation presents an interpretation of Edith Stein's concept of wesenhaftes Sein, demonstrating its twofold meaning: the particular "excellence of Being" of Divine Being; and, the reflection of the divine in the finite in terms of "an irrevocable ingredient of meaning of all Being." In this concept there is an affirmation of Edith Stein's reverence for and discernment of the "breath of the eternal" in the creaturely