Aquinas

Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 82:115-123 (2008)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Among Thomists the standard practice is to show the openness of human nature to beatitude from the speculative side. The intellectual desire to know the richness of the notion of being, the ratio entis, becomes the desire to know the creator who as esse subsistens embodies the intelligible heart of being. I want to try the same strategy but from the practical side. I believe that more people experience a desire to love than a desire to know. Few have noticed that Aquinas’s first practical principle “Good ought to be done” is, as I will explain, a call to be respectful and solicitous of ourselves and others as intellectors of being. Hence, fidelity to this principle illustrates a connection between being and love so that the greater is the concentration of being, then the greater is the concentration of love. A subsistent instance of being should be a subsistent instance of love. In his metaphysics Aquinas attains the creator as subsistent being. Hence, contact with that instance would strengthen in an unparalleled way the human’s fidelity to the first practical principle. Does this contact in fact occur? That philosophical question raises the religious possibility. In its parade of saints, Christianity provides tantalizing evidence that that contact is realized.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 92,707

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Incommensurability and Aquinas’s Metaphysics.John F. X. Knasas - 1991 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 65:179-190.
Aquinas and Finite Gods.John F. X. Knasas - 1979 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 53:88-97.
Aquinas’ Metaphysics and Descartes’ Methodic Doubt.John F. X. Knasas - 1999 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 73:159-177.
“Esse” as the Target of Judgment in Rahner and Aquinas.John F. X. Knasas - 1985 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 59 (2):114-131.
“Esse” as the Target of Judgment in Rahner and Aquinas.John F. X. Knasas - 1985 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 59:114-131.
Aquinas’ Metaphysics and Descartes’ Methodic Doubt.John F. X. Knasas - 1999 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 73:159-177.
The Fundamental Nature of Aquinas’ Secunda Operatio Intellectus.John F. X. Knasas - 1990 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 64:190-202.
Aquinas Medalist’s Address.John F. Wippel - 1999 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 73:21-30.
Substance in Aquinas’s Metaphysics.John F. Wippel - 1987 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 61:2-22.
Substance in Aquinas’s Metaphysics.John F. Wippel - 1987 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 61:2-22.
Thomas Aquinas on Citizenship.John O. Riedl - 1963 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 37:159-167.
Aquinas Medalist’s Address.John F. Wippel - 1999 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 73:21-30.
Aquinas and Natural Human Fulfillment.Mary Hayden - 1991 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 65:215-233.
Aquinas and Natural Human Fulfillment.Mary Hayden - 1991 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 65:215-233.
St. Thomas Aquinas and the Defense of Mendicant Poverty.John D. Jones - 1996 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 70:179-191.

Analytics

Added to PP
2023-04-13

Downloads
2 (#1,814,037)

6 months
1 (#1,503,385)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references