Die Tradition der Metaphysik, auf die sich die Neuzeit bezieht verdankt ihre Physiognomie den systematischen Ansätzen, die den nach Aristoteles „zweiten“ Anfang der Metaphysik im 13. Jhd. Bestimmen. Der Zusammenhang, der die mittelalterliche Metaphysik mit der neuzeitlichen Metaphysik und Metaphysikkritik verbindet, ist jedoch immer noch zu wenig erforscht. Die vorliegende Untersuchung greift den einflußreichsten der mittelalterlichen Ansätze, den des Johannes Duns Scotus, auf und verfolgt seine Rezeption und Transformation über Francisco Suárez und Christian Wolff zu Immanuel Kant und Charles Sanders (...) Peirce. Nach Duns Scotus ist Metaphysik als Wissenschaft vom Seienden als Seienden nur dann möglich, wenn man sie nicht als Wissenschaft vom ersten ausgezeichneten Seienden, sondern als Wissenschaft vom ersterkannten Begriff des Seienden versteht. Da dieser Begriff nur im Rückgang auf die Voraussetzungen unserer kategorialen Prädikate erfaßt und nur im Durchgang durch seine modalen Bestimmungen entfaltet werden kann, faßt Scotus Metaphysik strikt als „Transzendentalwissenschaft“ (scientia transcendens) und ordnet ihr als Inhalt die formalmodale Bestimmung und Explikation der „ratio entis“ zu. Die Erkenntnis des unendlichen Seienden ist Teil dieser Explikation und nur als solche möglich. Die neuzeitliche Gestalt der Metaphysik, die sich auf der bisher meist herangezogenen Folie der Metaphysik des Thomas von Aquin als Traditionsbruch darstellt, erweist sich im Blick auf das Konzept des Scotus als Resultat einer kritischen Transformation. (shrink)

This book offers a major reassessment of the philosophy of Peter Abelard (1079-1142) which argues that he was not, as usually presented, a predominantly critical thinker but a constructive one. By way of evidence the author offers new analyses of frequently discussed topics in Abelard's philosophy, and examines other areas such as the nature of substances and accidents, cognition, the definition of 'good' and 'evil', virtues and merit, and practical ethics in detail for the first time. The book also includes (...) a discussion of Abelard's life and works, and considers problems of chronology and canon (including the question of the authenticity of the correspondence with Heloise). '... not only an outstanding exposition of Abelard's philosophy, but a work that opens up for specialists and non-specialists the world of twelfth-century thought.' The Times Literary Supplement. (shrink)

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. (shrink)

Au XIXe siècle, en Allemagne, l'histoire ne devient pas seulement la discipline maîtresse des " sciences de la culture ", elle parvient aussi à leur imposer ses problématiques, dont la discussion structure, dans le dernier tiers du XIXe siècle et la première moitié du XXe siècle, la philosophie, l'économie, la sociologie, la théologie, l'histoire de l'art, la philologie... Le débat sur l'historisme, ou sur les implications de " l'historisation fondamentale de notre savoir et de notre pensée " (Ernst Troeltsch), loin (...) d'être le fait des seuls historiens, devient un axe central de la vie intellectuelle allemande pendant cette période. En 1874, la Deuxième Inactuelle de Nietzsche l'interprète comme une confrontation de la " science " et de la " vie " ; la suspicion à l'égard de la " science " devient le premier objet des " sciences de la culture " allemandes, et rares sont ceux qui, tel Max Weber dans La Science comme métier et comme vocation (1917-1919), prennent le parti de la récuser au nom d'une défense inconditionnelle de la rationalité. L'historien allemand Otto Gerhard Oexle, spécialiste du Moyen Age et de l'historiographie, livre ici la synthèse d'une controverse majeure, qui éclaire les enjeux de bien des œuvres souvent lues, en France, à l'écart de l'histoire qui en a porté la genèse. (shrink)

This volume continues this discussion with particular reference to medieval philosophy.Inglis shows that the modern historiography of medieval philosophy had ...

Deuxième volet d'une recherche sur la "disputatio", l'une des principales méthodes d'enseignement et de recherche dans les universités médiévales. Dresse un tableau de l'usage et de l'évolution de cette méthode dans les facultés des arts du XIIIe au XVe siècle.

This work traces the development of Heidegger's explanation of philosophy as a methodological atheism, relating it to his reading of Aristotle, Aquinas and Nietzsche. A predominant issue throughout this study is Heidegger's pursuit of an answer to the question: How did God get into philosophy?

Few philosophical books have been so influential in the development of Western thought as Aristotle’s Metaphysics. In fourteen substantial essays this volume reconstructs the late medieval reception of this work, by focusing on the main medieval commentators and a common set of metaphysical topics.

This book offers an interpretation of the unum argumentum . Interpreted as a search for the limit of thought, the argument cannot be understood as an "ontological proof". Afterwards, the author shows which Anselm has been misperceived by subsequent interpreters.

Beatific Enjoyment in Medieval Scholastic Debates traces the reception of Saint Augustine’s concept of beatific enjoyment in Peter Lombard’s Sentences. It identifies the main themes and problems which shaped the discussion of the concept in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century scholastic commentaries. Bringing together theological and scientific approaches to the idea of enjoyment, Severin Kitanov exposes the intricacy of the discourse and develops a new perspective for students and scholars.

OGHRA is an international and interdisciplinary enterprise on the impact of Augustine of Hippo. With contributions from over 400 international experts, it offers a detailed introduction and 600 entries which describe, analyse, and evaluate Augustine's influence on a broad variety of key historical figures and themes through the ages.

Eileen C. Sweeney. gap between what faith believes and what reason understands, is also expressed in the attempt to think “that than which none greater can be thought.” For to think it is to reach God via a single, long extension of the mind ...

Norman Kretzmann expounds and criticizes Aquinas's theology of creation, which is `natural' in that Aquinas developed it without depending on the data of Scripture. Because of the special importance of intellective creatures like us, Aquinas's account of the divine origin and organization of the universe includes essential ingredients of his philosophy of mind. The Metaphysics of Creation is a continuation of the project Kretzmann began in The Metaphysics of Theism; as before, he not only explains Aquinas's natural theology, but advocates (...) it as the best available to us. (shrink)

The proposition that the existence of God is demonstrable by rational argument is doubted by nearly all philosophical opinion today and is thought by most Christian theologians to be incompatible with Christian faith. This book argues that, on the contrary, there are reasons of faith why in principle the existence of God should be thought rationally demonstrable and that it is worthwhile revisiting the theology of Thomas Aquinas to see why this is so. The book further suggests that philosophical objections (...) to proofs of God's existence rely upon an attenuated and impoverished conception of reason which theologians of all monotheistic traditions might wish to reject. Denys Turner proposes that on a broader and deeper conception of it, human rationality is open to the 'sacramental shape' of creation as such and in its exercise of rational proof of God it in some way participates in that sacramentality of all things. (shrink)

Few philosophers or theologians exerted as much influence on the shape of medieval thought as Thomas Aquinas. He ranks amongst the most famous of the Western philosophers and was responsible for almost single-handedly bringing the philosophy of Aristotle into harmony with Christianity. He was also one of the first philosophers to argue that philosophy and theology could support each other. The shape of metaphysics, theology, and Aristotelian thought today still bears the imprint of Aquinas' work. In this extensive and deeply (...) researched study, Eleonore Stump examines Aquinas' major works, _Summa Theologiae _and _Summa Contra Gentiles, _and clearly assesses the vast range of Aquinas' thought. Philosophers, theologians, and students of the medieval period alike will find this unrivalled study an indispensable resource in researching and teaching Aquinas. (shrink)

Sir Anthony Kenny here continues his fascinating account of the history of philosophy, focusing on the thousand-year-long medieval period. This is the second volume of a four-book set in which Kenny will unfold a magisterial new history of Western philosophy, the first major single-author history of philosophy to appear in decades. In this volume, Kenny takes us on a fascinating tour through more than a millennium of thought from 400 AD onwards, charting the story of philosophy from the founders of (...) Christian and Islamic thought through to the Renaissance. The Middle Ages saw a great flourishing of philosophy, and the intellectual endeavor of the era reaches its climax in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with the systems of the great schoolmen such as Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus. With Kenny as guide, we see these major philosophers through the eyes of a man who has spent a lifetime contemplating their work. Thus we do not simply get an overview of philosophy, but also a penetrating and insightful critique of it. Kenny offers an illuminating account of various thinkers and schools of thought, from Augustine to Maimonides and from Grosseteste to Pomponazzi. And he offers much insight into medieval thinking about logic and language, knowledge, physics, metaphysics, the mind, the soul, and God. Vividly written, but serious and deep enough to offer a genuine understanding of the great philosophers, Kenny's lucid and stimulating history will become the definitive work for anyone interested in the people and ideas that shaped the course of Western thought. (shrink)

This collection of new essays locates Boethius' Consolatio Philosophiae in the medieval context of Latin learning and vernacular translations. The first part is devoted to the Latin commentary tradition, while the other parts explore the vernacular traditions.

Against the background of changing assessments of Nominalism and its meanings before Ockham, this book examines the reception of Ockham's thought at Oxford and ...

These essays on the way medieval Arabic philosophy was first introduced into European universities explain their formal working and provide fascinating accounts of the hardy souls who first ventured, literally, into hitherto unknown terrain.

This book traces the development of conceptions of God and the relationship between God's being and activity from Aristotle, through the pagan Neoplatonists, to thinkers such as Augustine, Boethius and Aquinas and Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor and Gregory Palamas. The result is a comparative history of philosophical thought in the two halves of Christendom, providing a philosophical backdrop to the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches.

This book presents an overview of the later medieval trinitarian theology of the rival Franciscan and Dominican intellectual traditions, and includes detailed studies of thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, John Duns Scotus, ...

Ibn Sina's al-Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at has attracted uneven attention in modern scholarship. The textual problems associated with this collection of private correspondence between Ibn Sina and his students and colleagues have presented a barrier to evaluations of the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at as a source for the life and philosophy of Ibn Sina. ;A major concern for our understanding of the recensional development of the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at is determining the nature of the original codicological forms of the texts. Chapter One, Part One assesses the references made (...) by the participants of the correspondence to these codicological forms. Chapter One, Part Two is a palaeographical and codicological study of the extant manuscripts of the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at. ;Chapter Two addresses the Recension Process of the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at. Based on the information from the manuscripts and historical material on Ibn Sina and the other participants, I set forth a theory concerning the recensional development of the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at. I also examine the contemporary and near-contemporary usages of the title al-Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at, including one in the putative Ibn Sina - Abu Sa`id correspondence, which I determine to be a later forgery. Chapter Two concludes with a study of the term mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at in the correspondence which suggests that the title al-Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at does not originate with the participants. ;In Chapter Three I develop biographical portraits of the three figures who engaged in the correspondence with Ibn Sina---Bahmanyar, al-Kirmani, and Ibn Zayla---and characterize their respective roles and intellectual contributions to the correspondence. ;In Chapter Four, I give synopses of the texts that collectively constitute the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at. Each synopsis includes a characterization of the text; an assessment of the place it occupies in the sequence of the correspondence; and its date of composition. In identifying the sequence of the texts of the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at in this way, it is hoped that scholars can begin to study the Mubah&dotbelow;at&barbelow;at as a textual record of a sequential philosophical discussion that correctly plots the course of Ibn Sina's later intellectual developments. (shrink)

Review of Graham Oppy *Ontological Arguments and Belief in God* (CUP).

Review of Graham Oppy *Ontological Arguments and Belief in God* (CUP).