Ens multipliciter dicitur: The semantics and metaphysics of being in st. Thomas Aquinas
| Abstract | This paper examines the multiple semantic functions Aquinas attributes to the verb ‘est’, ranging from signifying the essence of God to acting as a copula of categorical propositions to expressing identity. A case will be made that all these apparently radically diverse functions are unified under Aquinas’s conception of the analogy of being, treating all predications as predications of being with or without some qualification (secundum quid or simpliciter). This understanding of the multiplicity of the semantic functions of this verb as conceived by Aquinas will enable us to have a better understanding of the meaning of his metaphysical claims and arguments. In particular, with this understanding of Aquinas’ conception of being, we will be able to see how Aquinas’s famous “intellectus essentiae” argument for the thesis of the real distinction between essence and existence in creatures can work, despite Anthony Kenny’s arguments to the contrary in his recent book Aquinas on Being. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,705 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Only published papers are available at libraries |
Similar books and articlesKevin J. Caster (2004). William of Auvergne and St. Thomas Aquinas on the Real Distinction Between Being and Essence. In Jeremiah Hackett, William E. Murnion & Carl N. Still (eds.), Being and Thought in Aquinas. Global Academic Pub..
Anthony Kenny (2002). Aquinas on Being. Oxford University Press.
Thomas M. Ward (2011). Relations Without Forms: Some Consequences of Aquinass Metaphysics of Relations. Vivarium 48 (3-4):279-301.
J. William Forgie (1995). The Cosmological and Ontological Arguments: How Saint Thomas Solved the Kantian Problem. Religious Studies 31 (1):89 - 100.
Thomas Williams (2005). Aquinas in Dialogue with Contemporary Philosophy. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 79 (3):483-491.
Jeffrey E. Brower (2005). Aquinas's Metaphysics of Modality: A Reply to Leftow. Modern Schoolman 83 (3):201-212.
Derek J. Morrow (2006). Aquinas, Marion, Analogy, and Esse. International Philosophical Quarterly 46 (1):25-42.
Anthony Kenny (1976). Aquinas: A Collection of Critical Essays. University of Notre Dame Press.
Anthony Kenny (1969). Aquinas. Garden City, N.Y.,Anchor Books.
Anthony Kenny (1980). Aquinas. Hill and Wang.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads40 ( #28,914 of 549,196 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,418 of 549,196 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
