Truth in the Making: Creative Knowledge in Theology and PhilosophyIs knowing a purely passive reception of something concrete outside the mind, or when we know something, are we creating something too? Spanning more than 500 years of philosophical enquiry from the Middle Ages to the present day, Robert Miner clarifies modern philosophical conceptions of knowing as making or constructing, and contrasts this view with the theological understanding of knowing as a participation in divine creation. This study demonstrates how 'creative knowledge' has its roots in the theologies of Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas Cusanus. It explores the multiple ways in which this idea influenced the architects of modern philosophy, most notably Francis Bacon, René Descartes and Thomas Hobbes, despite their secular stance. Miner contends that, well in advance of Kant, one of these thinkers, Gaimbattista Vico provided a remarkably succinct formulation of the metaphysical and epistemological core of modernity in his principle verum et factum convertuntur: 'the true and the made are convertible'. In Truth in the Making, Robert Miner challenges the standard assumption that Kant was the first thinker to conceive of knowing as constructive activity, and shows how contemporary theology can reclaim a concept of knowing that is both creative and participant in divine wisdom. |
Contents
Scientia Dei and creation | 2 |
Making and the analogy of being | 11 |
Nicolaus Cusanus | 19 |
vis assimilativa and the construction | 26 |
Francis Bacon | 40 |
René Descartes | 60 |
Thomas Hobbes | 78 |
Giambattista Vico | 96 |
Epilogue | 126 |
Bibliography | 156 |
Other editions - View all
Truth in the Making: Creative Knowledge in Theology and Philosophy Robert C. Miner Limited preview - 2004 |
Truth in the Making: Creative Knowledge in Theology and Philosophy Robert C. Miner Limited preview - 2013 |
Truth in the Making: Creative Knowledge in Theology and Philosophy Robert C. Miner No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
abstraction activity Advancement of Learning antiquissima 1.2 Cristofolini Aquinas Aristotelian assimilate axioms Bacon Cartesian causes chapter Collingwood commonwealth composite conceive conception construction contemplation corpore craft craftsman created creative Cristofolini OF 63 Cusanus definitions derived Descartes described distinction Distributio Operis divine creation elements eternal ex nihilo exemplar exist facere facit factum fantasia Francis Bacon Giambattista Vico God's Hobbes Hobbes's human mind idea Idiota de Mente imagination induction infinite intelligere intuition Jason Taylor John Milbank knowledge Lachterman layman Leviathan Maritain mathematics metaphysics method mode modern modifications of mind mondo civile mythopoesis natural philosophy notion Novum Organum participation philosophy poetic precisely principles question R.G. Collingwood radical Radical Orthodoxy rational reason representation Risposta Rule XIV scientia Scienza nuova secular sense simple natures Six Lessons spoon suggests Summa theologiae Tacitus technical theological poets things Thomas true truth understanding verum verum-factum Vico Vico's writes
References to this book
Romanticism and Religion from William Cowper to Wallace Stevens Gavin Hopps,Jane Stabler Limited preview - 2006 |