This tribute to Carlos Steel, director of the De Wulf-Mansion Centre and former Dean of Philosophy at Leuven University, offers a full bibliography of this eminent scholar's research in areas of ancient thought, critical editions of medieval texts, and central issues dealt with by prominent medieval speculators. This is followed by eleven essays arranged in three major groupings.

This is a remarkably perceptive reflection on a central concern of one of the twentieth century’s greatest academic figures, Etienne Gilson. By integrating prior superb biographical presentations and immersing herself in Gilson’s major works, Murphy attempts to detail his evolving understanding of art in terms of his deepening concern with sources and his constant dialogical engagement with major intellectual personages at different phases of his career.

Aristotle and Other Platonists is a remarkable work in terms of what is established and how its arguments are developed. Gerson’s meticulous and sensitive examinations of original texts of Plato and Ar-istotle, along with their central commentary traditions and more recent interpretations, offer nuanced insights into the intended meanings of each relevant text. Gerson attempts “ in part to achieve a richer understanding of Platonism by showing why Neoplatonists took Aristotle to be an authentic collaborator in its development and explication”. (...) He also endeavors to confirm that Aristotle was often “ actually analyzing the Platonic position and making it more precise, not refuting it,” and “ criticizing philosophers other than Plato or deviant versions of Platonism”. (shrink)

Peter of Bergomo, one of the first to attempt to compile an index and concordance of Aquinas's works, often noted apparent discrepancies between diverse texts. His entry for "accidens" is no exception since approximately ten percent of its divisions are prefaced by the familiar "oppositum videtur dicere." The reader is left with the task of determining whether Bergomo's notations concern only apparent contradictions or whether St. Thomas indeed made significant alterations in his understanding of the topic. Brown's portrayal of Aquinas's (...) texts in their specific contexts permits a nuanced interpretation of St. Thomas's diverse considerations of the being of accidents which avoids both of the aforementioned alternatives. (shrink)

Peter of Bergomo, one of the first to attempt to compile an index and concordance of Aquinas's works, often noted apparent discrepancies between diverse texts. His entry for "accidens" is no exception since approximately ten percent of its divisions are prefaced by the familiar "oppositum videtur dicere." The reader is left with the task of determining whether Bergomo's notations concern only apparent contradictions or whether St. Thomas indeed made significant alterations in his understanding of the topic. Brown's portrayal of Aquinas's (...) texts in their specific contexts permits a nuanced interpretation of St. Thomas's diverse considerations of the being of accidents which avoids both of the aforementioned alternatives. (shrink)

The first two chapters examine Aristotle’s notion of existence and the allegation that he understood is to intrinsically involve ambiguity. Hintikka insists “that Aristotle may have been the only early philosopher who consciously considered the ambiguity thesis,” yet “he, too, rejected it”. Moreover, uncritical acceptance of the Frege-Russell view, which emphasizes inherent ambiguity in the is of predication, identity, existence, and class-inclusion in natural and most philosophical discourse, not only was unanticipated in any interesting manner by Kant, but has led (...) prominent scholars toward unhistorical interpretations of Plato and Aristotle. Hintikka’s engagement with analytic approaches lends authority to his judgment that “there is no simple way of expressing Aristotelian existential assumptions in a modern logical notation,” and that “ambiguity is relative to a semantical framework”. (shrink)

Particularly interesting among those concerning religion is Fernand Van Steenberghen's criticism of Etienne Gilson's occasional assertion that the existence of God may be the object of supernatural faith, since it is possible to believe and know in distinct ways. Van Steenberghen insists this is contradictory, since to believe God's existence on His testimony implies that one does not "know" this, and if one "knows" God's testimony one knows that God exists. Related to this issue is Georges Van Riet's clarification of (...) the notions of nature, supernature, religion, and culture. The last notion, taken subjectively and speaking loosely, refers commonly to the development of human powers according to virtue and is mediated by culture taken objectively. In turn, religion both as natural and supernatural can equally be termed cultural. As such, they constitute the superior level of subjective culture and permeate enculturation attained through education and traditions. (shrink)

This remarkable collection of studies within the area of metaphysics focuses on figures in the period of 1250 to 1350, with retrospective and prospective considerations of ancient sources and repercussions in the Renaissance. Where necessary, these previously published articles are revised in the light of more recent investigations, and references to obsolete editions are supplemented with citations of newer, critical editions. Reflecting over forty years of research, these twenty-three selected essays remain substantially unchanged with the exception of a study on (...) the metaphysical doctrine of Siger of Brabant. (shrink)

Originative apprehension often has been examined in recent decades in light of Aquinas’ reflections. Yet there has not always been agreement in regard to what constitutes such, often due to different emphases given by interpreters to aspects of St. Thomas’ analyses articulated in different contexts. Arguably, it is possible to reconcile certain seemingly divergent important interpretations by reflecting on an important, yet somewhat recessive, theme that Thomas adverted to sparingly throughout his career in utilizing analyses of predecessors to forge his (...) own synthesis to explain cognition in terms of being that is centered on the reciprocal priorities of judging and concomitant incomplex abstracting. (shrink)

St. Thomas Aquinas’ exposition of the Liber de causis, one of the few extended commentaries on this influential work, has received much greater detailed attention during recent decades. Nonetheless, interpretations have diverged concerning how this Neoplatonic source was assimilated and refined by Aquinas. It is not only important to comprehend the originality of procedures and accomplishment of St. Thomas in relation to his work for the sake of historical precision. Equally important is the intention of both the author and his (...) commentator, which is to contribute to our grasp of reality in terms of fundamental metaphysical principles. (shrink)

Odd Langholm has previously given us three important book-length studies on price and value, wealth and money in the Aristotelian tradition, and the Aristotelian analysis of usury. The present work is an effort to integrate virtually all the secondary literature on economic speculation by every significant figure who studied or taught at Paris during its golden age. This is no mere compilation of prior research, however. The author has made detailed examinations of unedited manuscripts and rare incunabula in order to (...) present a panorama of diverse speculators, each with his own intellectual genotype. In offering new interpretations and important nuances to previously established conclusions, this work may well serve as an indispensable reference for future investigations into medieval and early modern economic thought. (shrink)

This presentation of one of the most coherent articulations of knowledge and sign theory available at the time of emerging Renaissance speculation is of interest for both doctrinal and historical reasons. A secondary achievement is a general defense of the objectivity of knowledge which takes the reflections of De Saussure and Derrida into account, as well as the historical origin of their concerns in Kant's understanding of how his own predecessors understood judgment. All of these portrayals, however, are consistently utilized (...) to highlight John of St. Thomas's systematization and development of Medieval sources. (shrink)

This translation has been rendered in order to compensate for the absence of any recent commentary in French on Aristotle's Categories, that work which Simplicius insisted is the proem to all Philosophy since this treatise is a source of logic, and logic precedes all Philosophy. Besides offering as literally and accurately as possible the sense of Aristotle's text, this volume contains as well the interesting commentary inspired by the teaching of Ammonius of Hermeias, which to this date has not been (...) accessible in any modern Western European language. (shrink)

The reflections of Jean-Luc Marion on Aquinas’s notion of esse not only confirm the continued importance of the latter’s doctrines in the history of metaphysical speculation, but also reveal intriguing convergences of concern between Aquinas and this significant postmodern thinker. Marion’s embrace of phenomenological reflection tinted with Barthean and Heideggerian themes in order to retrieve Neoplatonic ‘theo-ontology’ ironically finds unsuspected corroborations along with important clarifications in Aquinas’s subtle assimilation of Neoplatonic sources and his rigorous causal analyses of the metaphysical constitution (...) of things and knowledge. (shrink)

This valuable work, one of a very restricted number dedicated to the subject, is a revised version of a doctoral dissertation directed by Gerard Verbeke and submitted to the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven. It is meritorious not only for its sensitive appraisal of Dionysius's own doctrines and Aquinas's critical assimilation of them, but also because of the evident effort expended to present a global, yet accurate portrayal of Dionysius's principles and viae as developed by Aquinas.