Eucharystia a istota przypadłości
The Eucharist and the Essence of Accidents

Summary/Abstract: Saint Thomas Aquinas claims that accidents of bread and wine exist after the Eucharistic conversion without a substance. This thesis allegedly leads to a contra- diction, because the essence of accidents includes existence in a subject (inesse). Thomas responds to this objection by referring to the central thesis of his metaphysics, that the essence of a contingent being is not its existence. He implicitly assumes that inesse is a variety of the act of existence. In consequence, inesse does not constitute the essence of accidents, which dismisses the charge. I will argue that Thomas᾽s de- fense is invalid, because inesse is not a variety of the act of existence, and is merely a relationship between an accident and a substance, or a mode of existence resulting from this relationship. However, by mode of existence we should understand not a variety of the act of existence, but a way of possessing the act of existence. Under- stood in this way, inesse belongs to the essence of accidents, hence Thomas᾽s counter- argument is incorrect.

• Details
• Contents