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In the current paper, we will present part of the results of a broader work, which tries to investigate a possible influence of voluntarist theories and ideas on different epistemological concepts during the High and Late Middle Ages. In the beginning, we will outline the bigger contextual and terminological framework in which the problem at hand is situated. After that, we will try to show the possibility of such an influence through the texts of the first author of the study – Bonaventure. In order to do this we will present consecutively his theory of the will and one central aspect of his epistemology – the theory of illumination. In conclusion, we will briefly mark the transition from the teachings of Bonaventure and we will present some innovations, introduced by Peter John Olivi.
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Saint Albert the Great and Saint Thomas Aquinas, two excellent scholars of the Dominican Order in the 13th century, reflected on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ using the analogy between human body and the body of the Church. They believed in the necessity of being a member of the body of the Church in order to achieve eternal salvation. Although they reaffirmed visible and institutional aspects, their idea of the Church extended beyond the limits of a visible body which could be precisely noted and defined within the timespace boundary. They emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit as the life source of the body of the Church, and communion with Christ in faith and charity as the condition of being a member of the body in full sense. Both recognized the possibility of belonging to the visible Church and at the same time of being excluded from the Mystical Body of the Church. Using the categories of the actual and potential membership in the Summa Theologiae III, q. 8, Aquinas gave the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ an elasticity in a particular way.
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Generally, when we want to share the thoughts about Hobbes or have a discussion, there is a doubt what a premise to take, in order to reach our final opinion, regardless how well we know his philosophy. The obstacles we might face interpreting his philosophy are not only subjective ones. This paper shows some incoherences in Hobbes’s philosophical linguistical topics. In spite of them, the interest to study his philosophy, as well as philosophy civilis or materialistic empiric one, does not run short. The topics presented in this work are only implicitly mentioned in his works. However, although these topics are not explicit, they are not less important. On the contrary, discussing them further we understand Hobbes’s philosophy better and get deeper into its meaning. For instance, if we know that Hobbes was a nominalist, who denied the existence of universal concepts, we can see better his ontological empirical materialism. Besides, it points out his anthropological individualism which brought about a new interpretation of a human being. His new interpretation of a human being is a novelty in comparison to scholastic tradition and Aristotel’s definition of a human being as a social being (ζῷον πολιτιϰόν). The paper emphasizes the influence of Ockham’s intuitional nominalism on Hobbes’s nominalism. Des¬pite the fact that Hobbes rejected Ockham’s intuitional nominalism, due to its methodological and ontological unacceptability and wanted to start his new epistemology and politics, we find his conceptualism. Nevertheless, the main representative of conceptualism was Ockham. The conceptualism is present in Hobbes’s work, although it is not consistent with his nominalism. Some philosophers after Hobbes argued that he was ultra-nominalist, even bigger than Ockham. The paper shows that some ultra-nominalistic ideas, besides conceptual ones, can be found in Hobbes’s philosophy. Discussing these ideas and comparing them in the paper, we find out more about Hobbes’s philosophy. These linguistic topics are not only important for philosophy, but also influenced strongly classical and modern literature, as can be seen in the paper.
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The following paper is intent on analyzing the Fifth Path of Thomas Aquinas, which is one of the five arguments, used by Thomas in the Summa Theologica, aiming to prove God’s existence. One of the main topics, which will be put forward, is the overall function of the Ways themselves, fulfilling the necessary conditions for the intellect to understand creation.The second point, which will be discussed, is the relation between the order and the understanding, and more precisely – we examine what the understanding could conclude about the wisdom of the Creator of this order. An important question that rises is about the role of wisdom in keeping the linkage between the specific and the general, the individual and the universal, i.e. between the particular entity and the integral order, under which it falls. The analysis is being put in a broader frame by discussing what follows Thomas’ writings in the following centuries, which often combine them (the writings) in contemporary philosophy with the so called argument from design whose main presuppositions will be explicated.
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This paper illustrates fragments of the pre-Miltonian history of ‘the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely’ in two of its key (even if not directly interrelated) thematic aspects: the protection of human dignity as a counterpoint to the absolutely unlimited freedom of speech – in the context of Thomas Aquinas’ (1224/5–1274) discussion of verbal injuries; and the inviolability of personal freedom of thought and expression – in the context of Johannes Reuchlin’s (1455–1522) defence of Jewish writings. On that basis, the paper finally attempts to outline the significance which the views of authors such as Aquinas and Reuchlin may have in a broader cultural and historical context.
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al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah, has come to famous with the dispute of the takwin (creation) between Maturidism and Asharism in the V/XIth century. In this debate, Asharites argued that the view of an eternal takwin (creation) attribute did not based on Abu Hanifa and earlier Hanafites and they accused Hanafites of innovation (bid’a). Abu al-Muin al-Nasafi, responded to this accusation in Tabsirat al-Adilla and he tried to prove, in the context of al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyya, this view was based on Abu Hanifa. al-Nasafi’s reference to the al-Aqidah, has led to a debate and the emergence of a comprehensive commentary literature around the al-Aqidah.
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Ibn Rushd is one of the most important peripatetic philosophers in Islamic World. He wrote important books in different branches of philosophy. We must also mention his works about logic which was thought as a methodology of philosophy and thinking. Ibn Rushd has works about eight sections of Aristotle’s Organon, and he used in this works different writing styles like long, middle and short commentaries. The work named Jawāmi‘u Kitāb al-Khatābah which we translate here to Turkish is his short commentary on Aristotle’s Rhetoric. This work is a good example of short commentary that is one of the classical writing styles.
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Peripatetic tradition of logic and philosophy has built itself on the basis of the works of Aristotle and had this name because of this feature. Peripatetic philosophers have used different writing styles in works which they wrote on both logic and philosophical sciences. Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd who is one of the most important commentators on Aristotle wrote commentaries on Aristotle’s different works in three styles as jawâmi’, talkhîs and tafsîr. The work named Jawamiu Kitab al-Jadal is short commentary on Aristotle’s Topics. This work is a good example of short commentary that is one of the classical writing styles.
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Writing of legal transactions, applied since the first period of Islam. Later in the period, this work, become a private branch. About this branch, which termed as “shurût”, written many private works since III. H. century and formed a comprehensive literature. One of this works is Gurar al-Shurût wa Durar al-Sumût. Gurar al-Shurût, which written by Celâl al-Dîn al-Imâdî, who lived at Khwarezm’s Curcân (Gurgenc), one of the last models of classical period of shurût literature. The purpose of this article is to present the Celâl al-Dîn al-Imâdî And His Work Gurar al-Shurut we Durar al-Sumût.
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In this article, the author investigated modern relevance of the philosophy of Juraj Dragišić, especially in connection with his attitude towards the problem of God’s omniscience (foreknowledge) and free will. Namely, while investigating this problem in the work Proročanska rješenja, the author found out interesting and very innovative attempts of resolving the issue, those which are even today included into list of the most actual and famous solutions. The discussion in Proročanska rješenja starts with the question whether it is possible to affirm compatibilism between God’s omniscience (foreknowledge) and human free will. It seems that Dragišić’s final conclusion is that this can be done, but only if he doesn’n know future (doesn’t have the knowledge of future, or the foreknowledge), what we tried to show and to prove (defend) by exhibiting various solutions.
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This paper is not going to offer any criticism of the way Gaven Kerr treats Aquinas’ argument. Instead, it offers an alternative way of reconstructing Aquinas’ argument, intending to strengthen especially those controversial aspects of it that Kerr’s reconstruction left untreated or in relative obscurity. Accordingly, although the paper’s treatment will have to have some overlaps with Kerr’s (such as the critique of Kenny’s critique of Aquinas), it will deal with issues essential to adequate replies to certain competent criticisms of his argument untreated by Kerr (such as Buridan’s critique). For the sake of the “formally inclined” reader, the paper’s treatment will also include an Appendix offering a formal reconstruction of both the main argument and its sub-arguments to demonstrate the formal rigor of Aquinas’ original.
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My article critically evaluates five key claims in Kerr’s interpretation of Aquinas’s De Ente et Essentia, ch. 4, proof for God. The claims are: (1) the absolutely considered essence is a second intention, or cognitional being; (2) à la John Wippel, the real distinction between essence and existence is known before the proof; (3) contra David Twetten, Aristotelian form is not self-actuating and so requires actus essendi; (4) the De Ente proof for God uses the Principle of Sufficient Reason; (5) an infinite regress must be eliminated before concluding to God. This author wonders if these questionable claims are traceable to the mindset of analytic philosophy which values precision and discreteness and so can fail to appreciate crucial paradoxes in Aquinas’s metaphysics.
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In this paper, I discuss, as carried out by Gaven Kerr, a reconstruction of Aquinas’s argument for the existence of God from his work De Ente et Essentia. My analysis leads to complementing Kerr’s proposal with the following elements: (i) a summarization of the presented argument in a more formal manner; (ii) a specification of the main presuppositions of the Thomistic conception of existence; (iii) a drawing of attention to the fact that the essence–esse composition is a borderline case of the array of potency–act compositions; (iv) a distinguishing of the empirical (connected with the problem of the regress) and speculative (deprived of such a problem) interpretations or versions of Aquinas’s argument; (v) a clarification of what is the Divine exception from the essence–esse composition; (vi) a distinguishing of the three models of participation and a defence of the moderate model. I regard the following two issues to be of key importance for the argument under discussion: the relation between the Aristotelian compositional model and the Platonic model of participation as well as the defence of the Thomistic conception of the essence–esse composition.
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In this paper, I examine the debate about existence between deflationist analytic accounts and the ‘thicker’ conception used by Aquinas when speaking of esse. I argue that the way one evaluates the debate will depend on background philosophical assumptions and that reflection on those assumptions could constitute an account of theoretical wisdom
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One of the most important theses of Existential Thomism is that contingent things are composed of essence and existence. The thesis is immediately supplemented by a proviso that these components are not parts in the regular sense of the word. Essence and existence are not extended pieces of the thing which can be detached from it. They are inseparable aspects of the thing wherein inseparability is understood as a sort of dependence. In my paper I analyze the thesis of the inseparability of existence. For me this is untenable. I argue that this inseparability blocks up the essential function ascribed by Thomists to existence: the function of making the thing real. Thus to save this function we are forced to export existence to outside the thing. It contradicts our deep belief that existence is the most intimate aspect of the thing. Therefore the Thomistic analysis of existence seems to be invalid.
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Aquinas’ so-called “Intellectus essentiae Argument” for the distinction between being and essence is notoriously suspect, including among defenders of Aquinas’ distinction. For the paper in this volume, I take as my starting point the recent defense of the argument by Fr. Lawrence Dewan, O.P. Fr. Dewan’s project is unsuccessful. Pointing out some shortcomings in his readings allows me to take up his call to highlight the “formal” or “quidditative side” of Aquinas’ metaphysics, in this case in regards to the proofs of the “real distinction.” Accordingly, the second half of this paper sets forth a way in which the famous “Intellectus essentiae Argument” of De Ente et Essentia 4 can succeed as a proof of the real distinction. Aquinas’ argument presupposes the prior real distinction between essence and supposit or individual substance. Esse is the ontological component that makes true our judgments that substances actually are: Obama exists. By contrast, this “truth-maker” cannot be predicated of humanity, although it is in Obama as really distinct from him. If Aquinas’ reasoning in this most contentious of his proofs can be saved, so, perhaps, can most of his other proofs.
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Author endorses the study by Gaven Kerr, O.P., for the way it shows the centrality of Aquinas’ metaphysics of creation: showcasing the ‘real distinction’ between esse and essentia, followed by Aquinas’ unique treatment of each, as well as a deep consideration of esse tantum. At the end he states the ‘proof’ which Gaven Kerr has articulated so deftly reflects the manner in which the Creator ‘appears’ in creation, thereby ‘showing’ what cannot be ‘said’ (Wittgenstein).
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The text represents the author’s responses to the contributors who have addressed issues in my 2015 book, Aquinas’s Way to God: The Proof in De Ente et Essentia, published by Oxford University Press.
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The focus of this paper is on the idea of ‘practical rationality’ during the Middle age and its relationship to the historical evolution of the so called ‘Mechanical Arts’. The author’s starting point is the assumption that an understanding of the ‘practical rationality’ phenomenon in the early and high middle ages should be linked to the strengthening and improvement of the human productive, intellectual and moral activity. At the surface it appears that medieval people had nothing else to do but repeat and comment on the earlier scientific and educational models and the existing programmes in Arts in order to find the appropriate for them and for their intellectual capacities model and try to understand its meaning according to the ancient thinkers. In fact, they were not just and only some humble imitators. The intellectual reassessment they have done is evident in the transformations made in intellectual and textual realms in the 11th and 12th century Latin world, as well as in the technological innovations of that period. While the mechanical arts alongside the “Liberal arts” shaped the idea about what an educated person must know and do in order to subscribe to the century old cannon, from the 12th century onward they represented the change and the technological advancement efforts.
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