Ipsum esse9/19/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() In response to this objection, existential Thomists could either, as Gilson does, call into question the value of Aquinas's Aristotelian commentaries for revealing Aquinas's own thoughts 7 or, more plausibly, point out that none of the existential Thomists deny a concept of existence in the first operation. 6 The heart of the argument made by these two authors against existential Thomism consists in pointing to a text in lecture 5 of Aquinas's commentary on Aristotle's Peryermenias ( De interpreatione) in which Aquinas appears to say quite plainly that "is" signifies esse, that "is" is a verb, and that verbs signify concepts in the first operation of the intellect, not the second. 5 It was subsequently developed at considerable length by Ralph McInerny in various places. The standard response to existential Thomism in regard to the cognition of esse was given first by Father Louis-Marie Régis in his 1951 review of Gilson's Being and Some Philosophers. This paper restricts itself to considering the metaphysical thesis itself that esse is cognized in judgment-that is, that the object of the second operation of the intellect is esse. The principal authors espousing this existentialist thesis are Maritain 3 and Étienne Gilson, 4 for whom the cognition of esse in judgment plays an essential role in both epistemology and metaphysics. The first operation, says Thomas, "pertains to the nature of a thing," or put differently, "apprehends the quiddities of things." The second, however, "pertains to the being of a thing," or put differently, "comprehends the being of a thing." These two operations have traditionally been named "simple apprehension" and "judgment," respectively. 2 In the texts just cited, Aquinas distinguishes two operations of the intellect, which correspond to two distinct aspects in things: their nature, quiddity, or essence, on the one hand, and their existence or to-be ( esse), on the other. 3, it is the common opinion of the twentieth century's great existential Thomists that, whereas the object of the intellect's first activity (or operation) is the essences of things, the object of the second operation of the intellect is the act of existence or to-be ( esse). 1 of book I of the Scriptum on the Sentences (hereafter simply Scriptum), and the corpus of Scriptum I, d. Thomas's commentary on Boethius's De Trinitate, the seventh reply in d. Berman – Jeffrey L.I n his P reface to M etaphysics (1939), Jacques Maritain warns that "it is a radical error to restrict the object of the intellect to the object of the first operation of the mind." 1 Thanks to texts such as q. ![]() Inconsistency in the Torah: Ancient Literary Convention and the Limits of Source Criticism by Joshua A. Remain in Me: Holy Orders, Prayer, and Ministry by James Keating – David Vincent Meconi, S.J. Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasure of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz – Joshua H. Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg – James Keating Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition by Hans Boersma – Elizabeth A. Principles of Sacred Liturgy: Forming a Sacramental Vision by Christopher Carstens – Michael Brummond Warnez, B.H.īound for Beatitude: A Thomistic Study in Eschatology and Ethics by Reinhard Hütter – Gideon Barr Secunda Operatio Respicit Ipsum Esse Rei: An Evaluation of Jacques Maritain, Étienne Gilson, and Ralph McInerny on the Relation of Esse to the Intellect’s Two Operations – Elliot Polskyĭe Natura: The Church Fathers on Creation’s Fallenness – Matthew T. The Dimensions of the Kingdom of Heaven in Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on Matthew – Matthew L. HowellĪ Voice Like the Sound of Many Waters: Inspiration, Authorial Intention, and Theological Exegesis – Nicholas E. The Eucharist and the Life of Christ in the Preaching of John Chrysostom – Kenneth J. Nature as Analogous: A Response to the Doak-Strand/Conedera Symposium on Benedict XVI and the Natural Law – Stephen M. Baxterįrom the Action of Creatures to the Existence of God: The First Way, Science, and the Philosophy of Nature – Michael J. Rewriting Souls: Lectio and Imitatio in Dante’s Purgatorio – Jason M. The Crisis of Faith and the Crisis of the Church – Ralph Weimann Penance as Sacrament of the Sacrifice of the Cross – Frederick L. ![]()
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