Ontology and Ethics in Thomas Aquinas

Author(s): Augusto Trujillo / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

This article explains how Aquinas understood: a) apprehension of the first intellectual concepts: ens, verum et bonum simpliciter (Ens is understood metaphysically as composed of human nature and the act of being, ordered according to the bonum); b) establishment of the first and the second practical commandments in a genuinely human or rational person; c) ethics and natural law as essentially derived from ontology. Therefore, natural law only makes sense from a metaphysical point of view, not merely a physical or material one.

Страници из... Гергана Динева "Раждането на личността" (София: УИ „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2018)

Author(s): Gergana Dineva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 8/2018

Мисията на свободните изкуства: една възможна интерпретация

Author(s): Oleg Georgiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 25/2019

In this paper, I am questioning the opinion that the Liberal Arts are traditionally perceived as a necessary instrument for “shaping culture”. In this context, it is not by accident that in the last two centuries one of the widespread ideas is to link the development of the Liberal Arts with the concept of culture itself. This view clears the path for the interpretation of egkuklios paidea (Εγκύκλιος Παιδεία) as a common culture, which pre-empts the authentic notion of culture. It prompts the development of a point of view on Liberal Arts, which presents them as part of a self-legislating and self-deploying process known as ‘culture’. In my view, though, a different philosophical analysis of the Liberal Arts reveals that during the Antiquity they primarily assisted the individual in contemplating the structure of being and partially in developing a specific mode of knowledge – phronesis, i.e. practical rationality. Practical rationality is both a way and a condition for personal achievement of moral virtues and personal improvement, rather than some sort of a cultural integration. It is therefore of significant importance to open the possibility for examining phronesis as ground for objective interpretation of the Ancient philosophical ethical and political consciousness.

Aquinas’ evaluation of the assertion „quantum intendis, tantum facis“ as relevant to sinful actions

Author(s): Lingchang Gui / Language(s): English Issue: 25/2019

The criticism against the absolute validity of the assertion quantum intendis, tantum facis is an integral component of Aquinas’ doctrine of moral intention. This paper aims to investigate this criticism within the domain of sinful actions according to Aquinas’ division of sins. The quantum-tantum assertion is only valid regarding the mortal sins directly against God, which do not involve any effect of sensual suffering according to their species, whereas these kinds of sins cannot bear any degree of gravity: the loss of the connection with God is radical. Meanwhile, the mortal sins with sensual suffering as effect and the venial sins as the corresponding imperfect form do not follow the assertion and possess varied degrees of gravity: their sinful gravity depends not only on the intentional action, but on the corresponding realization. The fact that, among sins, the validity of the quantum-tantum assertion varies because of the sins’ relation to sensual effect indicates that sinful action, with or without a sensual effect, is involved in the species of sinful acts.

The will to think. Peter Olivi and the role of the will in intellectual process

Author(s): Simeon Mladenov / Language(s): English Issue: 25/2019

The current text tries to explore possible connections between will and intellectual process in the context of the work of Peter John Olivi. Olivi presents the will in an innovative light, which provides the basis for later authors such as John Duns Scotus or William of Ockham. Olivi’s claim is that the will is a totally active power, which is the first mover of the soul and its other powers. The self-evidential freedom that the will possesses makes it responsible furthermore for its own self-reflexivity. Olivi goes even further to claim that the reflexivity of the rest of the soul’s powers depends on the self-reflexivity of the will. Based on this, the paper traces different passages, in which Olivi speaks about the free control, which we can observe having in our thoughts – freedom in terms of judgment, discerning, choosing an object for our knowledge, etc. Important for this discussion is Olivi’s understanding of intentionality and more particularly his concept of “aspectus”. The intellectual-volitional acts stand in the context of a broader intentional directedness of the human being towards the outside world. We would like to trace in what way this intentional directedness might be freely controlled from the will, so that different epistemological processes could be enabled to take place.

Защо Творецът играе на зарове или за връзката между синхронната контингентност и изкуството

Author(s): Gergana Dineva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 25/2019

This paper aims to be a discussion-opener. It is making a statement that should be examined further about the very plausible connection between the contemporary crisis in aesthetics as a philosophical discipline and the breaking of the philosophical relation between the idea of contingency as a condition for the human autonomous act and the art. This idea is based on the interrelation between the free will and the dignity of the person, as understood within the metaphysics of ens morale, and the value of any creative act.As an introductory demonstration of this interrelation, we propose the short but important elaboration on what is an act of art by Francisco Suárez in his De bonitate et malitia humanorum actuum (sect. 1, n. 17.). There we see that the value of the act of art acquires a double significance – on the one hand, the designation of an object as a work of art depends entirely on the conscious autonomous intention of the artist to create it, and on the other hand – the evaluation of each object of art depends on the knowledge and the will invested uniquely by the author in this particular object as a result of a unique creative act. In order to clarify the context of Suárez’ view, we also explicate the essence of the synchronic contingency, developed earlier by John Duns Scotus.

Vůle Boží ve františkánské spiritualitě

Author(s): Willibrord-Christian van Dijk / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2020

Quoiqu’il en soit des jeux d’influence et de dépendance doctrinale, l’ordre franciscain dans son ensemble, et les Capucins en particulier, tendant à une harmonisation entre l’action (ascétique ou apostolique) et la contemplation, qui est sand doute une façon de mettre la volonté de l’homme au service de la plénitude de la volonté de Dieu. Mais il ne s’agit pas simplement et uniquement, dans cette réflexion de la volonté de Dieu, d’un plan moral ou strictement ascétique: c’est toute la vie spirituelle, jusqu’aux plus hauts sommets de l’union mystique, qui est en cause, pasticulièrement lorsqu’il s’agit de l’expérience et de l’enseignement de religieux tels que ce Benoît de Canfield ou Laurent de Paris.

Revitalizacija antičke i srednjovjekovne filozofije u mišljenju Josefa Piepera

Author(s): Franjo Mijatović / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 4/2019

In the article, we will try to present the fundamental meaning and significance of philosophizing, more precisely the philosophical act, of the Christian thinker Josef Pieper. He sees the reason for the revitalization of antique and medieval philosophy in the possibility of a far-wider understanding of the entirety of the world which concerns the entirety of being in all its (non)occurrence. While contemporary philosophy held debates on the truth between hermeneutic and analytical philosophy, Pieper remains loyal to his antique and medieval teachers, especially Plato and Aquinas. Although Pieper’s thought is deeply imbued with thoughts of the said two, it is in no way, which is the aim this article, limited to the mere repetition or compilation of what was said long ago. In this regard, Pieper argues that a tradition, such as the Platonic and the Thomist, can be an example to all other traditions, and serve as the real model of human rational philosophical research, and philosophizing as a possibility of divine-human event in search of the truth.

Hannah Arendt az ágostoni szeretetfogalomról

Author(s): Erzsébet Kerekes / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

In 2019, 90 years have passed since the publication of the doctoral thesis entitled Der Liebesbegriffbei Augustin. Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation, written by Hannah Arendt under the supervision of Karl Japsers, and 2020 marks 1590 years since the death of St. Augustine. On the occasion of these anniversaries, we investigated the influence of St. Augustine on Hannah Arendt’s work. The philosophical analysis of the Augustinian concept of love made by Hannah Arendt in her doctoral thesis has decisively influenced the complete work of the thinker, the elaboration of the basic concepts, and the specific philosophical problems.

Kilka uwag o logice przekonań religijnych

Author(s): Marek Lechniak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

An article is an introductory analysis of concept of religious belief in the language of logic. In its first part, there is a comparison of the concept of religious belief with the concept of scientific belief, next part is a presentation and analysis of Bocheński’s conception of rationality of religious beliefs (and their justification), and the third part of article is an attempt of analysis of Aquinas conception of faith (in Sth II-II) in the light of contemporary logic.

Obzori andaluzijske filozofije

Author(s): Rusmir Šadić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 12/2020

Whether we see in philosophy the Heideggerian-existentialist attempt to establish a difference between Being and being, or in the spirit of the philosophy of existence of the Jasper’s illumination of man’s existence in its bond to transcendence, the Husserlian endeavor of a phenomenological return to the very essence of things, or in the Deleuzean insight into the construction of concepts, we find all these elements within what we denote by Islamic philosophy. Within the long and rich history of Muslim philosophical thought, Andalusian philosophy represents the pinnacle of classical Islamic philosophy, whose best intellectual offshoots will be embodied in the works of Ibn Bajja, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd, Ibn ‘Arabi, Moses Maimonides, and numerous other thinkers. The paper that follows aims to explain the phenomenon of ‘Andalusian philosophy’, taking into account the results of recent research published in scientific studies in the West.

Измеренията на понятието „философия“ във византийската мисловна култура

Author(s): Georgi Kapriev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 26/2020

The paper answers in a systematic way the question of the existence and specificity of the concepts of philosophy in the culture of thought of the Eastern Roman Empire. It discusses the ambiguity of the term, the faces of theoretical philosophy, the competencies of philosophy, the philosophical-theological discourse, the relationship between philosophy and wisdom, as well as the definitions of philosophy.

За свободата на волята. Отново. (Парадоксът на Августин)

Author(s): Gergana Dineva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 26/2020

The present text outlines one possible interpretation of the Augustinian concepts of freedom and free will. What at first glance seems paradoxically incompatible within Augustine’s position, could be viewed as a result of his attempt to bring into line in the most consistent way the teachings of Scripture, especially of the New Testament, with the inherited powerful substantial-naturalist philosophical tradition of the Ancient thought. It is this specific hybridity of Augustine’s context that allows him to create a solid bridge between the classical Platonic-Aristotelian onto-realist philosophy of man and the Late Medieval philosophy of man as an ens morale.

За възможността-битие

Author(s): Nicolaus Cusanus / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 26/2020

Translation from the original Latin of the treatise by Nikolaus von Kues, Trialogus de possest.

Отвъд спиритуализма и мистицизма – антропологическата алтернатива

Author(s): Georgi Kapriev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 26/2020

LA PERMANENCE DE L’USIA. NOTE SUR JEAN SCOT ÉRIGÈNE ET RATRAMNE DE CORBIE

Author(s): Kristell Trego / Language(s): French Issue: 18-19/2021

This article aims to consider the permanence of the Greek term ousia, sometimes transcribed as usia, during the early Middle Ages, when the translation by substantia was imposed. We consider two figures of the Carolingian period, John Scottus Eriugena and Ratramnus of Corbia. We suggest that the word ousia/usia may express aspects of being that the Latin term substantia does not support.

SUBSTANCE ET ESSENCE, ENTRE ARISTOTE ET THOMAS D’AQUIN

Author(s): Enrico Berti / Language(s): French Issue: 18-19/2021

The article shows that Thomas Aquinas in many of his works (De ente et essentia, Summa theologiae, Sententia in Aristotelis Metaphysicam) interprets the passage Aristot. Metaph. II 1, 993 19‑31, as expounding a theory of degrees of truth and of being, which is not the true Aristotelian doctrine. This is due to the fact that he interprets «the eternal things», mentioned by Aristotle in that passage, as the heavenly bodies, and their principles as the unmoved movers, while Aristotle is speaking of the eternal truths, i.e. the truths of scientific knowledge, and of their principles, which are the axioms. The origin of Thomas’ interpretation is the commentary by Alexander of Aphrodisias, which Thomas knew via Averroes.

IQBALOVA REINTERPRETACIJA SUFIJSKE MISLI

Author(s): Muhammad Suheyl Umar / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 17/2013

This paper presents Iqbal’s understanding of Sufi thought and his critique of it. For Rumi Sufism was a spiritual calling and system of recovery from illness and social deviation of his time. For Iqbal Sufism phenomenon is a foreign thing implemented in the teachings of Islam and nurtured in the lap of Persian culture. His critique of Sufism is not a sign of hostility, but only a response to the adopted theory and practice which is manifested in India and is attributed to the influence of pantheistic schools of thought as well as the influence of Persian thought. Iqbal’s criticism of the process of decadence and deviation was not guided only by Sufism, but the entire spectrum of Islamic civilization to rejuvenate the non-Arab Islamic world, which was hovering between hope and despair. The author of this paper argues that Sufism for Iqbal was a system of “repairs, means for correcting” the disease of modern society and deviations, including the criticism of some decadent aspects of Sufism.

UTICAJ IBN RUŠDA/AVEROESA NA RAZVOJ ZAPADNO-EVROPSKE FILOZOFIJE

Author(s): Orhan Bajraktarević / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 15/2011

New Aristotel, Rushdian-averroistic Aristotelianism and Ibn Rushd and their Arab and Latin interpreters, followers and protagonists, in spite of persecution, headed by the pope, inevitably have penetrated the European schools and universities (Paris, Oxford, Cologne, Bologna, Padua, Dubrovnik).

WŁASNOŚĆ W UJĘCIU WYBRANYCH KIERUNKÓW MYŚLI EKONOMICZNEJ

Author(s): Urszula Zagóra-Jonszta / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2007

This text concerns the different interpretations of ownership categories in the light some chosen directions of economic thought. The extensive time partition of presented approaches (since Aristotle and Plato to modern neoliberalists) let us follow evolution of approach and interpretation of this question. Such is the purpose of elaboration. The analysis of introduced views on ownership allows to come for conclusion, that the views were changed depending on social, political, economical and even religious situations. In the determined majority for economic directions, private ownership was preferred and its superiority was recognised. Fact deserves underlining also, that in one area of history the ownership presented one of the basic economic categories.