CASCAD E Books 199 West 8th Avenue, Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401 Tel. (541) 344-1528 • Fax (541) 344-1506 A division of WIPF and STOCK Publishers Visit our Web site at www.wipfandstock.com The Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas a sketch Stephen L. Brock If Saint Thomas Aquinas was a great theologian, it is in no small part because he was a great philosopher. And he was a great philosopher because he was a great metaphysician. In the twentieth century, metaphysics was not much in vogue, among either theologians or even philosophers; but now it is making a comeback, and once the contours of Thomas’s metaphysical vision are glimpsed, it looks like anything but a museum piece. It only needs some dusting off. Many are studying Thomas now for the answers that he might be able to give to current questions, but he is perhaps even more interesting for the questions that he can raise regarding current answers: about the physical world, about human life and knowledge, and (needless to say) about God. This book is aimed at helping those who are not experts in medieval thought to begin to enter into Thomas’s philo- sophical point of view. Along the way, it brings out some aspects of his thought that are not often emphasized in the current literature, and it offers a reading of his teaching on the divine nature that goes rather against the drift of some prominent recent interpretations. Stephen L. Brock is Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He is the author of Action and Conduct: Thomas Aquinas and the Theory of Action (1998) and of numerous scholarly articles on Thomas’s thought. 978-1-62564-663-7 | 216 pp. | $24 | paper “Thomas Aquinas was a theologian who used philosophy to lead us step by step from familiar truths to unfamiliar wisdom, from what natural reason can know to the divine things it cannot. To follow his lead, we need to know something about the philosophy he finds useful, something about its object, principles, concepts, and limits. Stephen Brock’s book is a splendid sketch of the metaphysics Thomas uses in the service of theology. It’s the best we have.” —JOHN BOWLIN, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ “Thomism offers a profound and realistic interpretation of the world, but it is difficult to understand the philosophy of Aquinas on one’s own. Brock has given us a splendid overview of Aquinas' deepest principles: nature, matter, the soul, existence and essence, God and the sources of moral agency. His exposition is clear, comprehensive . . . subtle and insightful . . . The book is both magistral in scope and offers incisive and trenchant interpretations on controversial issues. This is one of the best overviews of Aquinas’ philosophy available.” —FR. THOMAS JOSEPH WHITE, OP, Thomistic Institute, Washington, DC “Brock promises ‘to take the reader by the hand’ on a journey into Aquinas’ philosophical thought, and his book delivers. Never skimping on subtleties, the book always firmly holds on to the basics. All in all, this is a great ‘first book’ on Aquinas, which definitely makes sure that for its careful reader it will not be the last.” —GYULA KLIMA, Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University, New York, NY Media, Examination, and Review Copies: Orders: Contact your favorite bookseller or order directly Contact: James Stock from the publisher via phone (541) 344-1528, (541) 344-1528, ext 103 or [email protected] fax (541) 344-1506 or e-mail us at [email protected] The Philosophy of SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS A Sketch Stephen L. Brock THE PHILOSOPHY OF SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS A Sketch Copyright © 2015 Stephen L. Brock. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401. Cascade Books An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3 Eugene, OR 97401 www.wipfandstock.com ISBN 13: 978-1-62564-663-7 Cataloging-in-Publication data: Brock, Stephen Louis. The philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas : a sketch / Stephen L. Brock. xx + 196 p.; 23 cm—Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 13: 978-1-62564-663-7 1. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?–1274. 2. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?–1274— Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. B765.T54 B76 2015 Manufactured in the USA. To my teachers Table of Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations, References, and Technical Terminology xii Introduction: Manuductio xv 1 Matrices: Philosophy in the Setting of Thomas’s Life, Thought, and Works 1 2 Births: Nature, Natural Philosophy, and the Hylomorphic Analysis of Change 25 3 Souls: Form as a Principle of Life, Kinds of Soul, and Grades of Immateriality 51 4 Firsts: Logic, Truth, and the Science that Determines First Principles 83 5 Invisibles: Spirit as Subsistent Form, Angels in Philosophy, and Reason’s Glimpse of God 109 6 Ends: Metaphysics in Moral Philosophy, the Question of the Last End, and Natural Law 145 Bibliography 173 Name Index 183 Subject Index 186 Preface “The artist is the man who is more and not less intelligible than other men.” —G. K. Chesterton, “An Apology for Buffoons” If Chesterton is right about the artist, then Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest artists ever. His whole aim, we might say, was to be intel- ligible, and few have been more so. As a result, those who have learned something from him, when they set out to convey the thing to others, do indeed risk buffoonery. They are sure that his own way of putting it is better. Their readers may feel the same way. Chesterton was decrying a ten- dency that he saw among followers of artists in his own day. It was not their forming factions or cliques; he found these inevitable, and excusable. But now, he protested, the clique “has taken on the character of an interpreter; by hypothesis the interpreter of something unintelligible; and its existence encourages the artist to be unintelligible, when it is his whole function to be intelligible.” On this reasoning, if the art is good, to interpret it may even reflect badly on the interpreter’s own intelligence. Chesterton’s targets, however, must have been interpreters who were the masters’ contemporaries; otherwise his complaint would boomerang. And of his many interpretations of past masters, one of the best—a work of art in its own right—is of Saint Thomas. Aquinas’s very language is dead. As he himself often observed, what is more intelligible in itself may be less so to us. The intellectual signal, however clear at the source, may hit interference in transmission. It might still get through, of course; in fact, Thomas got that thought from Aristotle, who was in various ways even farther from him than he is from us. But the ix Preface signal may still need a booster, and therein lies the only excuse for a book like this. For all of its shortcomings, at least it is short. Right now there are several short books on Aquinas in circulation. This one is not meant to replace any; they all fit on the shelf, and they may even support each other. Nor is it meant to favor any school (the academic equivalent of a clique). Saint Josemaría Escrivá, who wished his own followers to form no school, used to commend Thomas simply as “a good friend.” I hope this book will be received in that spirit. x Acknowledgments My thanks to Kevin Flannery, Craig Iffland, Christine Jensen, Steven Jensen, and Luca Tuninetti for their very helpful comments on drafts of this book. A special word of gratitude goes to Francisco Fernández La- bastida, to whom the book owes its very existence. xi Abbreviations, References, and Technical Terminology EN Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Metaph. Aristotle, Metaphysics Thomas Aquinas: De ente De ente et essentia (On Being and Essence) De pot. Quaestiones disputatae De potentia (Disputed Questions on the Power of God) De princ. nat. De principiis naturae (On the Principles of Nature) De spir. creat. Quaestio disputata de spiritualibus creaturis (On Spiritual Creatures) De subst. sep. De substantiis separatis (On Separate Substances) De ver. Quaestiones disputatae de ueritate (Disputed Questions on Truth) In De an. Sentencia Libri De anima (Commentary on Aristotle’s De anima) In De caelo Sententia super librum De caelo et mundo (Commentary on Aristotle’s De caelo) In De gen. Sententia super libros De generatione et corrup- tione (Commentary on Aristotle’s De generatione et corruptione) xii Abbreviations, References, and Technical Terminology In De Trin. Super Boetium De Trinitate (Commentary on Boethius’s De Trinitate) In Eth. Sententia Libri Ethicorum (Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics) In Meta. Sententia super Metaphysicam (Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics) In Peryerm. Expositio Libri Peryermenias (Commentary on Aristotle’s De interpretatione) In Phys. Sententia super Physicam (Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics) In Polit. Sententia Libri Politicorum (Commentary on Aristotle’s Politics) In Post. an. Expositio Libri Posteriorum (Commentary on Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics) In Sent. Scriptum super libros Sententiarum (Commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sentences) Quodl. Quaestiones de quolibet I–XII (Quodlibetal Questions I–XII) Scg Summa contra Gentiles STh Summa theologiae Where possible, references to Thomas’s works include the paragraph numbers (signaled by §) of the Marietti editions (see the Bibliography), which many English translations follow. The translations of Thomas in this book, however, are the author’s. Although Thomas strives to adhere to the meanings that words carry in ordinary speech, a number of terms in his lexicon bear technical senses. I have tried to catch and explain those that appear in this book, but if the reader still finds a term unclear, or desires a fuller account, an excellent source is William Wallace’s handy reference work, The Elements of Philosophy. xiii