Aquinas Research Articles

Divine Simplicity, Divine Relations, and the Problem of Robust Persons

In this paper, I aim to defend a robust concept of “person” as it relates to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. I begin by situating the debate in the current context between Social Trinitarianism (ST) and Latin Trinitarianism (LT) and then zero in on Thomas Aquinas’s view of the divine Persons as subsistent relations. I will argue that such an understanding of divine Persons has two significant difficulties. First, Aquinas’s view of a strong doctrine of divine simplicity is susceptible to modal collapse. For on such a view, there are no real distinctions within God; such distinctions are conceptually only. If there are no real distinctions within God, then how can we make sense of the eternal relations within God? Second, I question whether a relation can be equated with a Person. After all, relations do not know things, perform actions, or love in the way Scripture portrays the divine Persons. I will then offer a constructive and more robust view of the divine Person—one that aligns with the control of Scripture. In doing so, I consider two objections, one centering on whether defenders of ST fall into tri-theism and the other on whether divine Persons can indeed work together.

From Angels to Artificial Agents? AI as a Mirror for Human (Im)perfections

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems paradoxically combine high levels of certain types of intelligence and cognitive capacities (pattern recognition, reasoning, learning, memory, perception, etc.) with an absence of understanding and sentience (feeling, emotion). Apparently, it is possible to make great progress in modeling smartness without making progress towards genuinely understanding what all the clever reasoning is about. This is relevant when dealing with AI programs that produce potentially convincing propositional output on religious topics. This article suggests that smartness without genuine understanding cannot amount to authentic religiosity. Comparing ourselves with other entities, (in)animate or (super)natural, has always been a way for humans to understand ourselves better. Throughout the ages, many different types of beings and agents have functioned as tools for self-examination, presenting us with mirrors that reflect at least some of our characteristics, capacities, and (im)perfections. The recent progress in AI provides exciting, though sometimes worrisome, cases for a newly informed look at ourselves. Thus, AI may have profound effects on how we regard others and ourselves. The proud claim that humans are the smartest species on the planet may turn out not to mean all that much. Inspired by the example of Thomas Aquinas, the comparison of humans to our nearest neighbors in a newly extended great chain of being—namely, animals, angels, and AI—may deepen our appreciation of the features of homo sapiens that we share with many other organisms.

Hugo Grotius on exchange and price

This paper explores the way Grotius's construction of a theory of acts which aimed at dealing with legal issues, in the chapter on contracts in a book from De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625) where the causes of the birth of war are discussed (bk II), gave birth to an original understanding of exchange and price. The latter is part of a more extended economic analysis which, at the difference of economic policy aspects, has been paid till now little attention. Yet, Grotius' conception of exchange and price occupies an interesting position between the scholastic analysis where price was compared to a norm of just price and the later articulation, in classical economic thought, between typically natural prices and market prices. In a way, his conception of price might be viewed as a continuation of the Scholastic approach, illustrated two centuries and a half ago by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 77, where the issues debated aim to enlighten the priest about the morality of a transaction carried out by such of his parishioners. But here, with Grotius, the issue is no longer the morality or sinfulness of the transaction, but its lawfulness. This shift from a religious to a legal approach gives birth to an attempt to explain why individuals can deviate from a commonly accepted price in an exchange, and under what conditions, in the framework of either natural law or the law of nations, this effective price can be regarded as legal by a magistrate.

‘Don’t educate me—move me!’ Why we need art and artists (especially films and filmmakers) to love education into existence

Abstract This paper explores the anthropological and ontological conditions of our ‘educational movement’ in aesthetic experience and illustrates these through a range of examples from popular cinema/film (the Empire Strikes Back; Memento; David Lynch’s musings). For the anthropological framing of education, I enlist the help of German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer and his notion of ‘formation’ as it unfolds in the aesthetic appearance of the cultural world—with film’s moving images’ coming-into-form-and-meaning as my key example. For Gadamer, the artwork’s formative potential is bound up in its capacity to move our senses and intellect into an encounter with what is other to our subjectivity. Drawn into a mode of paying attention to what appears (e.g. in film’s moving images), we are called to lose ourselves and be present in a new way to familiar world objects and relations. The second part of the paper imagines the ontological conditions that make possible our formative movement in the cultural world: the mode of the beautiful. Why do certain artworks shine forth and summon us to be present to them? To pursue this question, I turn to French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain’s notion of Beauty and craftsmanship. He turns us (like Gadamer) to a neo-Platonic notion of Beauty rooted in St Thomas Aquinas’ notion of the mystery of B/being (i.e. God). In Maritain’s reading, our hermeneutic aesthetic experience—and with that our movement into self-formation—is held in existence through the artist’s participation in the mode of the beautiful and their loss of self in the labour of love of craftsmanship.

La pensée existentielle de Kierkegaard et la philosophie de Charles De Koninck: contexte et résonances

Abstract So far, the philosopher Charles De Koninck (1906 – 1965) has most commonly been considered as a proponent of the philosophy of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. However, his contact with modern and contemporary philosophy also contributed to shape his thought. This paper presents his reception of Kierkegaard’s philosophy by first analyzing the textual evidence in his works, indicating a presence of Kierkegaard in his writings. This is followed by a discussion of the similarities between their respective definitions of philosophy and their common views on philosophical anthropology, thus indicating a correspondence between the Dane and De Koninck’s respective philosophies.

Laughter in the Courts of Heaven? Chesterton and the Theology of Humor

AbstractThis article relates Chesterton’s theology, and that of other theologians, to existing theories of humor. It asks: With regard to the understanding of humor, what is offered by a theological perspective—especially by Chesterton’s theology—that cannot be supplied by philosophical and psychological theories? The article situates Chesterton’s work in relation to three theories of humor: the superiority theory, the release theory, and the incongruity theory. It then examines two important relationships: first, that between humor, worship, and joy; then, that between humor, cognition, and theology. While focusing on Chesterton’s writing, it also considers relevant aspects of the work of other thinkers, including Ian Ker, Duncan Reyburn, Thomas Aquinas, Søren Kierkegaard, Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Rahner, Peter Berger, Ingvild Sælid Gilhus, Terry Lindvall, and Brian Edgar. The article concludes by suggesting the beginnings of an outline of a theology of humor.

Конрад Фоглер и его «Краткое изложение Суммы о религии Франсиско Суареса»: эволюция значения термина «религия»

The article discusses the evolution of the concept of religion from Cicero, who first defined this term, to the era of modern times. The concept of religion by Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Francisco Suarez is analyzed. The Greek term “θρησκεία” found in the New Testament and the validity of its translation by the Latin word “religio” (in Jerome’s Vulgate) are discussed. The history of the gradual rooting of the term “religion” in the Russian language is also touched upon (it is shown that the word “religion” begins to be actively used in Russia only from the era of Peter the Great). The appendix contains a translation from Latin of the first two books of the work of the Austrian Jesuit Conrad Vogler (1665–1742) “A Brief Exposition of the Summa on the Religion of Francisco Suarez”, in connection with which a shift towards a legalistic understanding of religion in the theology of the Jesuits is revealed.

Lawrence Dewan and Stephen Brock: about the Real Distinction between Form and Esse

The main objective of this paper is to address the well-known issue, in the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas, of the real distinction between form and esse in caused things. To achieve this, we present the approaches to the subject offered by Lawrence Dewan on the one hand, and Stephen Brock on the other. The first step is to highlight once again Fr Dewan’s discussion about form as a cause of being, a premise which is shared by Professor Brock. The second consists of showing how Fr Dewan and Brock start from different perspectives to base their arguments for this distinction. Thus, the article is divided into two parts, one part for each of the above items. As a result, we hope to clarify Aquinas’s real distinction between form and esse in caused things, due to the luminous contributions of these distinguished Thomists.

신이 아닌 부동의 제일원동자에 관한 성찰: 토마스 아퀴나스의 입장

This paper explores Thomas Aquinas's perspective on the prime mover of celestial spheres. In Latin medieval cosmology, all movements in the natural world are reduced to the rotational motion of celestial bodies. In traditional Aristotelian natural philosophy, the prime mover of celestial bodies is regarded as God-substance that thinks itself. However, Christian theologians also acknowledge the existence of immaterial angels besides both God and the material world. Ancient Christian thinkers attributed the cause of movement of celestial bodies to angels. Thomas synthesizes the positions of theological authorities, Aristotelian natural philosophy, and the universal principles of causality outlined in the Arabic “Book of Causes” to deduce the various substantial attributes of the prime mover of celestial bodies. The cause of all motions must be a self-moving principle, meaning it must possess a soul in the sense of the principle of life. However, the celestial soul exists as pure intellectual activity without sense-perception. If the soul of celestial bodies were characterized solely by its intellectual nature, it would not be distinguishable from another intellectual being, i.e. angels. They are distinguished only by the relative distance of participation in the First Cause, or in other words, by the difference in the grade of perfection of existence. Thomas acknowledges that the celestial soul is substantially similar to the lower angels confessed in Christianity but he doesn't argue for the complete exclusion of the term “soul.” Perhaps he wanted to preserve the concept of the soul as a purely philosophical concept corresponding with angels.

The Doctrinal Status of Just War in the Contemporary Teaching of the Catholic Magisterium

This article examines the doctrinal status of just war in the contemporary teaching of the Catholic magisterium. Some passages from Pope Francis’s 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti, On Fraternity and Social Friendship appear to exclude the just war idea from the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. To gauge whether this is so, the article establishes a baseline comparison to the seminal teaching of Thomas Aquinas on peace and just war. Both St. Thomas and Pope Francis proceed from the assumption that “war” designates a sinful violation of peace. They appear to differ, however, on the question whether a positive meaning should be ascribed to the Roman term bellum justum. To understand if this divergence is purely verbal or involves a substantive disagreement, I consider why Pope Francis’s predecessors have (since the mid-twentieth century) abstained from employing the expression “just war” in their official documents. Finally, Pope Francis’s emphatic statement that St. Augustine ‘forged a concept of “just war” that we no longer uphold in our own day’ is interpreted in light of the passage from his Epistle 229 to Darius that Francis references in Fratelli tutti.

Reading the Church Fathers with St. Thomas Aquinas: Historical and Systematical Perspectives ed. by Piotr Roszak and Jörgen Vijgen (review)

Reading the Church Fathers with St. Thomas Aquinas: Historical and Systematical Perspectives ed. by Piotr Roszak and Jörgen Vijgen (review)

Thomas Aquinas on the Priesthood: Temple, Allegory, and the Humanities of Christ

Thomas Aquinas on the Priesthood: Temple, Allegory, and the Humanities of Christ

An Inquiry concerning Anitas : Existence, Accidental Forms, and Privations in Thomas Aquinas

An Inquiry concerning Anitas : Existence, Accidental Forms, and Privations in Thomas Aquinas

Reading the Song of Songs with St. Thomas Aquinas by Serge-Thomas Bonino, O.P. (review)

Reading the Song of Songs with St. Thomas Aquinas by Serge-Thomas Bonino, O.P. (review)

Sejarah Sakramen Penguatan dan Teologi Sakramen Penguatan menurut Thomas Aquinas

As one of the sacraments of initiation in the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Confirmation has an important spiritual element for the salvific work of Christians. The role of the third person of God, the Holy Spirit, often appears in the liturgy of this sacrament. This sacrament has a physical sign in the form of anointing oil that has a deep meaning from its historical, biblical and theological background. The theology of the sacrament of chrismation developed with one of them being elaborated by St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologiae. In Summa Theologiae, there are several basic theological concepts of this sacrament of confirmation. From this history and theology, the sacrament of chrismation has a meaning that brings Christians to maturity in faith.

Emotional self-regulation and personality in the light of Thomas Aquinas's philosophical anthropology.

This article aims to thoroughly understand the concept of emotional self-regulation (ESR) and its relationship with personality. Through an interdisciplinary dialogue between psychology and philosophy-specifically, the anthropology of Thomas Aquinas-three realities are proposed that could be considered as ESR. The conceptual relationship between ESR-understood as operation, faculty and habit-and personality is examined, specifically using the Five-Factor Model and the virtues model. Key findings include the need for consensus on a precise definition of ESR, the central role of reason as a faculty capable of ruling over emotions, the relevance of the distinction between ESR and self-control, and the understanding of ESR as a set of habits that include aspects of prudence, temperance and fortitude. Interdisciplinary dialogue seems to be a valuable intellectual approach to the advancement of the field of psychology.

True Love Is Reciprocal: Thomas Aquinas on the Love of Friendship

AbstractOne of the most important topics that Thomas Aquinas discusses in his extensive corpus is the love of friendship, which is a unique form of love aimed at persons. Yet Aquinas's teachings on this are perplexing, for he claims that this love always produces union between lover and beloved, and that it is always a mutual love. This implies that one's love depends on reciprocation from the beloved, which seems implausible given the possibility of phenomena such as unrequited love. A common interpretation of Aquinas's account of the love of friendship maintains that it is enough that one desires union and mutuality for such love to obtain even if such desires remain unrealized, but in this paper I reject this reading and argue that achieving union and mutuality is essential to this form of love. This novel interpretation ultimately reveals that the love of friendship is an intrinsically interpersonal act.

Aquinói Szent Tamás a helyes államról és kormányzásról

In this paper we discuss St. Thomas Aquinas’ theory of the state and political government. We seek to answer why he believed that the best form of government is kingship. We will look at how to avoid the danger of the best form of government being distorted into its opposite, the worst form of government, tyranny. The criteria for this will be examined, and then we will analyse the second best form of government that can be implemented, a mixed government of limited monarchy. St. Thomas, although he lived in the age of constitutional charters and was familiar with them, chose the government of virtuous persons for the common good, rather than the constitutional system of charters based on ’institutionalised distrust’.

Freeing the Will from Neurophilosophy: Voluntary Action in Thomas Aquinas and Libet-Style Experiments

This essay presents a substantive Thomist response to neurophilosophy’s main experimental challenge to free will: the Libet-style experiments on the neural antecedents of conscious voluntary actions. My response to this challenge will disclose that Thomists are rationally justified in rejecting both the conclusions of neurophilosophy skeptics of free will, and more fundamentally, the rival philosophical conceptions of voluntary action and free will that were chosen to be operationalized in these neuroscientific experiments. I show how the Thomists’ alternative conception of human action justifies a significantly different interpretation of Libet-style experiments, one which reveals the psychological phenomenon targeted by these experiments is miscategorized as a voluntary action.

Az igazságosság mint indok a Kúria 21. századi magánjogi gyakorlatában

After a brief overview of the ancient and medieval history of the notion of justice in philosophy, and some anthropological remarks, the paper examines the precedent decisions of the supreme judicial forum of Hungary (Kúria) delivered over the past 10 years in the field of private law with respect to whether the legal reasoning of the judgments contain a manifest reference to the notions of “just” or “justice”. As a result of this research, we find that the judgments, without any further reference, and apart from the modern notions of substantive and procedural justice, are based mainly on the concepts of corrective (rectificatory) justice and on that of distributive justice as well, as if by instinct following the teachings of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas.