scholasticism
-
Aquinas’s Case for Apostolic Succession (and the Papacy)
In the fourth book of his Summa contra Gentiles (SCG), St. Thomas Aquinas considers the sacraments of the Church as extensions and instruments of Christ’s incarnation and redemptive acts. The sacraments are the means by which we participate in Christ’s incarnation, passion, death, resurrection: “Since . . . the death of Christ is as a universal…
-
Id Quo or Id Quod: The Early Albertus Magnus on the Function of the Intelligible Species
For those generally familiar with Aquinas’s thought, it is well known that St. Thomas, along with many of his contemporaries, adheres to a species-model of cognition, according to which an item called a species (sensible or intelligible) plays a central role in the mechanism of cognition. A species is supposed to play a sort of…
-
Translation: John of la Rochelle, Summa de Anima, Prologue and I.I.1
The Summa de Anima of the Teacher Brother Johannes de Rupella [John of la Rochelle] Prologue “If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and follow after the steps of the flocks” etc. [Cant. 1:7]. This word is proposed to you, rational soul, you who are the fairest (pulcherrima) of women, since…
-
Origin Essentialism in St. Albert the Great
Came across the following passage from St. Albert’s De Universalibus which expresses a position in the neighborhood of something akin to origin essentialism or the necessity of origins: But the proper (proprium) or the singular (singulare) is what is imposed from an accidental form signifying a collection of accidents, which it is not possible to…
-
Translatio: St. Albertus Magnus, Super Porphyrium De V universalibus, I.I.1
Begins the Logic [Books] of Brother Albert, O. P., when Bishop of Ratisbon Book I: On the Universals Tractate I: On the Antecedents to Logic Chapter 1. Whether Logic is a Special Science? In dealings [intendentibus] about logic, it is to be considered first what sort of science logic is and whether it is some…
-
Translatio: Scotus’s Lectura Proof of the Existence of God
[Preliminary notes: 1. The translation below is at times extremely wooden and clunky; this is because I have tried to translate as literally as possible. For clarification on a particular phrase or section, leave a comment below. 2. In the text, Scotus first gives the pro et contra arguments for Question 1, then the same…
-
Translatio: Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Sentences, Prooemium (Part 1)
Prooemium Sancti Bonaventurae In Librum Primum Sententiarum [1] “He has searched the depths of rivers, and has brought forth into light hidden things” [profunda fluviorum scrutatus est, et abscondita produxit in lucem]. Job XXVII, 11 That word, which has been accepted from Job twenty-eight, having been considered more diligently by us uncovers the way for…
-
Yandell’s Presentation and Analysis of the First Way
Keith E. Yandell was a respected philosopher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, retiring in 2011. He specialized in the philosophy of religion, and wrote the philosophy of religion volume for the Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy series (which I highly recommend). In that volume, he included a chapter on arguments for monotheism, and spent a…
Disputed Questions 