The Analytical Thomist And The Paradoxical Aquinas: Some Reflections On Kerr’s Aquinas’s Way To God

• Authors: Knasas John F.X.

Title variants

PL

Analityczny tomista i paradkoksalny Akwinata: Refleksje na kanwie Aquinas’s way to God Kerra

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

My article critically evaluates five key claims in Kerr’s interpretation of Aquinas’s De Ente et Essentia, ch. 4, proof for God. The claims are: (1) the absolutely considered essence is a second intention, or cognitional being; (2) à la John Wippel, the real distinction between essence and existence is known before the proof; (3) contra David Twetten, Aristotelian form is not self-actuating and so requires actus essendi; (4) the De Ente proof for God uses the Principle of Sufficient Reason; (5) an infinite regress must be eliminated before concluding to God. This author wonders if these questionable claims are traceable to the mindset of analytic philosophy which values precision and discreteness and so can fail to appreciate crucial paradoxes in Aquinas’s metaphysics.

PL

Artykuł krytycznie ocenia pięć kluczowych twierdzeń w interpretacji De ente et essentia (rozdz. IV, dowód na istnienie Boga), jakie proponuje Kerr. Twierdzenia te są następujące: 1) istota rozpatrywana sama w sobie jest wtórną intencją lub bytem poznającym; 2) twierdzenie à la John Wippel—realną różnicę między istotą oraz istnieniem poznajemy przed dowodem; 3) wbrew Davidowi Twettenowi Arystotelesowska forma nie jest samoaktualizująca się, domaga się zatem actus essendi; 4) dowód na istnienie Boga z De ente stosuje zasadę racji dostatecznej; 5) należy odrzucić nieskończony regres przed dojściem do istnienia Boga. Autor zastanawia się, czy wątpliwe twierdzenia związane są z nastawieniem filozofii analitycznej, która preferuje precyzję i tendencję do wyodrębniania, a zatem może nie doceniać istotne paradoksy metafizyki Akwinaty.

Keywords

EN

absolute consideration; esse; real distinction; Principle of Sufficient Reason; infinite regress; sensation; judgment

PL

absolutna uwaga; esse; realna różnica; zasada racji wystarczającej; nieskończony regres; odczucie; osąd

• Publisher: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II. Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL
• Journal: Roczniki Filozoficzne
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 67
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 71-88

Contributors

author

Knasas John F.X.

• Professor Emeritus, from 1983 to 2018, professor at the Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, USA

References

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