Analogical Understanding of Divine Causality in Thomas Aquinas

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 133-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Roszak
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
The World ◽  
Biblical Commentaries ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
Secondary Causes ◽  
Divine Causality

The article presents the question of understanding divine causality and its analogical character in the context of Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on Divine Providence. Analyzing Aquinas’s texts concerning the relation of God’s action towards nature and its activities it is necessary to emphasize the proper understanding of mutual relations between secondary causes and the primary cause which are not on the same level. Influenced by the reflection of M. Dodds and I Silva, the author of the article refers to Aquinas’s biblical commentaries which have not been discussed so far from the perspective of the character of God’s action. In the final part of the article, metaphors used by Thomas in reference to the relation of God towards the world will be presented.

scholarly journals “Parvus error in principio magnus est in fine”: Thomas Aquinas’s Reinterpretation of the Understanding of Being and Essence as the Basis for the Discovery of the First Cause as Ipsum Esse

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Andrzej Maryniarczyk
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
The World ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
First Cause

In this article, the author notes that Thomas Aquinas, in his brief work entitled De Ente et Essentia, proved that at the base of understanding the world, the human being, and God in particular, there is our understanding of being and its essence. When we make a small mistake at the beginning (parvus error in principio) in our understanding of being and its essence, it will turn to be a big one in the end (magnus in fine). And what is “at the end” of our knowledge is the discovery of the First and Ultimate Cause of all things, known as: Ipsum Esse, God, the Absolute, The Most Perfect Substance, on whom everything depends, and who depends not on anything else. These present inquiries about the proper understanding of being and its essence are aimed at formulating proof of the necessity of existence of a Being that is the First Cause, and which, existing as Ipsum Esse, is the source and reason of existence of all beings. Without these inquiries, the proof itself would be incomprehensible, and more importantly it would be a purely a priori one (i.e., ontological). Furthermore, without the existential conception of being, which Thomas first formulated, one could not discover the First Cause which, as Ipsum Esse, is the source of the existence of every being. This issue seems to have escaped the attention of the author of the book Aquinas’s Way to God. The Proof in “De Ente et Essentia.”

A Time of Crisis—A Crisis of (the Sense of) Time: The Political Production of Time in Communism and Its Relevance for the Postcommunist Debates

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costica Bradatan
Keyword(s):  
Final Part ◽  
The Political ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
East Europe ◽  
Proper Sense ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Sense Of Time ◽  
Political Imaginary

A haunting theme in today’s debates over postcommunism is the necessity of facing the past. Ironically, what those people in East Europe and Russia having to face their past lack most is precisely a proper understanding of what the past is. This is because one of the major losses they suffered under communist regimes was their proper sense of time. In my article, I analyze how in the communist context, time (and people’s sense of it) was produced politically and how the communist political imaginary presupposed as one of its essential ingredients a systematic disruption of (and interference into) people’s sense of time. In the final part, I briefly point to the fact that a successful confrontation with the past can start only with a recovery of these people’s sense of their temporal situation in the world.

scholarly journals Thomas Aquinas and Alfred North Whitehead on God‘s Action in the World

Open Theology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Hosinski
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Alfred North Whitehead ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Limited Participation ◽  
Creative Power ◽  
The World ◽  
Divine Life ◽  
Secondary Causes

AbstractThomas Aquinas’ intentions in his position that God acts through secondary causes are both laudable and correct. In affirming God’s action within secondary causes Thomas intended to affirm true freedom and contingency in the world and the creatures’ limited participation in God’s creative power. But his interpretation of these topics rests on assumptions about divinity that subvert his intentions. This article summarizes Thomas’ analysis and discusses the principal difficulties with his interpretation of God’s action. It then presents an interpretation of how Alfred North Whitehead’s position on divine action avoids these difficulties and achieves a more coherent understanding of God’s action in the world, even though it too requires revision. If Whitehead’s metaphysics is revised to think of creativity as the divine life rather than as ultimately distinct from God, then it, too, presents God as sharing the divine life with creatures by endowing them with the creativity and freedom to create themselves on the divinely-given ground of possibility. Thomas’ intentions and a revised Whiteheadian interpretation of divine action are compatible and complement each other on the topic of divine action in and through creatures and on the idea of existence as participation in the divine life.

scholarly journals Representation of Slovak Research Information (A Case Study)

Information ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Danica Zendulková ◽  
Boris Rysuľa ◽  
Andrea Putalová
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
National Level ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Research Information ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Central Register ◽  
The World ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
The Eu

In the light of the increasing importance of the societal impact of research, this article attempts to address the question as to how social sciences and humanities (SSH) research outputs from 2019 are represented in Slovak research portfolios in comparison with those of the EU-28 and the world. The data used for the analysis originate from the R&D SK CRIS and bibliographic Central Register of Publication Activities (CREPČ) national databases, and WoS Core Collection/InCites. The research data were appropriate for the analysis at the time they were structured, on the national level; of high quality and consistency; and covering as many components as possible and in mutual relations. The data resources should enable the research outputs to be assigned to research categories. The analysis prompts the conclusion that social sciences and humanities research outputs in Slovakia in 2019 are appropriately represented and in general show an increasing trend. This can be documented by the proportion represented by the SSH research projects and other entities involved in the overall Slovak research outputs, and even the higher ratio of SSH research publications in comparison with the EU-28 and the world. Recommendations of a technical character include research data management, data quality, and the integration of individual systems and available analytical tools.

"Taking in the world". L'ereditŕ kantiana in John McDowell

PARADIGMI ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Anselmo Aportone
Keyword(s):  
Final Part ◽  
John Mcdowell ◽  
The World

McDowell carries on the dialogue with Kant opened by Sellars and Strawson. He is particularly interested in Kant's idea of intuition as an impression that is already an actualization of the conceptual capacities exercised by the knowing subject in judging. It enables him to release the contemporary discussion on intentionality from the stalemate between bald naturalism and coherentism. Because of the issues raised by both philosophers and some features of their arguments, it is undoubted that Mc- Dowell belongs to the Kantian heritage and exploits some of its elements. The final part of the essay aims at showing that these have in their original context a stronger und more definite meaning than in McDowell's proposal, and that it could be what we are in need of to make the latter more accurate.

Diversion and sabotage - the essence and mutual relations

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (38) ◽  
pp. 45-54
Author(s):  
Paweł Lubiewski ◽  
Aneta Dróżdż
Keyword(s):  
Security System ◽  
Comparative Data ◽  
Social Conflicts ◽  
Contemporary State ◽  
State Security ◽  
The World ◽  
Mutual Relations

It is difficult to say whether there are more social conflicts nowadays than there used to be centuries ago. We lack precise comparative data to rely on. However, it can be said that we look at them much more carefully, analyze them, examine them to find out about their essence, relations, and dependencies as much as possible. Unfortunately, social conflicts often lead to military actions. They are characterized by the use ofvarious tactics, including activities of an irregular nature. Considering the intensity of terrorist activities not only in Europe, but also in many other places in the world, and bearing in mind how willingly terrorist structures use irregular activities, it is worth returning to the issues of diversion and sabotage, which seem to have been forgotten, judging by the limited amount of literary resources available in this field, in the context of improving the contemporary state security system.

John Carroll and the Appeal to Evidence: A Pragmatic Defense of Principle

1988 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-309
Author(s):  
Joseph M. McShane
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Active Intervention ◽  
The World ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
New Republic ◽  
John Carroll ◽  
The Church

Throughout his career John Carroll supported the American religious settlement with surprising and consistent enthusiasm. Indeed, his enthusiasm for the religious liberty of the new republic seemed to be boundless. Thus he never tired of celebrating and advertising its benefits. He assured American Catholics that it was “a signal instance of [God's] mercy” and a product of the active intervention of Divine Providence and the Holy Spirit, who have “tutored the minds of men” in such a way that Catholics could now freely worship God according to the “dictates of conscience.” Flushed with pride, he even predicted that if America were wise enough to abide by the terms of this providential arrangement, the nation would become a beacon to the world, proving that “general and equal toleration…is the most effectual method to bring all denominations of Christians to an unity of faith.” Finally, confident that the extraordinary freedom accorded American Catholics would make the American church “the most flourishing portion of the church,” he urged European states and churches to follow America's inspired lead.

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