The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas: From Finite Being to Uncreated Being (Monographs of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy) [Paperback]

John F. Wippel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813209838 | ISBN-13: 978-0813209838 | Publication Date: September 2000

Written by a highly respected scholar of Thomas Aquinas’s writings, this volume offers a comprehensive presentation of Aquinas’s metaphysical thought. It is based on a thorough examination of his texts organized according to the philosophical order as he himself describes it rather than according to the theological order.

In the introduction and opening chapter, John F. Wippel examines Aquinas’s view on the nature of metaphysics as a philosophical science and the relationship of its subject to divine being. Part One is devoted to his metaphysical analysis of finite being. It considers his views on the problem of the One and the Many in the order of being, and includes his debt to Parmenides in formulating this problem and his application of analogy to finite being. Subsequent chapters are devoted to participation in being, the composition of essence and "esse" in finite beings, and his appeal to a kind of relative nonbeing in resolving the problem of the One and the Many. Part Two concentrates on Aquinas’s views on the essential structure of finite being, and treats substance-accident composition and related issues, including, among others, the relationship between the soul and its powers and unicity of substantial form. It then considers his understanding of matter-form composition of corporeal beings and their individuation. Part Three explores Aquinas’s philosophical discussion of divine being, his denial that God’s existence is self-evident, and his presentation of arguments for the existence of God, first in earlier writings and then in the "Five Ways" of his "Summa theologiae." A separate chapter is devoted to his views on quidditative and analogical knowledge of God. The concluding chapter revisits certain issues concerning finite being under the assumption that God’s existence has now been established.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Catholic University of America Press (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813209838
• ISBN-13: 978-0813209838
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #952,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A useful work, but upside-down in at least one way., September 5, 2002

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This review is from: The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas: From Finite Being to Uncreated Being (Monographs of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy) (Paperback)

I enjoyed this work. In particular, Wippel's discussion of the three meanings of participation as found in Thomas' "Commentary on the Hebdomads of Boethius" is something which is not brought out often enough in discussions of metaphysics.

I was, however, somewhat perplexed by Wippel's insistence on delaying so long the question of God's existence. This would have made some sense if the demonstration of God's existence somehow depended upon the "logical" participation that all created beings have in "esse," namely the "esse commune" of creatures. But since that is not the case, and we could equally prove the existence of God from one creature rather than all creatures in common, why spend so much time avoiding the issue of God's existence? And since creatures have their "to be" (esse) only by analogy with God's, and this is most certainly an analogy of attribution, not the internal analogy of proper proportion between "esse" and "essentia" in creatures, does not the very "logical" community of creaturely "esse" depend upon the existence of God as the ground of that community? Perhaps I am risking misunderstanding by saying this, but it strikes me as a somewhat Heideggerian move, rather than a Thomistic one. It raises Heidegger's "Sein" to a philosophic preeminence rather than ground "Sein" by analogy in God's transcendance. There is the real risk that God will indeed simply become the Highest Being (ens), rather than "Ipsum Esse Subsistens." Surely, this is not Wippel's intention, but by putting this forward in such an order, he seems to adopt a doctrine of analogy at variance with Thomas'. Perhaps this order of exposition is one of the things the previous reviewer objected to. Gilson maintained a theological order of exposition beginning with God and descending to creatures, the very pattern of the Summa. Perhaps the order can be inverted in a purely philosophical mode, but not lightly so, nor without investigating and defending explicitly the repercussions for a doctrine of participation and analogy. Certainly, in any exposition real relations and communities must precede logical ones, and I do not see that one can posit a real community of beings when the Prime Analogate is missing, without making ens commune into another supposit.

To sum up then, this is a valuable book, but I have some reservations about the order of exposition.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced and Insightful Scholarship, March 3, 2010

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Jim (Highland, California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas: From Finite Being to Uncreated Being (Monographs of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy) (Paperback)

I read the author's classic History of Philosophy book in 1971 (published in 1969) and that's what really got me fascinated with philosophy.

This book is no different - he begins with how Aquinas lays the foundation for metaphysics thru Epistemology in answering question 5 of the commentary of Boethius on Aristotle and then moves into Parminedes question of the One and the Many that Aquinas rewrites to prove the necessity of "Being".

The "Being" Aquinas comes up with though isn't Parminedes unchanging material universe but pure spirit (GOD)that creates "intelligences" (angels) that are potency and form and then composite substances like man who are form and matter.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Definitive Work on Aqunas's Metaphysics, September 21, 2009

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ApologiaPhoenix (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas: From Finite Being to Uncreated Being (Monographs of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy) (Paperback)

This was one of the assigned texts for my course on Metaphysics and it is a worthwhile one. Wippel approaches every question from every angle. As others have said, it can be difficult to follow so I'd also recommend taking a course on the great Angelic Doctor and on metaphysics in general to go along with your reading of this text.

I'd also issue a caution. Unfortunately, the footnotes seem to be in Latin which is great if you're a Thomistic scholar who knows the language, but not so great if you're the average American. That says something however if that is my greatest concern. I do recommend this book.