Aquinas 101: Lesson Sixteen

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 16: Nature and Natures

The video by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, seems to be a good summary of nature and natures. Fr. White starts with the Greek focus on change in their study of the philosophy of nature. Heraclitus claims that everything is change, and there is nothing constant in the world. And importantly, he states that nature is merely conventional. On the opposite side is Parmenides who denies there is change, that is the change we see is illusory. Aristotle argued both that there is real change, and that there is continuity in things that are subject to change. This points to the essence or nature of a thing—that which endures amidst change. Fr. White gives the example of an adolescent human being, who was earlier a baby, and before that an embryo, and in the future would be an adult human, then older. Though out all those changes, the essence or human nature remains.

Screen shot of the video

After giving a definition of nature, Fr. White relates this to our understanding of the laws of nature ("because things have nature we can rely upon them to act in predictable and identifiable ways, and that's the basis of science as well as common sense") and to natural law (the law at work in nature which inclines unto flourishing and perfection). He also states that because things have a nature, thing act in predictable and identifiable ways.

The selected readings are from Aquinas' Commentary on the Physics and from Ralph McInerny's A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook for Peeping Thomists. From Aquinas we have the definition of nature given in the video:

Therefore, nature is nothing other than a principle of motion and rest in that in which it is primarily and per se and not per accidens.

The audio lecture, "Good, Evil, and Science" by Fr. James Brent, OP, expands upon Fr. White's video that natures lead to an understanding of laws of nature and natural law. Fr. Brent states that the purpose of his lecture was integrate current science with a mature and theologically informed faith. The lecture was given in a narrative form with three major topics:

1. The world of form and finality (based on Aristotle's philosophy of nature and the metaphysics which follow from that)
2. The world of power and control (the mechanistic, reductionistic materialism which displaced Aristotle's philosophy)
3. The hermeneutics of love and wisdom (a way to integrate current science with faith)
   

The lecture is part of a larger set on SoundCloud: Faith, Science and Nature Conference. There is also an optional lecture (which I did not listen to) "Sizeless Stretchable Souls: Substantial Form as Nature in Aquinas" by Fr. Stephen Brock.

Aquinas 101: Lesson Fifteen

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 15: Universals and Particulars | Genus and Species

The video by Fr. James Brent, OP. is short. It is devoted to the definition of the terms in the title of this lesson. The individual things around us are called particulars. The forms or essences of these things, because they applicable to many particulars of the same kind, are called universals. And he states, "A genus is a general category containing many kinds and a species is a more specific category within a genus." There are species which can not be further divided except into particulars are called most specific species, and the particulars in a most specific species are called individuals.

The selected reading from Aquinas is his commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, where Aristotle disagrees with Platonists that universals are substances themselves. In the other selected reading, Lear also comments on Aristotle, but on how we come to sense universals through our experience:

Through repeated encounters with items in the world, our sensory discriminations develop into memory and then into what Aristotle calls 'experience.' Experience Aristotle characterizes as 'the whole universal that has come to rest in the soul.' From repeated perception of particular men, we form the concept of a man, and the knowledge that this thing we see is a man is experience. If the universal, or concept, were not somehow already embedded in the particular, we could not make the transition from bare sensory discrimination to knowledge of the individual. As Aristotle says, 'though one perceives the particular, perception is of the universal.'

The audio lecture, "Seeking Universality in Truth, Goodness, and Beauty" by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, is looking at the universality of knowledge or unity of knowledge in the university. He states that the two protagonists of the lecture are St. Thomas Aquinas and Gottlieb Söhngen. He takes us back to the formation of the early universities, and brings out two active questions: 1) How are the diverse forms of natural learning, although truly distinct, also coordinated and unified among themselves and in turn open to the mystery of divine revelation, and 2) Is theology really a science in the Aristotlian sense? If so does it relate to our natural forms of learning and how does it relate?

Fr. White recommends the reading of Aquinas' commentary on Boethius' De Trinitate. He talks about the three purely speculative sciences, philosophy of nature (study of change in being), mathematics (quantity), and metaphysics. From the latter, we can study the transcendentals, present in all being, and so move on the an understanding of being beyond the material world, toward some knowledge about God. Philosophy studies this world, with God on the horizon or summit. He goes on to state that God does not immediately unify knowledge but God is the proximate and transcendent subject that unites all learning as the cause of all created being.

He moves on to the second part of his lecture toward the modern problem of unity of knowledge and states that now the questions are: 1) whether philosophy can be used in theology at all, and 2) can there be Catholic theology in the secular university. He gives the problem in a historical context. As a result of the French Revolution, it became illegal to teach theology in the university (or for a priest to be a professor) and a parallel development in northern Europe and North America where theology in secular universities were marginalized. He points out four causes for this lack of unity: 1) loss of reference to divine Revelation in the Eighteenth Century, 2) philosophical skepticism, 3) ambient despair of universal knowledge, and 4) hyper specialization and consumerism in the Twentieth Century. 

Fr. White directs us to two articles by Gottlieb Söhngen on the analogy of faith (The Analogy of Faith: Likeness to God from Faith Alone and The Analogy of Faith: Unity in the Science of Faith). This brings out four points: 1) ultimate explanations (unity in the mystery of God), 2) unity of the canon between Old and New Testaments, 3) the unity of Church proclamations (teachings) and biblical witness, and 4) the correlation with analogia entis (analogy of being), and philosophical considerations of transcendentals, evoke the possibility of natural knowledge of God. That is, the Logos of divine Revelation meshes well with the logos of the world, hence a unity of truth and knowledge.

This lecture is found on SoundCloud.com, which goes on further past the 38 minutes (and I have not listened to that). This is part of the larger set at SoundCloud, Catholic Theology and the Modern University.

Aquinas 101: Lesson Fourteen

 

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 14: The Real Distinction

The video by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, was simple and short. He says, "Having discovered that a thing is and what it is, we soon come to find that this thing raises causal questions which it cannot answer about itself. To put it plainly, none of the things procure their own existence." He continues that everything we observe is contingent. Existence only exists naturally in God (that is, the essence of God is existence itself).

Of the selected readings, that of Aquinas should be read carefully, since it is used in the audio lecture. I thought the following were good quotes:

It is clear, therefore, that existence is other than essence or quiddity, unless perhaps there exists a thing whose quiddity is its existence.

And,

But it cannot be that the existence of a thing is caused by the form or quiddity of that thing ─ I say caused as by an efficient cause ─ because then something would be its own cause, and would bring itself into existence, which is impossible.

The selected reading from Gilson also has a couple of quotes I'd like to share: "Such also is the so-called distinction between essence and existence, which it would be better to call the distinction between essence (essentia) and the act-of-being (esse)." And because from our experience we see contingent things that cannot justify their existence:

It is this that is the distinction between essence and the act-of-existing. And because it is profoundly real, it poses the problem of the cause of finite existence, which is the problem of the existence of God.

The audio lecture, "Introduction to Metaphysics Part Two: Transcendentals and the Existence of God" also by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, follows the same trajectory: from the distinction between essence and existence to a demonstration of the existence of God. Of course, the lecture will go a little deeper.

During the lecture, Fr. White said, "The mind never dominates being, the mind is invited to understand being." This stands in contrast to the ideas that "knowledge is power" and the "conquest of nature."

At the start of the lecture, Fr. White notes that being transcends the various categories of being. That is, being is beyond these categories, and that all that exists has being. This leads into the discussion of transcendentals: being, unity, truth, goodness, and with Aquinas, he believes that beauty is also included in this list. The following is a brief description of each:

• being (exists in reality, which includes the various categories of being)
• unity (this is understood in a flexible way, but all things insofar as they are things are one)
• truth (intelligibility, what really exists)
• goodness (tending toward perfection)
• beauty (splendor and attraction of form, integrity and proportionality)

He discusses being in actuality and being in potentiality in various modes: movement, operational and substantial (that is, individual substances exist, did not exist in the past, and will cease to exist in the future). So this leads us to understand that everything we experience is contingent and is caused. We know a few things:

1. everything around us exists, but is not existence
   
2. nothing is the cause of its own existence
3. these things do not account for its own existence by its nature

He goes on to clarify some points about being in the material world:

1. found in all things
2. not identical with any one essence
3. makes each thing distinct from others yet all are related
   

He then briefly covers three proofs for the existence of God (which are by inference and are certain). Not all these are the tradition five proofs found in the Summa Theologia (he says there are at least nine proofs from all of the works of Aquinas).

1. from motion (or ontological change). This is the unmoved mover from the Summa
   
2. existence-essence composition. This is paragraph 80 from the selected reading from De Ente et Essentia
3. The tendency toward perfection

From these proofs, we can know some things about God: God is not material, God is the cause of all being, and God is a kind of perfection.

Aquinas 101: Lesson Thirteen

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 13: Essence and Existence

The video is by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP.  He starts by asserting that everything is not reducible to one thing (such as when certain Greek philosophers thought that all things were made of the element of fire). He states, "Each essence has material parts, but is also a holistic form. The material parts are organized and made intelligible by the form." He states,

The larger point is that in all the things we experience, there's both form and matter. Reality is not simply built up from the bottom. It's also influenced from the top down. The parts of things have their place within the whole.

Most of the video time is spent on essences, but he summarizes what existence and essence are: "essence answers to what a thing is, while existence, or being, answers to that it is, or the fact that it exists." And he points out that they are related but distinct.

The selected readings were very helpful. The selected reading from Aquinas was extremely helpful, once I slowed down to read it carefully. I would quote most of it, so instead, I'll direct you to the reading. The reading from Feser was also helpful. I thought these two quotes were important:

we can distinguish between a thing's essence and its existence, between what it is and the fact that it is.

And,

But then the existence of the creatures that do exist must be really distinct from their essences, otherwise one could know of their existence merely from knowing their essences.

The audio lecture, "The Distinction of Essence and Existence" by Prof. Edward Feser, sets out to show we can make distinctions between essence and existence, and that this distinction reflects the reality of the outside world (and not merely a product of the mind, such as a logical distinction). He sets out to show this by knowledge (and this mirrors the reading), by contingency, and by uniqueness (that is, there can only be one thing in which its essence is existence). This latter part leads into a discussion of the uncaused cause (which we know as God), and he also unpacks Aristotle's discussion of pure act (which is a different approach, similar to substistent existence itself discussion prior). Then Prof. Feser talks about objections to these arguments. These are grouped into three parts: 1) Anthony Kenny's critique, 2) substitutivity of identicals, and 3) anti-essentialism. About the third, it's not an argument, but it seems true, Prof. Feser said, "you need to be very learned before you start doubting the obvious." It's one of those humorous things about fallen human nature.

This lecture can be found at SoundCloud as part of the set, 7th Annual Philosophy Workshop: Aquinas on Metaphysics.

Aquinas 101: Lesson Twelve

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 12: Form and Matter

The video was by Fr. James Brent, OP.  The short video starts by questioning what is truth, love, and justice. The answer is form; that is, form answers the question about what a thing is. He talks about the differences between forms as thought of by Plato and forms as thought of by Aristotle. And when he talks about the essences (or nature) of things, he is talking about forms. Matter is discussed:

matter is the universal substratum of pure potentiality that does not exist on its own except in union with a form, which makes it to be this or that kind of matter.

And then, all things in nature are composites of matter and form. This is called hylomorphism. And "the form of a thing is its act and the matter of a thing is its potency." Form is the intelligibility of a thing. It answers our question of what they are.

From the readings, I found the selection from Copleston to be most helpful. The first quote is about prime matter:

Aquinas thought, we must arrive at the concept of a purely indeterminate potential element which has no definite form of its own and no definite characteristics. This he called 'first matter' (materia prima). Visible matter, secondary matter, is already informed and possesses determinate characteristics

 The second is about the composite of form and matter:

According to Aquinas, therefore, every material thing or substance is composed of substantial form and first matter. Neither principle is itself a thing or substance; the two together are the component principles of a substance. And it is only of the substance that we can properly say that it exists. 'Matter cannot be said to be; it is the substance itself which exists'

The audio lecture, "Introduction to Metaphysics: Form and Matter; Substance and Accidents" by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, is a good lecture, but I found it very difficult to follow toward the end. Fr. White talks about three lectures, and they can be found on SoundCloud. Fr. White begins with two definitions of principles, of which the second will be used in this lecture: "constitutive causes what makes a given thing the kind of thing that it is."

The aim of the lecture is: "Elaborate a metaphysical science or universal form of thought that is insightful and realistic" (and Aquinas thinks this is possible). Form and matter are two co-constitutive principles of a thing in the material world. They are not things themselves.

He next helpfully tells us what a natural form is not (and if you're a beginner with this, this use may be foreign to you): It is not:

1. the shape of a thing
2. static (meaning that the essence of a thing continues through change)
3. not an accidental form or an artifact like a house or a painting (things which are made)

 Rather a natural form is:

1. an intrinsic principle of determination that gives a stable identity to a given reality through time
2. it is the cause of the realities having a given identity or intelligible essence in and through all the changes it undergoes it is that which persists through change
3. principle of internal organization of the material parts of a given reality so that those parts can be identified only as parts of it
4.  essential source of stable  properties
5.  foundation for teleological outcomes

(At this point, you may be thinking Fr. White is talking over your head, I can grasp what he is saying, but I don't feel comfortable re-stating these definitions; it may be helpful to re-read these several times).

When speaking about matter, Aquinas may be using one of two definitions:

1. parts of matter (that is, at this level,  all matter has form, and can be further broken down into parts) (examples: heart, lung, and eyes are matter which partly make up a human being)
   
2.  prime matter or pure potency (at this level, matter which does not have form, refer to the Copleston quote above) (about this Fr White states: "principle of radical indetermination  present in all physical things")
   

With these we have a fundamental capacity for alteration, where something continues to be through change. Even the new things are made from older things. (Perhaps I should be used to using the word substance instead of things, for this is the topic of the next part).

In discussing substances Fr, White is talking about an individual thing (matter and form), and it has properties which could be termed accidents. He talks about categorical modes of being which inhere in a substance. So he is moving on to Aristotle's categories. And he reads from Aquinas' commentary on Aristotle which I found here. I'll quote the paragraphs he is reading from:

891. For it should be noted that a predicate can be referred to a subject in three ways.

(1) This occurs in one way when the predicate states what the subject is, as when I say that Socrates is an animal; for Socrates is the thing which is an animal. And this predicate is said to signify first substance, i.e., a particular substance, of which all attributes are predicated.

892. (2) A predicate is referred to a subject in a second way when the predicate is taken as being in the subject, and this predicate is in the subject either (a) essentially and absolutely and (i) as something flowing from its matter, and then it is quantity; or (ii) as something flowing from its form, and then it is quality; or (b) it is not present in the subject absolutely but with reference to something else, and then it is relation.

(3) A predicate is referred to a subject in a third, way when the predicate is taken from something extrinsic to the subject, and this occurs in two ways. (a) In one way, that from which the predicate is taken is totally extrinsic to the subject; and (i) if this is not a measure of the subject, it is predicated after the manner of attire, as when it is said that Socrates is shod or clothed. (ii) But if it is a measure of the subject, then, since an extrinsic measure is either time or place, (aa) the predicament is taken either in reference to time, and so it will be when; or (bb) if it is taken in reference to place and the order of parts in place is not considered, it will be where; but if this order is considered, it will be position. (b) In another way, that from which the predicate is taken, though outside the subject, is nevertheless from a certain point of view in the subject of which it is predicated. (i) And if it is from the viewpoint of the principle, then it is predicated as an action; for the principle of action is in the subject. (ii) But if it is from the viewpoint of its terminus, then it will be predicated as a passion; for a passion is terminated in the subject which is being acted upon.

Fr. White talks about a chart (which we can't see) which lists the categories of being, so hopefully the following list is correct (I did not always use the same examples)

1. substance (a human being)
2. quantities (size, tall, short)
3. qualities (capable of doing math)
4. relations (such as to a father)
5. habits (like the wearing of shoes)
   
6. location in time
7. location in place
8. position (sitting or standing)
9. actions (talking)
10. passions (i.e. passive, like listening)

Further Resources (which is optional) is on SoundCloud (and I did not have a chance to listen):Jeffrey Brower - Form-Matter Composition.

Aquinas 101: Lesson Eleven

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 11: Act and Potency

The video (which is done by Fr. James Brent, OP) is very brief. And that was a common complaint in the comments at YouTube. But it was a good introduction to act and potency, and Fr. Brent talked about the ultimate cause of all change being an unmoved mover which we call God.

In the selected readings, I think Feser's description of the actualization of potency is helpful:

If the ball is to become soft and gooey, it can't be the actual gooeyness itself that causes this, since it doesn't yet exist. But that the gooeyness is non-existent is not (as Parmenides assumed) the end of the story, for a potential or potency for gooeyness does exist in the ball, and this, together with some external influence (such as heat) that actualizes that potential--or, as the Scholastics would put it, which reduces the potency to act--suffices to show how the change can occur. Change just is the realization of some potentiality; or as Aquinas puts it, 'motion is the actuality of a being in potency' (In Meta IX.1.1770).

The audio lecture, "Principles of Nature" by Fr. James Brent, OP, puts act and potency within the context of philosophy of nature. It's a very detailed lecture which may be difficult to absorb, not due to any fault of Fr. Brent's exposition, but rather because there is so much to take in. And I wonder if I can summarize in any way except by providing a rough outline.

At the beginning, Fr. Brent suggests Aquinas' summary of Aristotle in Principles of Nature. I can see something of the outline of Fr. Brent's lecture but the language of Aquinas may not be accessible to modern readers. Indeed, Fr. Brent takes care to point out that modern science and Aristotle's philosophy of nature are two different modes of analysis: the modern is analysis by elements (what things are made of) and the philosophy of nature is analysis by principles.

A. Aristotle has to deal with the problem of change:

1. some things change (this is the introduction of matter being the principle of potency in things)
   
2. some things change without ceasing to be what they are (this is the introduction of form as being the principle of act in things)
   There are 4 types of change (the first three are accidental changes)
   
   • quality
   • quantity
   • place
   • substantial change (something coming to be or passing away)
     
3. so then, some things come to be and pass away
4.  Nothing comes from nothing
   

This is the rational for potency (1), composition of substance and accident (2), and affirming continuity in nature (3 and 4).

The main principle for Aristotle is hylomorphism - all things of nature are composed of matter and form.

There are two levels of change which reveal two levels of composition

1.  Accidental change -- substance and accident
2.  Substantial change -- substantial form and primary matter

 A definition of change is given: actualization of what is in potential insofar as it is in potential -OR- potency becoming actual.

 B. The causes in nature

1. material - that out of which a thing is made
   
2. formal - that which makes a thing to be what it is
   
3. efficient (or agent) - that which brings the thing about (into being, source of motion, or rest)
   
4. final - that for the sake of which a thing is or comes to be (this is critical for Aristotle)

 Fr. Brent introduces two principles at this point

1. Whatever comes to be has an efficient cause
2. All agents act for the sake of an end
   

At the end, Fr Brent restates the two levels of analysis:

1. broadest, most general principles of nature and elaborating the essences of natural things (analysis by principles)
   
2. highly specific, highly detailed matters, a lot of it is regarding their accidental features (analysis by elements).

One of the good things about these lectures is that we'll be seeing these terms again and again. And so hopefully, one will be able to understand Thomistic and Aristotelian philosophy and embrace it.

Aquinas 101: Lesson Ten

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 10: Being and Metaphysics

The video was done by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP. He gave a definition of metaphysics as the search for the deep down causes of things or the science of being about that which exists. There are distinctions about various things that exist (what is different?). And what unites all things? These are transcendentals: being, unity, truth, goodness, and beauty. I did a screen shot of the various aspects of being:

The selected readings come from Aristotle's Metaphysics, and Jonathan Lear's Aristotle: The Desire to Understand. Lear quotes Aristotle, "There is a science which investigates being as being." And Lear continues, "man can inquire into reality as such". Further, man can "begin to inquire into the broad structure of reality. Aristotle discovered that there could be an inquiry into reality as such: as he put it, there is a single science which studies being as being."

The audio lecture, "Beyond Scientism - Philosophical Knowing" by Fr. James Brent, OP, doesn't directly cover the metaphysics of Aristotle and Aquinas or philosophical realism. Fr. Brent begins with the wisdom of the world, which denies an all encompassing metaphysics, but really is proposing all encompassing metaphysical principle which bound inquiry and discussion. Naturalism and physicalism bound discussion of what really exists. Related to these are the epistemological constraints of scientism which set the boundaries of what we can know (or what we can know with certainty). In response to these three interrelated philosophies, there are four problems: 1) self referential defeat (in making their claims they prove themselves wrong), 2) upfront, the question of God's existence is ruled out, 3) the problem of morality (modern science cannot verify morality), and 4) it cannot give meaning to human life (and human beings need this). He states the three tasks for contemporary philosophy given by Pope Saint John Paul II in Fides et Ratio (I copied them in Lesson Eight). In the last ten minutes of the lecture, he briefly outlines a way out of modern philosophical matrix with a short example:

1) There is truth.
2) We know #1.

No one can deny the first (it's denial is self defeating—we can ask: is that a true statement?). It's not verified by the senses or modern scientific methods.

Fr. Brent then gives a list of principles which can be known by rational reflection but are not verified through the senses:

1. The principle of non contradiction
2. Reality is self consistent
3. Every event has a cause (Kant)
4. Impossible to desire something without knowing it (at least in someway of knowing)
5. All colors have extension 
6. In order for a person to be morally responsible for an act, he (or she) must be free in enacting it