Although a controversial figure in his own day, St Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74) forged a unique synthesis of faith and reason, of ancient philosophy and sacred scripture, which decisively influenced Dante and the whole subsequent Catholic tradition.

Intensely interested in Aristotle, as well as Plato, Paul and Augustine, Thomas believed that unaided human thought can take us a long way towards wisdom and truth, although it must always be supplemented by the central mystery of revelation. His writings contain many classic statements of doctrine about angels, the Incarnation, Trinity, sacraments and the soul, but also penetrating discussions on choice, creation and conscience, law, logic and the purpose of life.

In this superb selection, arranged chronologically, Ralph McInerny brings together sermons, commentaries, responses to criticism and substantial extracts from one of Christianity's supreme masterpieces, the Summa theologiae. For anyone concerned to find ways of reconciling science and dogma, reason and religion, Thomas has always been a major source of inspiration. This volume reveals both the development and the sheer scope of his work.

Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA prasentieren seit ihrer Grundung durch Paul Wilpert im Jahre 1962 Arbeiten des Thomas-Instituts der Universitat zu Koeln. Das Kernstuck der Publikationsreihe bilden die Akten der im zweijahrigen Rhythmus stattfindenden Koelner Mediaevistentagungen, die vor uber 50 Jahren von Josef Koch, dem Grundungsdirektor des Instituts, ins Leben gerufen wurden. Der interdisziplinare Charakter dieser Kongresse pragt auch die Tagungsakten: Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA versammeln Beitrage aus allen mediavistischen Disziplinen - die mittelalterliche Geschichte, die Philosophie, die Theologie sowie die Kunst- und Literaturwissenschaften sind Teile einer Gesamtbetrachtung des Mittelalters.

This single-volume reference guide covers the most important authors and movements in Continental Philosophy. Each section focuses on a school of thought, bringing together articles by leading scholars which explore the key thinkers and texts. Arranged in chronological order, the volume begins with the founding texts of Classical Idealism and concludes with Post-structuralism. Sections and Section Editors: Classical Idealism - Philip Stratton-Lake Philosophy of Existence - Lewis R. Gordon Philosophies of Life and Understanding - Fiona Hughes Phenomenology - Gail Weiss Politics, Psychoanalysis and Science - Gillian Howie The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory - Simon Jarvis Structuralism - Jeremy Jennings Post-Structuralism - John Protevi

Nel suo pionieristico lavoro Conditions in Koenigsberg and the Making of Kant's Philosophy, Giorgio Tonelli lamentava l'assenza di un'indagine approfondita sul contesto intellettuale di Koenigsberg e sull'eventuale influenza che esso esercito su alcuni aspetti del pensiero di Kant. Questo libro vuole colmare questa lacuna prestando particolare attenzione alla tradizione aristotelica, alla Schulphilosophie, e alla corrente dell'eclettismo, che dominarono l'ambiente regiomontano sino all'avvento della filosofia critica kantiana. Il lavoro mostra come dai fallimenti dei progetti logici e metafisici precritici, legati alle influenze ricevute dall'ambiente di Koenigsberg, Kant abbia tratto le idee e gli spunti per la stesura della Kritik der reinen Vernunft.

Nicolas of Cusa s notion of God as not-other is one of the most spectacular ideas in the history of metaphysics the negative self-reference of the Absolute. In this study, Max Rohstock examines this concept historically and systematically. For the first time, he shows Johannes Scotus Eriugena was the true progenitor of the concept."

Born in Saxony in 1096, Hugh became an Augustinian monk and in 1115 moved to the monastery of Saint Victor, Paris, where he spent the remainder of his life, eventually becoming the head of the school there. His writings cover the whole range of arts and sacred science taught in his day. Paul Rorem offers a basic introduction to Hugh's theology, through a comprehensive survey of his works. He argues that Hugh is best understood as a teacher of theology, and that his numerous and varied writings are best appreciated as a comprehensive pedagogical program of theological education and spiritual formation. Drawing his evidence not only from Hugh's own descriptions of his work but from the earliest manuscript traditions of his writings, Rorem organizes and presents his corpus within a tri-part framework. Upon a foundation of training in the liberal arts and history, a structure of doctrine is built up, which is finally adorned with moral formation. Within this scheme of organization, Rorem treats each of Hugh's major works (and many minor ones) in its appropriate place, orienting the reader briefly yet accurately to its contents, as well as its location in Hugh's overarching program of theological pedagogy.

Als Valentin Weigel 1588 in Zschopau starb, hinterliess er ein umfangreiches handschriftliches Werk aus Traktaten, Predigten und Dialogen, das er zu seinen Lebzeiten nur einem kleinen Kreis von Freunden und Bekannten zuganglich gemacht hatte. Allen seinen Schriften ist eine lehrhafte Ausrichtung eigen; diese Beobachtung oeffnet den Blick auf den Seelsorger Weigel. Seinen Anliegen ist die vorliegende Arbeit nachgegangen, in der Weise, wie dies unter der gegebenen UEberlieferungslage moeglich ist, namlich durch die Berucksichtigung der historischen und kirchenpolitischen Verhaltnisse und durch die Analyse zentraler Schriften. Durch Ersteres erhellen sich die Bedingungen, unter denen eine so radikal introvertierte Glaubensform, wie Weigel sie vertritt, hatte entstehen koennen, Letzteres zeigt Weigels Strategien, in prekaren Lebenssituationen sichere Orientierung zu finden und anderen weiterzugeben.

Ausgangspunkt der Arbeit ist Galileis Versuch, das kopernikanische Weltsystem mit der heiligen Schrift in UEbereinstimmung zu bringen. Anhand zahlreicher Originaltexte, zum grossen Teil erstmalig in deutscher UEbersetzung publiziert, werden wichtige Phasen der Auseinandersetzung mit der Kosmologie von Aristoteles bis in die Zeit der Scholastik und von Kopernikus und Kepler aufgezeigt. Eine wichtige Rolle spielten dabei die Argumente fur oder gegen die Bewegung der Erde, wie auch fur oder gegen die Bewegung des Himmels. Die Grunde fur das Festhalten am aristotelisch-ptolemaischen Weltbild durch die Fachastronomen, Philosophen und Theologen werden dargelegt. Schliesslich wird die Rolle der reformatorischen Theologie, insbesondere von Calvin, fur die Durchsetzung des kopernikanischen Weltsystems untersucht.

Why do good things happen to bad people? Can we prove whether God exists? What is the difference between right and wrong? Medieval Philosophers were centrally concerned with such questions: questions which are as relevant today as a thousand years ago when the likes of Anselm and Aquinas sought to resolve them. In this fast-paced, enlightening guide, Sharon M. Kaye takes us on a whistle-stop tour of medieval philosophy, revealing the debt it owes to Aristotle and Plato, and showing how medieval thought is still inspiring philosophers and thinkers today. With new translations of numerous key extracts, Kaye directly introduces the reader to the philosophers' writings and the criticisms levied against them. Including helpful textboxes throughout the book detailing key thinkers, this is an entertaining and comprehensive primer for students and general readers alike.

Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) directed the Platonic Academy in Florence, and it was the work of this Academy that gave the Renaissance in the 15th century its impulse and direction. During his childhood Ficino was selected by Cosimo de' Medici for an education in the humanities. Later Cosimo directed him to learn Greek and then to translate all the works of Plato into Latin. This enormous task he completed in about five years. He then wrote two important books, "The Platonic Theology" and "The Christian Religion", showing how the Christian religion and Platonic philosophy were proclaiming the same message. The extraordinary influence the Platonic Academy came to exercise over the age arose from the fact that its leading spirits were already seeking fresh inspiration from the ideals of the civilizations of Greece and Rome and especially from the literary and philosophical sources of those ideals. Florence was the cultural and artistic centre of Europe at the time and leading men in so many fields were drawn to the Academy: Lorenzo de'Medici (Florence's ruler), Alberti (the architect) and Poliziano (the poet). Moreover Ficino bound together an enormous circle of correspondents throughout Europe, from the Pope in Rome to John Colet in London, from Reuchlin in Germany to de Ganay in France. Published during his lifetime, "The Letters" have not previously been translated into English. Following the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478, Florence was at war with both the Pope (Sixtus IV) and King Ferdinand of Naples. Prompted by the appalling conditions under which Florence suffered as a result of the war, Ficino wrote eloquent letters to the three main protagonists. In his three letters to Sixtus, who was the main architect of the war, Ficino states in magnificent terms the true work of the Pope - to fish in the "deep sea of humanity", as did the Apostles. King Ferdinand of Naples spent most of his life in intrigue, not only against other states, but also against his own barons. Yet, Ficino addresses him in the words of his father, the admirable King Alfonso. This extraordinary letter, written in the form of a prophesy, speaks of his son's destiny on Earth. "In peace alone a splendid victory awaits you..., in victory, tranquility; in tranquility, a reverence and worship of Minerva" (wisdom). Negotiations for peace were in fact begun about five months later. In his letter to Lorenzo de 'Medici, Ficino presented, with dramatic clarity, the two sides of Lorenzo's nature. The letter may have prompted Lorenzo's bold visit to King Ferdinand's court and the ensuing negotiations for peace. In insisting on the reality of unity and peace in the face of war and division, Ficino uses a number of analogies. He speaks in at least two letters of all the colours emerging from simple white light, just as all the variety of the universe issues from one consciousness. "For the Sun, to be is to shine, to shine is to see, and to illuminate is to create all that is its own and to sustain what it has created."

This book reveals how Moses ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, Moses Maimonides, and Shem Tov ibn Falaquera understood metaphor and imagination, and their role in the way human beings describe God. It demonstrates how these medieval Jewish thinkers engaged with Arabic-Aristotelian psychology, specifically with regard to imagination and its role in cognition. Dianna Lynn Roberts-Zauderer reconstructs the process by which metaphoric language is taken up by the imagination and the role of imagination in rational thought. If imagination is a necessary component of thinking, how is Maimonides' idea of pure intellectual thought possible? An examination of select passages in the Guide, in both Judeo-Arabic and translation, shows how Maimonides' attitude towards imagination develops, and how translations contribute to a bifurcation of reason and imagination that does not acknowledge the nuances of the original text. Finally, the author shows how Falaquera's poetics forges a new direction for thinking about imagination.

Kants Reflexion uber die "Notwendigkeit" ist von entscheidender Wichtigkeit innerhalb der radikalen Transformation der Metaphysik des XVIII. Jahrhunderts. Es ist andererseits sehr schwer, seine vorkritischen Werke uberhaupt zu verstehen und die Idee einer neuen Systematik der Philosophie als Kritik der reinen Vernunft nachzuvollziehen, wenn man die Auseinandersetzung Kants mit den Begriffen der Moeglichkeit, Wirklichkeit und Notwendigkeit (und damit mit den Grundlagen der klassischen Ontologie selbst) nicht in ihren Details begreift. Was heisst uberhaupt "Notwendigkeit" und "Notwendig-Sein" bei Kant?

Die Vorstellung, dass Nichtsein nur die Negation des Seins sei, hat die klassische Ontologie lange beschaftigt. Hier wird Nichtsein als eigenstandige Kategorie beschrieben, die noch vor der Aufteilung in Sein oder Nichtsein zum Tragen gekommen ist. Ihre unmittelbare Darstellung ist im Phanomen der Intentionalitat gegeben: als das, was sein soll und indem es so gedacht wird, auch eine eigene Wirklichkeit begrundet, ist das intentionale Sein die Entgrenzung eines dualistischen Ontologieverstandnisses. In einer historischen und systematischen Perspektive zeichnet sich das Nichtsein als transzendentaler Garant der Einheitlichkeit des Verstandnisses von Sein uberhaupt.

The early modern era produced the Scientific Revolution, which originated our present understanding of the natural world. Concurrently, philosophers established the conceptual foundations of modernity. This rich and comprehensive volume surveys and illuminates the numerous and complicated interconnections between philosophical and scientific thought as both were radically transformed from the late sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. The chapters explore reciprocal influences between philosophy and physics, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and other disciplines, and show how thinkers responded to an immense range of intellectual, material, and institutional influences. The volume offers a unique perspicuity, viewing the entire landscape of early modern philosophy and science, and also marks an epoch in contemporary scholarship, surveying recent contributions and suggesting future investigations for the next generation of scholars and students.

This series offers central philosophical treatises of Aquinas in new, state-of-the-art translations distinguished by their accuracy and use of clear and nontechnical modern vocabulary. Annotation and commentary accessible to undergraduates make the series an ideal vehicle for the study of Aquinas by readers approaching him from a variety of backgrounds and interests.

In a work that illustrates how Jewish philosophy can make a genuine contribution to general philosophical debate, Daniel Rynhold attempts to formulate a model for the justification of practices by applying the methods of modern analytic philosophy to approaches to the rationalization of the commandments from the history of Jewish philosophy. Through critical analysis of the methods of Moses Maimonides and Joseph Soloveitchik, Rynhold argues against propositional approaches to justifying practices that he terms Priority of Theory approaches and offers instead his own method, termed the Priority of Practice, which emphasizes the need for a more pragmatic take on this whole issue.

Husserls Phanomenologie ist als Erscheinungslehre auf den logischen Urteils- und Formenkanon angewiesen und partiell mit ihm identisch. Daruber hinaus ist sie als transzendentale Logik die Begrundung jeder formallogischen Urteilstatigkeit, d. h. sie ist eine Wahrheitslehre vor dem Hintergrund der Bestimmung und Anwendung des Urteils sowie seiner Verlaufsgesetze. Die Analyse der einschlagigen Schriften und Vorlesungsmanuskripte Husserls von den Logischen Untersuchungen bis hin zu Erfahrung und Urteil soll dazu dienen, den bislang oftmals zu Unrecht vernachlassigten, aber gleichwohl konstitutiven Zusammenhang zwischen Phanomenologie, Urteilslehre und Wahrheitserkenntnis aufzuweisen.

Peter Lombard is best known as the author of a celebrated work entitled Book of Sentences, which for several centuries served as the standard theological textbook in the Christian West. It was the subject of more commentaries than any other work of Christian literature besides the Bible itself. The Book of Sentences is essentially a compilation of older sources, from the Scriptures and Augustine down to several of the Lombard's contemporaries, such as Hugh of Saint Victor and Peter Abelard. Its importance lies in the Lombard's organization of the theological material, his method of presentation, and the way in which he shaped doctrine in several major areas. Despite his importance, however, there is no accessible introduction to Peter Lombard's life and thought available in any modern language. This volume fills this considerable gap. Philipp W. Rosemann begins by demonstrating how the Book of Sentences grew out of a long tradition of Christian reflection-a tradition, ultimately rooted in Scripture, which by the twelfth century had become ready to transform itself into a theological system. Turning to the Sentences, Rosemann then offers a brief exposition of the Lombard's life and work. He proceeds to a book-by-book examination and interpretation of its main topics, including the nature and attributes of God, the Trinity, creation, angelology, human nature and the Fall, original sin, Christology, ethics, and the sacraments. He concludes by exploring how the Sentences helped shape the further development of the Christian tradition, from the twelfth century through the time of Martin Luther.