This book offers a new reading of Aquinas's views on faith. The author argues that the theological nature of faith is crucial to Aquinas's thought, and that it gives rise to a particular and otherwise incomprehensible relationship with reason. The first part of the book examines various modern and contemporary accounts of the relationship between faith and reason in Aquinas's thought. The author shows that these accounts are unconvincing because they exhibit what he calls a Lockean view of faith and reason, which maintains that the relationship between faith and reason should be treated only by way of evidence. In other words, the Lockean view ignores the specific nature of the Christian faith and the equally specific way it needs to relate to reason. The second part offers a comprehensive account of Aquinas's view of faith. It focuses on the way the divine grace and charity shape the relationship between evidence and human will. The final part of the book ties these ideas together to show how Christian faith, with its specifically theological nature, is perfectly compatible with rational debate. It also argues that employing the specificity of faith may constitute the best way to promote autonomous and successful rational investigations. Aquinas on Faith, Reason, and Charity will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working on Aquinas, philosophy of religion, Christian theology, and medieval philosophy.

Exploring and understanding how medieval Christians perceived and constructed the figure of the Prophet Muhammad is of capital relevance in the complex history of Christian-Muslim relations. Medieval authors writing in Latin from the 8th to the 14th centuries elaborated three main images of the Prophet: the pseudo-historical, the legendary, and the eschatological one. This volume focuses on the first image and consists of texts that aim to reveal the (Christian) truth about Islam. They have been taken from critical editions, where available, otherwise they have been critically transcribed from manuscripts and early printed books. They are organized chronologically in 55 entries: each of them provides information on the author and the work, date and place of composition, an introduction to the passage(s) reported, and an updated bibliography listing editions, translations and studies. The volume is also supplied with an introductory essay and an index of notable terms.

In this book, Joseph Torchia, OP, explores the mid-rank of the soul theme in Plotinus and Augustine with a special focus on its metaphysical, epistemological, and moral implications for each thinker's intellectual outlooks. For both, human existence assumes the character of a prolonged journey-or, in the nautical imagery they both employ, an extended voyage. Augustine's account incorporates theological significance, addressing the ontological difference between God and creatures. As a rational creature, the soul stands mid-way between God and corporeal natures and, in broader terms, between eternity and temporality. Plotinus and Augustine on the Mid-Rank of Soul: Navigating Two Worlds encompasses two parts: Part I addresses the significance that Plotinus attributes to the soul's mid-rank within the broader context of his understanding of universal order, and Part II delineates Augustine's interpretation of the intermediary status of the soul with an ongoing reference to his spiritual and intellectual peregrinatio, as recounted in the Confessions.

An appropriate motto for Augustine's great work On the Trinity is 'faith in search of understanding'. In this treatise Augustine offers a part-theological, part-philosophical account of how God might be understood in analogy to the human mind. On the Trinity can be fairly described as the first modern philosophy of mind: it is the first work in philosophy to recognize the 'problem of other minds', and the first to offer the 'argument from analogy' as a response to that problem. Other subjects that it discusses include the nature of the mind and the nature of the body, the doctrine of 'illumination', and thinking as inner speech. This volume presents the philosophical section of the work, and in a historical and philosophical introduction Gareth Matthews places Augustine's arguments in context and assesses their influence on later thinkers.

This book examines the phenomenological anthropology of Edith Stein. It specifically focuses on the question which Stein addressed in her work Finite and Eternal Being: What is the foundational principle that makes the individual unique and unrepeatable within the human species? Traditional analyses of Edith Stein's writings have tended to frame her views on this issue as being influenced by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, while neglecting her interest in the lesser-known figure of Duns Scotus. Yet, as this book shows, with regard to the question of individuality, Stein was critical of Aquinas' approach, finding that of Duns Scotus to be more convincing. In order to get to the heart of Stein's readings of Duns Scotus, this book looks at her published writings and her personal correspondence, in addition to conducting a meticulous analysis of the original codexes on which her sources were based. Written with diligence and flair, the book critically evaluates the authenticity of Stein's sources and shows how the position of Scotus himself evolved. It highlights the originality of Stein's contribution, which was to rediscover the relevance of Mediaeval scholastic thought and reinterpret it in the language of the Phenomenological school founded by Edmund Husserl.

This book argues for substantial and pervasive convergence between Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth with regards to God's relation to history and to the Christocentric orientation of that history. In short, it contends that Thomas can affirm what Barth calls "the humanity of God." The argument has great ecumenical potential, finding fundamental agreement between two of the most important figures in the Reformed and Roman Catholic traditions. It also contributes to contemporary theology by demonstrating the fruitfulness of exchanging metaphysical vocabularies for normative. Specifically, it shows how an account of God's mercy and justice can resolve theological debates most assume require metaphysical speculation.

Even well after his lifetime, Ibn Sina was renowned, not just in medicine or philosophy, but in other areas, especially in the Islamic world. In brief, he was an authority in the Islamic East, or an "auctoritas". However, in the west, his work was massively influential in not only the medical education curricula, but also in the important, innovative doctrines in philosophy. The most fundamental sections of his major encyclopedia, al-Shifa being translated into Latin as early as the 12th and 13th centuries and spreading throughout universities dispersed this impact rapidly. Known as "the prince of physicians", Ibn Sina is the writer of the Canon of Medicine (al-Qa-nu- n fi 'al-Tibb), which became a medical standard in the Christian west as well as the Islamic world.

The Metaphysics of Good and Evil is the first, full-length contemporary defence, from the perspective of analytic philosophy, of the Scholastic theory of good and evil - the theory of Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and most medieval and Thomistic philosophers. Goodness is analysed as obedience to nature. Evil is analysed as the privation of goodness. Goodness, surprisingly, is found in the non-living world, but in the living world it takes on a special character. The book analyses various kinds of goodness, showing how they fit into the Scholastic theory. The privation theory of evil is given its most comprehensive contemporary defence, including an account of truthmakers for truths of privation and an analysis of how causation by privation should be understood. In the end, all evil is deviance - a departure from the goodness prescribed by a thing's essential nature. Key Features: Offers a comprehensive defence of a venerable metaphysical theory, conducted using the concepts and methods of analytic philosophy. Revives a much neglected approach to the question of good and evil in their most general nature. Shows how Aristotelian-Thomistic theory has more than historical relevance to a fundamental philosophical issue, but can be applied in a way that is both defensible and yet accessible to the modern philosopher. Provides what, for the Scholastic philosopher, is arguably the only solid metaphysical foundation for a separate treatment of the origins of morality.

This volume offers a new reading of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed. In particular, it explores how Maimonides' commitment to integrity led him to a critique of the Kal?m, to a complex concept of immortality, and to insight into the human yearning for metaphysical knowledge. Maimonides' search for objective truth is also analysed in its connection with the scientific writings of his time, which neither the Kal?m nor the Jewish philosophical tradition that preceded him had endorsed. Through a careful analysis of these issues, this book seeks to contribute to the understanding of the modes of thought adopted in The Guide of the Perplexed, including the 'philosophical theologian' model of Maimonides' own design, and to the knowledge of its sources.

E. M. Cioran confronts the place of today's world in the context of human history--focusing on such major issues of the twentieth century as human progress, fanaticism, and science--in this nihilistic and witty collection of aphoristic essays concerning the nature of civilization in mid-twentieth-century Europe. Touching upon Man's need to worship, the feebleness of God, the downfall of the Ancient Greeks and the melancholy baseness of all existence, Cioran's pieces are pessimistic in the extreme, but also display a beautiful certainty that renders them delicate, vivid, and memorable. Illuminating and brutally honest, "A Short History of Decay" dissects Man's decadence in a remarkable series of moving and beautiful pieces.

Elionor of Sicily, 1325-1375: A Mediterranean Queen's Life of Family, Administration, Diplomacy, and War follows Elionor of Sicily, the third wife of the important Aragonese king, Pere III. Despite the limited amount of personal information about Elionor, the large number of Sicilian, Catalan, and Aragonese chronicles as well as the massive amount of notarial evidence drawn from eastern Spanish archives has allowed Donald Kagay to trace Elionor's extremely active life roles as a wife and mother, a queen, a frustrated sovereign, a successful administrator, a supporter of royal war, a diplomat, a feudal lord, a fervent backer of several religious orders, and an energetic builder of royal sites. Drawing from the correspondence between the queen and her husband, official papers and communiques, and a vast array of notarial documents, the book casts light on the many phases of the queen's life.

the volume provides a set of criteria to evaluate providential divine action models, challenging the underlying theologically contentious assumptions of current discussions on divine providential action. It presents a comprehensive account of Aquinas' metaphysics of natural causation, contingency, and their relation to divine providence

Humanism and Religion in Early Modern Spain brings together twenty-five essays by renowned historian Terence O'Reilly. The essays examine the interplay of religion and humanism in a series of writings composed in sixteenth-century Spain. It begins by presenting essential background: the coming together during the reign of the Emperor Charles V of Erasmian humanism and various movements of religious reform, some of them heterodox. It then moves on to the reign of Philip II, focusing on the mystical poetry and prose of St John of the Cross. It explores the influence on his writings of his humanist learning - classical, biblical and patristic. The third part of the book concerns a verse-epistle by John's contemporary, Francisco de Aldana. One chapter presents the text with a parallel version in English, whilst two others trace its debt to Florentine Neoplatonism, particularly the thought of Marsilio Ficino. The final part is devoted to the humanism of the poet and Scripture scholar Luis de Leon, and specifically to the confluence in his work of biblical and classical motifs. This book is essential reading for scholars and students of early modern Spanish history, as well those interested in literary studies and the history of religion.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781351116022, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 licence. DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351116022 Published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. This volume is an investigation of how Augustine was received in the Carolingian period, and the elements of his thought which had an impact on Carolingian ideas of 'state', rulership and ethics. It focuses on Alcuin of York and Hincmar of Rheims, authors and political advisers to Charlemagne and to Charles the Bald, respectively. It examines how they used Augustinian political thought and ethics, as manifested in the De civitate Dei, to give more weight to their advice. A comparative approach sheds light on the differences between Charlemagne's reign and that of his grandson. It scrutinizes Alcuin's and Hincmar's discussions of empire, rulership and the moral conduct of political agents during which both drew on the De civitate Dei, although each came away with a different understanding. By means of a philological-historical approach, the book offers a deeper reading and treats the Latin texts as political discourses defined by content and language.

This book is a detailed but accessible treatment of the political thought of John of Salisbury, a twelfth-century author and educationalist who rose from a modest background to become Bishop of Chartres. It shows how aspects of John's thought - such as his views on political cooperation and virtuous rulership - were inspired by the writings of Roman philosophers, notably Cicero and Seneca. Investigating how John accessed and adapted the classics, the book argues that he developed a hybrid political philosophy by taking elements from Roman Stoic sources and combining them with insights from patristic writings. By situating his ideas in their political and intellectual context, it offers a reassessment of John's political thought, as well as a case study in classical reception of relevance to students and scholars of political philosophy and the history of ideas. -- .

The relationship of philosophy with Kafka's oeuvre is complex. It has been argued that Kafka's novels and stories defy philosophic extrapolation; conversely, it has also been suggested that precisely the tendency of Kafka's writings to elude discursive solution is itself a philosophical tendency, one that is somehow contributing to a wiser relationship of human beings with language. These matters are the focus of the proposed volume on Philosophy and Kafka. The proposed collection brings together essays that interrogate the relationship of philosophy and Kafka, and offer new and original interpretations. The volume obviously cannot claim completeness, but it partially does justice to the multiplicity of philosophical issues and philosophical interpretations at stake. This variety informs the composition of the volume itself. A number of essays focus on specific philosophical commentaries on Kafka's work, from Adorno's to Agamben's, from Arendt's to Benjamin's, from Deleuze and Guattari's to Derrida's. A number of essays consider the possible relevance of certain philosophical outlooks for examining Kafka's writings: here Kafka's name goes alongside those of Socrates, Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Buber, Heidegger, Blanchot, and Levinas. Finally, a number of essays consider Kafka's writings in terms of a specific philosophical theme, such as communication and subjectivity, language and meaning, knowledge and truth, the human/animal divide, justice, and freedom. In all contributions to the volume, such themes, motifs, and interpretations arise. To varying degrees, all essays are concerned with the relationship of literature and philosophy, and thus with the philosophical significance of Kafka's writings.

For the first time in English the world community of scholars is systematically assembling and presenting the results of recent research in the vast literature of Soren Kierkegaard. Based on the definitive English edition of Kierkegaard's works by Princeton University Press, this series of commentaries addresses all the published texts of the influential Danish philosopher and theologian.

This thematic introduction to classical Islamic philosophy focuses on the most prevalent philosophical debates of the medieval Islamic world and their importance within the history of philosophy. Approaching the topics in a comprehensive and accessible way in this new volume, Luis Xavier Lopez-Farjeat, one of the co-editors of The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, makes classical Islamic philosophy approachable for both the new and returning student of the history of philosophy, medieval philosophy, the history of ideas, classical Islamic intellectual history, and the history of religion. Providing readers with a complete view of the most hotly contested debates in the Islamic philosophical tradition, Lopez-Farjeat discusses the development of theology (kalam) and philosophy ( falsafa) during the 'Abbasid period, including the translation of Aristotle into Arabic, the philosophy and theology of Islamic revelation, logic and philosophy of language, philosophy of natural science, metaphysics, psychology and cognition, and ethics and political philosophy. This volume serves as an indispensable tool for teachers, students, and independent learners aiming to discover the philosophical problems and ideas that defined the classical Islamic world. Key Features * Offers readers a broad, thorough view of the history of Islamic philosophy by using a thematic approach. * Traces the dialogues between philosophers and theologians about important and controversial topics. * Offers both historical descriptions of the key debates in classical Islamic philosophy and current interpretations by contemporary scholars. * Includes extensive lists for further reading at the end of each chapter, directing curious students to the best avenues for further research.

This thematic introduction to classical Islamic philosophy focuses on the most prevalent philosophical debates of the medieval Islamic world and their importance within the history of philosophy. Approaching the topics in a comprehensive and accessible way in this new volume, Luis Xavier Lopez-Farjeat, one of the co-editors of The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, makes classical Islamic philosophy approachable for both the new and returning student of the history of philosophy, medieval philosophy, the history of ideas, classical Islamic intellectual history, and the history of religion. Providing readers with a complete view of the most hotly contested debates in the Islamic philosophical tradition, Lopez-Farjeat discusses the development of theology (kalam) and philosophy ( falsafa) during the 'Abbasid period, including the translation of Aristotle into Arabic, the philosophy and theology of Islamic revelation, logic and philosophy of language, philosophy of natural science, metaphysics, psychology and cognition, and ethics and political philosophy. This volume serves as an indispensable tool for teachers, students, and independent learners aiming to discover the philosophical problems and ideas that defined the classical Islamic world. Key Features * Offers readers a broad, thorough view of the history of Islamic philosophy by using a thematic approach. * Traces the dialogues between philosophers and theologians about important and controversial topics. * Offers both historical descriptions of the key debates in classical Islamic philosophy and current interpretations by contemporary scholars. * Includes extensive lists for further reading at the end of each chapter, directing curious students to the best avenues for further research.

This book bridges medieval and contemporary philosophical thinkers, examining the relationship between fiction and philosophy for bringing about social change. Drawing on the philosophical reading and writing practices of medieval author Christine de Pizan and twentieth-century philosopher Luce Irigaray, and through an engagement with Hans-Georg Gadamer's work on tradition and hermeneutics, it develops means to re-write the stories and ideas that shape society. It argues that reading for change is possible; by increasing our capacity to perceive and engage tradition, we become more capable of positively shaping the forces that shape us. Following the example of the two women whose work it explores, Story and Philosophy works through philosophy and narrative to deeply transform the allegorical, political, and continental tradition it engages. It is essential reading for students and scholars interested in medieval studies, feminist studies, and critical theory.

* Innovative portrayal of Grosseteste's underrepresented ideas on education. * Offers a contemporary discussion of Grosseteste's work that examines the modern relevance of his ideas, drawing on the medieval context of the study for discussion within modern education theory.* Contains range of contributions from expert medievalists.

This book is a historically informed and textually grounded study of the connections between Montaigne, the inventor of the essay, and Nietzsche, who thought of himself as an "attempter." In conversation with the Essais, Nietzsche developed key themes of his oeuvre: experimental scepticism, gay science, the quest for drives beneath consciousness, the free spirit, the affirmation of sexuality and the body, and the meaning of greatness. Robert Miner explores these connections in the context of Nietzsche's reverence for Montaigne-a reverence he held for no other author-and asks what Montaigne would make of Nietzsche. The question arises from Nietzsche himself, who both celebrates Montaigne and includes him among a small number of authors to whose judgment he is prepared to submit.

This book charts the evolution of Islamic dialectical theory (jadal) over a four-hundred year period. It includes an extensive study of the development of methods of disputation in Islamic theology (kalam) and jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) from the tenth through the fourteenth centuries. The author uses the theoretical writings of Islamic theologians, jurists, and philosophers to describe the concept Overall, this investigation looks at the extent to which the development of Islamic modes of disputation is rooted in Aristotle and the classical tradition. The author reconstructs the contents of the earliest systematic treatment of the subject by b. al-Riwandi. He then contrasts the theological understanding of dialectic with the teachings of the Arab Aristotelians-al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes. Next, the monograph shows how jurists took over the theological method of dialectic and applied it to problems peculiar to jurisprudence. Although the earliest writings on dialectic are fairly free of direct Aristotelian influence, there are coincidences of themes and treatment. But after jurisprudence had assimilated the techniques of theological dialectic, its own theory became increasingly influenced by logical terminology and techniques. At the end of the thirteenth century there arose a new discipline, the adab al-bahth. While the theoretical underpinnings of the new system are Aristotelian, the terminology and order of debate place it firmly in the Islamic tradition of disputation.

This volume features articles which employ source-work research to trace Kierkegaard's understanding and use of authors from the Patristic and Medieval traditions. It covers an extraordinarily long period of time from Cyprian and Tertullian in the second century to Thomas A Kempis in the fifteenth. Despite its heterogeneity and diversity in many aspects, this volume has a clear point of commonality in all its featured sources: Christianity. Kierkegaard's relation to the Patristic and Medieval traditions has been a rather neglected area of research in Kierkegaard studies. This is somewhat surprising given the fact that the young Kierkegaard learned about the Patristic authors during his studies at the University of Copenhagen and was clearly fascinated by many aspects of their writings and the conceptions of Christian religiosity found there. With regard to the medieval tradition, in addition to any number of theological issues, medieval mysticism, medieval art, the medieval church, troubadour poetry and the monastic movement were all themes that exercised Kierkegaard during different periods of his life. Although far from uncritical, he seems at times to idolize both the Patristic tradition and the Middle Ages as contrastive terms to the corrupt and decadent modern world with its complacent Christianity. While he clearly regards the specific forms of this Medieval appropriation of Christianity to be misguided, he is nonetheless positively disposed toward the general understanding of it as something to be lived and realized by each individual.