Abstraction and Mathematics in Aquinas Commentary on the Physical: beyond Intellectual Operations [Spanish]

Authors

  • Emiliano Javier Cuccia Universidad Nacional de Cuyo CONICET (Argentina)

Abstract

During the 20th century, one of the most debated issues regarding Aquinas’s theory of knowledge was the process of abstraction. Attention was mainly focused on the role of abstraction in the definition of objects of speculative sciences. Leaving aside the particular features (and disparities) of this debate, this paper aims to focus on the analysis of a very peculiar text in which abstraction –still considered as the cause of the distinction of mathematical objects- does not seem to designate some sort of intellectual operation. On the contrary, abstraction there appears as a property of the very mathematical essences or forms. The consequences of this could lead to the revision of some established ideas in Thomistic Epistemology.

Author Biography

Emiliano Javier Cuccia, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo CONICET (Argentina)

Doctor en Filosofía por la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Argentina). Actualmente se desempeña como docente en la misma institución y como becario posdoctoral en el Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONICET). Sus actuales líneas de investigación son: filosofía de la Baja Edad Media, escolástica y Tomás de Aquino.

 

References

<div>Acerbi, A. (2012). Aquinas’s Commentary on Boethius’ De Trinitate. Review of Metaphysics, 66 (2), 317-338.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Aquinatis, T. (1884). Commentaria in octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis Opera omnia iussu impensaque Leonis XIII. P. M. edita (vol. 2). Roma: Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Aquinatis, T. (1889). Pars prima Summae theologiae Opera omnia iussu impensaque Leonis XIII P. M. edita (vol. 5). Roma: Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Aquinatis, T. (1926). Summa Contra Gentiles III Opera omnia iussu edita Leonis XIII P. M. (vol. 14). Roma: Typis Riccardi Garroni.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Aquinatis, T. (1971). In duodecim libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis expositio. In M. R. C. R. M. Spiazzi (Ed.), (2° ed.). Taurini-Romae: Marietti.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Aquinatis, T. (1984). Sentencia libri De anima Opera omnia iussu Leonis XIII P. M. edita (vol. 45/1). Roma-Paris: Commissio Leonina-J. Vrin.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Aquinatis, T. (1992). Super Boethium De Trinitate Opera omnia iussu Leonis XIII P. M. edita (vol. 50, pp. 1-230). Roma-Paris: Commissio Leonina-Éditions Du Cerf.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Aristóteles (2007). Metafísica. Introducción, traducción y notas de Tomás Calvo Martínez. Madrid: Gredos.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Castello Dubra, J. A. (2014). Id quod e Id quo: la especie inteligible y su problemática anexa en Suma Teológica I, q. 85, a. 2. Temas Medievales, 22, 15-49.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Cleary, J. T. (1985). On the Terminology of ‘Abstraction’ in Aristotle. Phronesis, 30 (1), 13-45.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Cory, T. S. (2015a). Averroes and Aquinas on the Agent Intellect’s Causation of the Intelligible. Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales, 82 (1), 1-60.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Cory, T. S. (2015b). Rethinking Abstractionism: Aquinas’s Intellectual Light and Some Arabic Sources. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 53 (4), 607-646.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Cromp, G. (1980). L’ intellect agent et son rôle d’ abstraction. (Tesis doctoral). Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canadá.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Cuccia, E. J. (2015). El problema tomístico de la abstracción. Una reconsideración en torno a la interpretación tradicional y sus limitaciones. Cauriensia, 10, 245-263.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Elders, L. (1974). Faith and science: an introduction to St. Thomas’ Expositio in Boethii De Trinitate. Roma: Herder.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Ferrari, L. C. (1961). ‘Abstractio Totius’ and ‘Abstractio Totalis’. Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review, 24, 72-89.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Ferrari, L. C. (1965). A Thomistic Appraisal of Thomas de Vio Cajetan’s ‘Abstractio Totalis’. Angelicum: Periodicum Trimestre Pontificiae Studiorum Universitatis e Sancto Thoma Aquinate in Urbe, 42, 441-462.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>García Alonso, L. (1984). La abstracción en el pensamiento tomista. Logos, Revista de Filosofía (México), 12, 103-115.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>García López, J. (1975). La abstracción según Santo Tomás. Anuario Filosofico, 8, 205-221.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Geiger, L. B. (1947). Abstraction et séparation d’après s. Thomas ‘In de Trinitate’ q.5, a.3. Revue de sciences philosophiques et théologiques, 31, 3-40.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Gelonch, S. R. M. (2002). Separatio y objeto de la metafísica. Una interpretación textual del Super Boethium De Trinitate, q5 a3, de Santo Tomás de Aquino. Pamplona: EUNSA.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Leroy, M.-V. (1948). Le savoir speculatif. Revue Thomiste: Revue doctrinale de Theologie et de Philosophie, 48 (1-2), 236-339.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Maurer, A. A. (1990). A Neglected Thomistic Text on the Foundation of Mathematics Being and Knowing. Studies in Thomas Aquinas and Later Medieval Philosophers (pp. 33-41). Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Merlan, P. (1953). Abstraction and Metaphysics in St. Thomas’ Summa. Journal of the History of Ideas, 14, 284-291.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Merlan, P. (1975). From Platonism to Neoplatonism (3a  ed.). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Nordberg, K. (1990). Abstraction and Separation in the Light of the Historical Roots of Thomas’ Tripartition of the Theoretical Sciences. In R. Tyorinoja (Ed.), Knowledge and the Sciences in Medieval Philosophy. Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Medieval Philosophy (1987) (vol. III, pp. 144-159). Helsinki: Yliopistopaino.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Nuñez Pliego, J. M. (2008). Abstracción y separación. Estudio sobre la metafísica de Tomás de Aquino. Pamplona: EUNSA.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Pascual Aguirre de C, R. M. (2001). Boecio y la división de las ciencias especulativas en el ‘De Trinitate’. Alpha Omega: Rivista di Filosofia e Teologia dell’Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, 4 (1), 67-86.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Pascual Aguirre de C, R. M. (2003). La división de las ciencias especulativas en Santo Tomás de Aquino. (Tesis doctoral). Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, Roma.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Philippe, M.-D. (1948). Abstraction, addition, separation dans la philosophie d`Aristote. Revue Thomiste: Revue doctrinale de Theologie et de Philosophie, 48/ 1-2, 461-479.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Ramírez, S. M. (1922). De ipsa philosophia in universum secundum doctrinam aristotelico-thomisticam. Ciencia Tomista, 26, 33-62; 325-364.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Rodríguez Arias, J. (1998). Abstracción y ciencia en Santo Tomás de Aquino (I). Ciencia Tomista, 125 (2), 259-316.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Schütz, L. (2006). Thomas-Lexikon. Sammlung, Übersetzung und Erklärung der in sämtlichen Werken des hl. Thomas von Aquin vorkommenden Kunstausdrücke und wissenschaftlichen Aussprüche. E. Alarcón (Ed.), Thomas-Lexikon. Recuperado de http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/tl.html</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Vicente Burgoa, L. (2001). Aristóteles: la Teoría del Conocimiento como «Analítica». Pensamiento: Revista de Investigación e Información Filosófica, 57 (218), 213-250.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Vicente Burgoa, L. (2008). La abstracción científica en el pensamiento maduro de Tomás de Aquino (o en torno a la última destrucción de la metafísica tomista). Estudios Filosóficos, 57 (164), 61-100.</div></div>

Downloads

Published

2017-06-13

Issue

No. 27 (2017): No. 27 July-december 2017

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term "Work" shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
The Author shall grant to the Publisher a nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons 3.0 License Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported CC BY-NC 3.0, or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions: (a) Attribution: Other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;(b) Noncommercial: Other users (including Publisher) may not use this Work for commercial purposes;
4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
5. Authors are permitted, and Eidos promotes, to post online the preprint manuscript of the Work in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work is expected be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Eidos's assigned URL to the Article and its final published version in Eidos.