New by Stephen L Brock
Queste pagine sono il frutto di anni di insegnamento universitario e di un lungo sforzo per rende... more Queste pagine sono il frutto di anni di insegnamento universitario e di un lungo sforzo per rendere la visione metafisica di san Tommaso d’Aquino accessibile e coinvolgente, pur nel rispetto della complessità della materia e nella fedeltà ai testi originali. Vengono tracciati dei percorsi che costituiscono i passi essenziali di un movimento della mente umana verso una vera e propria conoscenza sapienziale. Per l’Aquinate questa consiste in una conoscenza della causa dell’intera natura dell’essere, ovvero una causa che si trova addirittura aldilà dell’essere stesso. Così, in modo rigorosamente razionale, si arriva alla soglia di ciò che trascende la ragione.
Books–English by Stephen L Brock
Papers–English by Stephen L Brock
Wisdom's Apprentice. Thomistic Essays in Honor of Lawrence Dewan, O.P., 2007
The Thomist, 2001
Aquinas describes transubstantiation as a “conversion” of one substance into another. Yet he den... more Aquinas describes transubstantiation as a “conversion” of one substance into another. Yet he denies any common substrate underlying the succession of substances. Germain Grisez finds this unintelligible. The article's thesis is that Aquinas saw and resolved the basic issue contained in Grisez's objection. The key text stresses a “nature of being” common to the two substances. This nature, it is argued, is univocal. As such it constitutes a continuous object of signification that is both necessary and sufficient for the sacramental action of the words of the consecration. That action can only be understood as a supernatural kind of conversion. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/636840/pdf
The paper argues that Thomas Aquinas's characterization of God as ipsum esse subsistens is not to... more The paper argues that Thomas Aquinas's characterization of God as ipsum esse subsistens is not to be taken to mean that the divine nature is nothing other than the nature of esse or that God is the platonic idea of being. In general, there is no such thing as an esse (actus essendi) that is not the actuality of some form or nature. Thomas's God is not esse without form; He is an esse that is identical with His form. Nor is He merely a subsistent version of universal esse; instead of saying that He is esse itself, subsisting, a more accurate rendering of Thomas would be to say that He is AN esse itself, subsisting (even if in fact He is the only one). Moreover, the divine esse is beyond esse itself. This is because it is not only the perfection signified by the term 'esse' but also all other perfections, in a form that transcends each of them and even all of them together, since it is also utterly simple. On JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/stable/20130777.
Focusing mainly on two passages from the Summa theologiae, the article first argues that, on Aqui... more Focusing mainly on two passages from the Summa theologiae, the article first argues that, on Aquinas’s view, an individual substance, which is the proper subject of being, can and normally does have a certain multiplicity of acts of being (actus essendi). It is only “a certain” multiplicity because the substance has only one unqualified act of being, its substantial being, which belongs to it through its substantial form. The others are qualified acts of being, added on to the substantial being through accidental forms. Having established this thesis, the rest of the article uses it as a basis for an approach to the so-called real distinction between act of being and essence or (more precisely) between act of being and substantial form. This approach is meant to be effective even in an Aristotelian setting where there may seem to be no place for a substantial act distinct from substantial form.
This paper complements my "On Whether Aquinas's Ipsum Esse is 'Platonism'."
Forum. Supplement to Acta Philosophica
The paper is an exploration in the field of Aquinas’s metaphysics of form. The overall aim is to... more The paper is an exploration in the field of Aquinas’s metaphysics of form. The overall aim is to see how certain features that Thomas attributes to form, as form, fit together and present themselves at various levels and in various modes: substantial and accidental, material and immaterial, cognitive and physical, intentional and real, and created and divine. Particular attention is given to two essential properties of form, perfection and determinacy, and to how these relate to a characteristic that Thomas ascribes to forms considered absolutely or just in themselves; namely, their being, in one way or another, common to many and even somehow infinite. The paper concludes with a conjecture about the community of substantial form in a bodily substance.
In this paper I argue for three things. The first is that what Thomas Aquinas calls “intentional... more In this paper I argue for three things. The first is that what Thomas Aquinas calls “intentional existence,” esse intentionale, is actually quite different from what is now called “intentionality.” It is simply a certain mode of existence of forms. The second is that, for Thomas, cognitive existence—the existence by virtue of which something is known—is not always esse intentionale; sometimes it is what he calls “natural existence,” esse naturale. In this case, it is esse naturale that is in the knower. The third regards Thomas’s application of this point to human self-knowledge. I suggest that it highlights and helps to account for an interesting feature of the unique, “first-person” perspective that each of us has on himself, namely, that having this perspective does not entail attributing to oneself some proper quality or set of qualities that distinguishes oneself from all others. Complete article in pdf available on request.
Aquinas's Summa Theologiae. A Critical Guide, 2018
Aquinas famously holds that evil is essentially a privation. It has a positive subject and a pos... more Aquinas famously holds that evil is essentially a privation. It has a positive subject and a positive agent, but no positive nature. It is the mere lack of a positive nature that its subject needs. This account is sometimes deemed insufficient to do justice to all types of evil, especially suffering and malice. The essay examines passages from the Summa theologiae on suffering and moral evil. Going beyond Aquinas’s treatments in other works, these passages bring out other positive aspects of evil, both in the human domain and even in the purely physical order. They thereby significantly enhance the account of evil, and more generally, they also showcase the agility of Aquinas’s philosophical thinking, especially in his mature period. He is known for the simplicity and definiteness of his metaphysical principles, but here he is seen applying them in ways that are anything but jejune or rigid. Particularly striking is the thesis, present in several of the passages, that evil in a subject is always attached to some form in it. This form, just as form, cannot but be positive and, in itself, good. And yet, as entailing the privation, it must ultimately be judged undue and bad.
PDF available upon request.
This article offers an exposition and critical discussion of the account of the truth of practica... more This article offers an exposition and critical discussion of the account of the truth of practical reason in the natural-law theory of Germain Grisez, Joseph Boyle, and John Finnis. The exposition rests mainly on an article published by these authors in 1987. There they argue that “true” is said of theoretical and practical knowledge in radically diverse senses. They also distinguish, within practical knowledge, between two kinds of truth, practical and moral. This distinction is tied to their understanding of relations that obtain among the first principles of practical reason. The essay’s critical discussion raises problems for the account in all three areas and favors the view that “true” means the same for all knowledge. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 15.2 (Summer 2015): 303–329.
In Search of Harmony: Metaphysics and Politics, ed. James G. Hanink, American Maritain Association, 2019
The Thomist, 2005
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/636525/pdf
The Truth About God, and its Relevance for a Good Life in Society (Doctor Communis), 2012
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New by Stephen L Brock
Books–English by Stephen L Brock
“The Specification of Action in St. Thomas: Nonmotivating Conditions in the Object of Intention”
https://www.cuapress.org/9780813234250/action-and-conduct/
https://www.amazon.com/Action-Conduct-Thomas-Aquinas-Theory/dp/0813234255/
Paperback and Epub versions: https://wipfandstock.com/the-light-that-binds.html
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Light-That-Binds-Aquinass-Metaphysics-ebook/dp/B0872JPT14/
Preview: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Light_That_Binds/_dXaDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
hardcover: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Saint-Thomas-Aquinas/dp/1498279783/
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Saint-Thomas-Aquinas-Sketch-ebook/dp/B0195PIIWW/
This book is aimed at helping those who are not experts in medieval thought to begin to enter into Thomas’s philosophical point of view. Along the way, it brings out some aspects of his thought that are not often emphasized in the current literature, and it offers a reading of his teaching on the divine nature that goes rather against the drift of some prominent recent interpretations.
The excerpt that can be downloaded is used with Permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Softcover and epub versions are available from their webpage. Amazon has a kindle version.
Papers–English by Stephen L Brock
PDF available upon request.
“The Specification of Action in St. Thomas: Nonmotivating Conditions in the Object of Intention”
https://www.cuapress.org/9780813234250/action-and-conduct/
https://www.amazon.com/Action-Conduct-Thomas-Aquinas-Theory/dp/0813234255/
Paperback and Epub versions: https://wipfandstock.com/the-light-that-binds.html
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Light-That-Binds-Aquinass-Metaphysics-ebook/dp/B0872JPT14/
Preview: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Light_That_Binds/_dXaDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
hardcover: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Saint-Thomas-Aquinas/dp/1498279783/
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Saint-Thomas-Aquinas-Sketch-ebook/dp/B0195PIIWW/
This book is aimed at helping those who are not experts in medieval thought to begin to enter into Thomas’s philosophical point of view. Along the way, it brings out some aspects of his thought that are not often emphasized in the current literature, and it offers a reading of his teaching on the divine nature that goes rather against the drift of some prominent recent interpretations.
The excerpt that can be downloaded is used with Permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Softcover and epub versions are available from their webpage. Amazon has a kindle version.
PDF available upon request.