"Active and Passive Potency" in Thomistic Angelology

ISBN-13: 9789024712953 / Angielski / Miękka / 1972 / 111 str.

Howard P. Kainz; H. P. Kainz

Opis

A. "SEPARATE SUBSTANCES" AND lOR" ANGELS"? It is interesting to note that, in an expressly theological treatise such as the Summa theologiae, St. Thomas generally uses the term "angel", in preference to "separate substance"; while in works with a less explicit theological intent - e. g. the Summa contra gentiles and the De substantiis separatis 1 - he generally prefers the term "separate substance". But at any rate there is little doubt that the two terms, "separate sub- stance" and "angel" have a certain interchangeability and equivalence in the works of St. Thomas. In other words, "the separate substance" is equivalent to "the angel, insofar as its existence and attributes are knowable through human reason alone". And this has led Karl Barth 2 to charge that St. Thomas' angelology is primarily a philosophical presenta- tion, with little relevance to theology. 1 We might say that these works are "philosophical" insofar as arguments from reason are emphasized in them, rather than arguments from revelation or faith. However, as Lescoe points out (in the Introduction to his edition of the De substantUs separatis, p. 8), the treatise on separate substances leads up to theological subject-matter in Ch. 's XVII ff- namely, an exposition of Catholic teaching as found in Sacred Scripture, the Fathers, and especially Dionysius. And Chenu maintains that the Summa contra gentiles is basically a theological work, because it not only leads up to theological subject-matter in Bk.

Spis treści

Preface.- A. “Separate Substances” and/or “Angels”?.- 1. “Philosophy” and “theology”.- 2. The interrelationship of philosophy and theology.- 3. The viability of the separate-substance/angel synthesis.- B. Separate Substances Revisited : The Present Situation.- 1. From the point of view of Thomistic philosophy.- 2. From the point of view of philosophical anthropology.- 3. From the vantage point of faith.- I. Introduction.- II. The Thomistic Doctrine on Potency.- A. The distinction of Actual from Potential Being.- B. Potency as a Principle of Being.- C. The Primordial Types — Active and Passive.- 1. The scope and existential ramifications of “active potency”.- 2. The variety and relative capacities of passive potency.- 3. Comparison of active with passive potency.- D. Subdivisions of Active and Passive Potency.- 1. Subdivisions of active potency.- 2. Subdivisions of passive potency.- III. The Powers of Separate Substances.- A. Problems Arising in the Investigation of These Powers.- B. Means of Demonstration Proposed by St. Thomas.- 1. The Aristotelian method.- 2. The method of Plato and his followers.- 3. Other subsidiary methods mentioned by St. Thomas.- C. The Relationship of Physical Bases to Metaphysical Conclusions.- D. The Power of Self-Motion in Separate Substances.- E. The Power of Intellection in Separate Substances.- 1. Knowledge of self.- 2. Knowledge of God.- 3. Knowledge of other creatures.- 4. The order discernible in integral angelic cognition.- F. The Power of Volition in Separate Substances.- 1. The relationship of intellection to volition in separate substances.- 2. Primary and immediate effects of angelic volition.- 3. The mode of communication of separate substances among themselves.- 4. The way in which separate substances affect purely material creatures.- 5. The role of separate substances in the execution of divine providence.- 6. The influence of separate substances on intellective corporeal creatures.- G. The Hierarchical Disposition of Separate Substances on the Basis of These Powers.- 1. The particularity of the operations of inferior separate substances as contrasted with the universality of the operations of their superiors.- 2. The more universal species and more universal causality of the higher orders.- 3. Natural and supernatural relationship among separate substances.- 4. The angelic order of the “powers”.- IV. The Capacities of Separate Substances.- A. Means of Investigation of These Capacities.- B. The Capacity for Existence (Esse) in Separate Substances.- 1. The immaterial nature of this capacity.- 2. The full and immediate determination of this capacity through esse.- 3. The mode of creation in the case of separate substances.- 4. The durational context of this capacity.- 5. The aeviternal angelic substance as the cause of temporal motions.- 6. Individuation and multiplication of separate substances on the basis of their substantial capacity.- C. The Capacity for Justification in Separate Substances.- 1. The capacity for choosing or rejecting a supernatural end.- 2. The Capacity for Supernatural Knowledge.- D. The Capacity for Local Transmutability in Separate Substances.- E. The Relative Capacities of the Angelic Hierarchies.- Index of Names.