From 1945 on for two decades, Father William Wade was Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at St. Louis University. This present volume, a recovery of his own 1935 Ph.D dissertation, was originally written under the direction of Vernon J. Bourke, later himself a renowned interpreter of both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Its themes continued to influence Father Wade throughout his life as Chairman and as a teacher of Philosophy. In this last role, he was known for his brilliant use of Socratic method. As a philosopher, he was by the rule of his Jesuit Order, and by choice, a...