Pozvana predavanja / Keynote lectures

The enduring relevance of Thomistic metaphysics

The centuries-old tradition of Christian philosophy has granted Thomas Aquinas' philosophy the title of philosophia perennis—eternal philosophy. In the presentation under this title, an attempt will be made to highlight the reasons that constitute the enduring relevance of Thomistic metaphysics and the timeless significance of Thomistic philosophy.

First, it will be demonstrated that man is, by nature, a metaphysician—that is, as a rational being experiencing reality, he asks metaphysical questions. Next, it will be shown how he also provides common-sense answers of metaphysical scope to these questions. Finally, since Thomas Aquinas' metaphysics thematizes precisely this essential human experience, argumentatively indicating the necessity of grounding reality in Being, it is concluded that Aquinas' metaphysics of Being has lasting philosophical relevance.

At the beginning, the meanings of the term sensory object (sensibilia) is briefly presented, as well as the work of the external and two internal senses, the common sense and imagination, as well as phantasms is shown. The thesis is that the common sense cannot integrate the perceptions of external senses into the perception of material individual. This is a function of the cogitative power (vis cogitativa) since it can perceive incidental sensibles (sensibila per accidens), and the perception of material individual as such is one such incidental sensible. In the second part, the mechanisms by which the intellectual power perceives material objects are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to Thomas’s claim that the cogitative power perceives things ut existens sub natura communi. This is a consequence of the proximity (“touching”, as Thomas says) of this internal sense and the intellect. The cogitative power bridges the epistemological and ontological gap between the senses and the intellect. Without it, there is no intellectual knowledge, because the active intellect abstracts intelligible species from the phantasms of material things, and not from bundles of phantasms of accidents of material things. So, without it, there is no knowledge of primary substances. In conclusion, the relevance of Thomas's insistence on the unity of the human being is highlighted, seen precisely in his understanding of the cogitative power. Also, the rediscovery of Thomas’s solution in Wittgenstein is pointed out.