Quins són els valors que regeixen la nostra vida? I per què vivim amb aquests valors i no amb uns altres? «Els valors van cap a on anem nosaltres perquè van amb nosaltres. ¬I mentre fem camí o mentre el busquem, els valors ens alimenten», diu el filòsof.

In this groundbreaking book, Daniel D. Novotny explores one of the most controversial topics of Suarez's philosophy: "beings of reason." Beings of reason are impossible intentional objects, such as blindness and square-circle.

In this paper, I address Francisco Suárez's solution to the problem of the angelic assumption of artificial bodies, dealing in particular with the discussion in his De Angelis (book 4, chapters 33-39). The peculiarity of Suárez's approach lies, in particular, in the fact that it is one of the last major attempts to reformulate scholastic angelology from the ground up, taking into account the new spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Despite this goal, Suárez consistently discusses these issues taking into account Aquinas' (...) earlier discussions, to which I refer presenting the Uncommon Doctor's ideas. I also provide some final remarks on the notion of the body that Suárez's angelology leaves to 17th-century philosophy. (shrink)

This article tries to show that the ens rationis is nothing else but one of the most relevant cases of the pure object. To reach this conclusión, the different position regarding the pure object as those of Meinong, Hartmann Millán-Puelles and the Schoolmen are examined.

The Conversation that Descartes had with Burman on April 16, 1648 sheds light on the meaning of the phrase ens reale, which was common in modern scholastic treatises but unusual under his pen, and thus on the Cartesian concept of realitas. Ens verum et reale, such is the object of mathematics: no less real than that of physics, even if it does not exist out of the mind and requires imagination. As for the object of metaphysics, if it is no (...) less real than that of physics and mathematics, it is both existent and unimaginable. The answers given by Descartes that are examined here are significant samples which in addition show the need to re-edit the Conversation in the light of Clauberg's Opera. (shrink)

Neuere Studien zum Metaphysikentwurf des Suarez kongruieren zwar in der Erklärung der ideengeschichtlichen Grundlagen des Entwurfs und seiner Wirkung auf die Gestaltung der vorkantischen Transzendentaltheorie; dabei vertreten die Autoren jedoch durchaus unterschiedliche Auffassungen in bezug auf die Eigentümlichkeit und den inneren systematischen Zusammenhang des Grundlegungsversuchs, den Suarez in den Disputationes metaphysicae unternimmt.

This review-article examines Daniel Novotny’s new book on entia rationis in Baroque-Age scholasticism. Novotný’s presentation of Francisco Suárez’, Pedro Hurtado’s, Bartolomeo Mastri’s and Bonaventura Belluto’s as well as Juan Caramuel’s theories of beings of reason is discussed. Beyond Novotný’s results, it is pointed out 1) that Suárez’ theory of the causation of beings of reason is anticipated by his explanation of the relationship between formal and objective concepts, and 2) that the traditional division of distinctions of reason lies in the (...) background of some scholastic authors’ differentiation between entia rationis ratiocinatae and entia rationis ratiocinantis; this latter motif is echoed in German Enlightenment metaphysics. (shrink)

Leibniz conceives of God as a “most perfect being.” That means a being whose essence is the conjunction of all perfections, where a perfection is a simple quality and a positive quality – so purely positive that it involves no limitation at all. He also holds that the attributes of all finite substances are derived by limitation from God's perfections. Among the issues examined here about these views is the relation between Leibniz's and Spinoza's conceptions of the relation between God (...) and finite things. The chapter concludes that the mature Leibniz has a solid conceptual basis for distinguishing his pluralism about substances from Spinoza's monism. (shrink)

"Les llengües", afirma l'autor en obrir aquest llibre, "tenen sentit, són mecanismes per a la significació i permeten salar el bit que separa la gent: són el pont privilegiat que ens lliga i que resol definitivament l'aïllament dels individus, cadascun en una riba diferent, però salvats gràcies als signes."En aquest assaig, Jesús Tusón explora els mecanismes pels quals ens arribem a entendre i disecciona les condicions que fan possible el significat. ¿Com és que ens entenem? és un estudi dels usos (...) del llenguatge, documentat i amè a la vegada, escrit amb agilitat i amb exemples sorprenents. (shrink)

This paper examines the multiple semantic functions Aquinas attributes to the verb ‘est’, ranging from signifying the essence of God to acting as a copula of categorical propositions to expressing identity. A case will be made that all these apparently radically diverse functions are unified under Aquinas’s conception of the analogy of being, treating all predications as predications of being with or without some qualification (secundum quid or simpliciter). This understanding of the multiplicity of the semantic functions of this verb (...) as conceived by Aquinas will enable us to have a better understanding of the meaning of his metaphysical claims and arguments. In particular, with this understanding of Aquinas’ conception of being, we will be able to see how Aquinas’s famous “intellectus essentiae” argument for the thesis of the real distinction between essence and existence in creatures can work, despite Anthony Kenny’s arguments to the contrary in his recent book Aquinas on Being. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the formulation of the concept of ‘reality’ between the XV and the XVI centuries by investigating the classification of being of reason and its distinction from real being in...

Although Abelard arrived at a view ofens nearer to Aristotle''s than his sources would suggest, unlike thirteenth-century thinkers he did not work out a view of transcendentals in terms ofens, its attributes and their convertibility. He did, however, regard unity (though not goodness or truth) as an attribute of every thing. At first, Abelard suggested that unity, being inseparable, could not be an accident according to Porphyry''s definition (that which can come and leave a subject without the subject being corrupted): (...) either it is some type of form not classified by Porphyry, or not a form at all. In his later logical work, Abelard argued differently. Unity, he said, is an accidental form, but Porphyry''s definition of an accident must be understood negatively, not as asserting something about what could happen in reality (since the form of unity could never leave its subject) but rather something about an absence of connection: were it,per impossible, to occur, the loss by a subject of its form of unity would not lead to the loss of its specific or generic status. (shrink)

El llamado "argumento de los posibles" desarrollado por Kant en el Beweisgrund está destinado a demostrar la existencia del ens realissimum de la tradición metafísica moderna. El presente estudio pretende explorar la importancia de esta prueba en el contexto global del pensamiento kantiano, a partir de la ambigüedad del concepto de realidad y de su precisión en la filosofía crítica.

Est-il possible de parler de ce qui n’est pas ou d’y penser sans présupposer une forme d’être pour cela même que nous pensons ne pas exister? La vieille énigme parménidienne, qui hante toujours la philosophie contemporaine, est au cœur non seulement de la philosophie médiévale mais aussi des études médiévales, comme en témoigne le récent ouvrage d’Alain de Libera sur la référence vide. L’objet de cette étude est en comparaison beaucoup plus...

There are many peculiar aspects of Aquinas’s metaphysics that have been explored since the revival of interest in his philosophical thought at the beginning of the twentieth century: his real distinction between essence and existence, his notion of participation and the solution to the problem of the one and the many, his arguments for the existence of God. However, Thomas’s notion of ens commune as the subject of metaphysics remains a relatively neglected field of investigation by contemporary commentators. Thus, my (...) intention in this article is to offer an analysis of the major instances in which Thomas employed the specific term ’ens commune’, and to offer some insight into the nature of what Thomas took to be the starting point of metaphysics. (shrink)

Al llibre ¿Què ens fa humans? (2022), Salvador Macip explora la pregunta del títol a través d’un diàleg fructífer entre la ciència i la filosofia. Ara bé, Macip diu que no està interessat en tota la filosofia, sinó només en «la part de la filosofia que ha aplicat el mètode científic » (p. 159). A quina part de la filosofia fa referència exactament? Repassarem les idees principals del llibre de Macip fent especial esment dels filòsofs que es mencionen. Així, podrem (...) tenir una idea més precisa de quina mena de filosofia és la que interessa a Macip. També revisarem breument les referències artístiques incloses al llibre de Macip, ja que el mateix autor afirma que «ciència i art no s’haurien de veure com dues entitats separades (i gairebé antagòniques) […], sinó com components del mateix concepte, el de la cultura humana» (p. 35). (shrink)