A Thomistic Glossary of Philosophical Terms
A
Act
The act is the reality of being, what a thing truly is. In conjunction with the concept of power, it explains the change or movement of beings, understood as the transition from potency to act. However, act precedes power logically and ontologically because only from the actual can one understand the potential. Act ontologically determines being, thus being its own reality and principle. The act is “what makes it what it is.”
Appetite
Appetite is any tendency or inclination towards an end. As a faculty of the soul, the appetite is the yearning. According to Aquinas, there are two kinds of appetites and therefore two types of appetitive powers: the sensitive appetite, which gives rise to sensuality, and the intellectual appetite, or the will. In turn, the sensitive appetite is divided into two: the irascible appetite and concupiscence. Concupiscible appetite is a tendency towards a perceived sensitive good or a rejection of a perceived sensitive evil. The irascible appetite is a tendency towards a “difficult” to attain sensitive good or a sensitive rejection of a “difficult” to avoid evil.
Axiom
A self-evident truth which forms the basis of a science. Axioms are irreducible core propositions to which all others are reduced.
Azar (Chance)
Azar is that which happens by chance in natural phenomena. Chance refers to what happens exceptionally. It has nothing to do with what always happens, or even with what happens most of the time. That does not mean it is not an actual cause, but its causality is accidental (per accidens). Accidental means that it is not necessary, but does not imply that it is inexplicable or absurd. Chance describes exceptional events that happen when several independent causal series intersect.
B
Boethius
Boethius, born in Rome, was an eclectic philosopher who lived between the 5th and 6th centuries. Aware of living at the end of an era, he made an effort to organize, compile, and interpret many important philosophical works of the ancient world. His translation and commentary of Aristotle’s logical works had great influence in the Middle Ages.
C
Cause, Efficient Cause
The cause is that from which something necessarily follows. It is a principle upon which something positive comes into being with dependence. The Thomistic, and generally Christian, concept of cause differs significantly from the Aristotelian concept. For Aristotle, the cause is an explanatory factor, and there are as many causes as possible explanatory factors. Without denying the sense of explanation, the concept of cause takes on new meaning for Thomas Aquinas and the Scholastics. Cause is that which produces an effect, what makes the effect exist, so that a nexus of ontological dependence exists between cause and effect. This is the reason for the prominence given to the efficient cause over all other causes. The efficient cause is understood as the productive cause, while for Aristotle it was only the initiator or the principle of motion (kinesis).
Crave
To yearn for something.
Knowledge
In a realistic sense, which is that of Thomas Aquinas, knowledge means the apprehension of an object of reality by an individual. Knowledge can be sensible or intelligible. Sensitive knowledge acts through both the external and internal senses. Intelligible knowledge acts through the understanding. The three processes of understanding in the pursuit of intelligible knowledge are simple apprehension, judgment, and reasoning.
E
End
The end is that for the sake of which something is done. The meaning of “end” or “purpose” acquires different shades depending on whether it is used in the physical (or metaphysical) realm or in the moral sphere. In physics and metaphysics, the term points to the production of something. In the moral sphere, the term points to the implementation of something (intentionally). For Thomas Aquinas, the end is what explains why the efficient cause operates. The Scholastics distinguished several kinds of ends: end of the operation and end of the operator, intelligent end and blind end, internal end and external end, immanent end and transcendent end, primary end and secondary end, end in itself and end for something else, natural end and supernatural end.
Ente (Being)
It comes from the Latin ens, present participle of the verb esse (to be) and means “that which is” or “that which has being.” As a participle, being is something that partakes of existence.
Essence
For Aristotle, the essence is what a thing is, not that the thing is, but what it is. Also, the essence is the predicate by which one states what the thing is or how the thing is defined. In the first case, we speak of the metaphysical meaning; in the latter, the logical meaning. In Thomas Aquinas, with the introduction of the term “existence” (esse), the concept of essence changes somewhat. Essence is said to be that by which and in which the thing has being. This is the metaphysical sense. In the logical sense, essence is understood as that which constitutes the thing and answers the question “what is the thing?”
Evidence, Self-Evident
Something is self-evident when it is immediately and directly apparent to a subject. Similarly, we say that a proposition is self-evident when it is considered true without needing demonstration based on another proposition.
Exodus
The second book of the Old Testament, which recounts the Exodus of Israel, led by Moses. The phrase to which the text refers is the answer God gives to Moses when he asks about His name.
Existence
Comes from the Latin word existere, which means “what is there”, “what is outside”. Something exists because it is a thing. In this sense, it coincides with “reality.” Greek thought is not essentially concerned with existence. Medieval thinkers, interested in existence as opposed to essence, were heirs to a creationist culture. For them, saying “something is” is the same as saying “something exists”. The essence is the answer to the question “what is the thing?” (quid sit res) and existence is the answer to the question “if the thing is” (an sit res). The essence is the intelligibility of existence, while existence is the actuality of the thing, its fullness. This fullness of being (esse) is determined and limited in created beings through the essence (essentia). Creatures are composed of essence and existence. The essence acts as potency and existence as act. There is no such composition in God, because His essence coincides with existence.
G
Gender (Genus)
In logic, genus is a class with greater extension and less comprehension than another class, which is the species. Thus, the genus “animal” is a broader category than the species “man.” Within a genus, distinctions can be made based on their extension between proximate genus (smaller extension) and remote genus (greater extension). When a genus includes all species, it is called “summum genus” or “supreme genus.” Examples of this are substance, thing, or being.
God
God is the supreme being, pure act without any admixture of potency. Thomas Aquinas defines God as Ipsum Esse Subsistens. In God, essence coincides with existence, because God’s essence is existence (esse), unlike creatures, in which essence does not match existence, so that existence is limited. Creatures are composed of essence and existence, between which there is a real difference. In God there is no such composition. Thus, God is a necessary being, because His essence implies His existence.
Good
Good can be understood both metaphysically and morally. As a metaphysical good, it is one of the transcendentals of being, that is, a very general property that being has as being, along with truth (verum) and unity (unum). As a moral good, it is defined as something that is desirable. But this does not mean it is subjective: the good is desirable because there is “something” desirable about it.
Good, All Good
It refers to something, in this case someone (God), that is good in the fullest sense: In God there is goodness in all its fullness, without any attribute of evil.
H
Hierarchy of Values
The hierarchy of values refers to the relationship of subordination between different values. Some are preferred over others, so that when choosing, the less preferred are subordinated to the more preferred. The realm of values is the axiological realm. In the text, the hierarchy of values is understood as the gradation of a value, for example, the various degrees of beauty or goodness. The highest degree of value is at the top of the hierarchy and subordinates the other degrees.
Human Nature
For Thomas Aquinas, man is composed of body and soul, where the soul is the form and the body is the matter. The soul is one, but performs different functions: the vegetative function, the sensory function, and the rational function. The latter is the function that most defines man, while he performs the other two through his relationship with the body. The union between soul and body is natural, so the soul cannot perform the sensitive and vegetative functions without the body, nor can the intellect exercise its function without sensory experience, which is why it also needs the body. The soul has no innate ideas.
I
Inclination
Propensity towards something. There are natural and unnatural inclinations. Natural inclinations are those arising from human nature. Because human nature is composed of three parts, there are three types of inclinations: inclinations of the concupiscible nature, inclinations of the irascible nature, and inclinations of the rational nature.
Infinity
The concept of infinity can be understood in two basic ways: 1) as something indefinite due to a lack of limit, and 2) as something entirely actual. If we stick to the first meaning, the concept of infinity refers to something negative or incomplete. This is the meaning it has when we talk about an infinite series. However, when applied to God, the concept of infinity acquires a positive meaning, because He is maximally real, pure act.
L
Law, Natural Law, Positive Law
The classic Thomistic definition is: “an ordinance of reason for the common good”
M
Mal (Evil)
The concept of evil in Aquinas follows the Augustinian tradition. By identifying being with the good, evil is presented as a privation of being. But it is not a general privation (lack of scales in dogs) but a particular privation (blindness in humans). Evil occurs in a subject that, being real, is good, but evil cannot exist in God, who is all good and cannot be the cause of evil. If God allows evil to exist, it is because He takes into account the order, variety, and harmony of the created world. Evil is not an efficient cause but a deficiency.
Metaphysics
Also called First Philosophy or Wisdom, it is the supreme science of natural order. Its object of study is being as being. It covers not only the study of finite beings but also of God, as the first cause of all beings, but only insofar as He is known by the light of human reason. This specific part of metaphysics is called Natural Theology. Metaphysics is also the name given by Andronicus of Rhodes to a series of Aristotle’s writings that, because of their importance, were placed after physics (meta ta physika). The name became established in the philosophical tradition to the point of designating the supreme philosophical knowledge.
Mover (Engine)
That which gives movement to something, which is the cause of its movement. In the created world, everything that moves is moved by another. To move is to move from potency to act, but a being in potency cannot become a being in act unless it is acted upon by a being in act. And that being in act is the mover that moves the being in potency. All movers in the sensible world are moved by another, because being sensible movers, they cannot move themselves (they cannot be in potency and act at the same time and for the same reason). Only God is not moved by anyone, because He is pure act without any admixture of potency. He is the Unmoved Mover.
Movement
It is the passage of an entity from a state of potency to a state of act. Or, more strictly, the act of a being in potency insofar as it is in potency. Or the act of an imperfect being insofar as it is imperfect. Movement can be instantaneous or successive. Instantaneous movement is generation (production of a new entity) or destruction (disappearance of an existing entity). Successive movement is divided according to quantity (increase or decrease), quality (alteration), or place (translation). In any movement, that which is moved is always moved by another, which is the mover.
N
Natural Bodies
Physical objects not manufactured by man but occurring naturally, which have sensible properties, or cause sensitive impressions or stimuli in humans and in biological organisms in general.
Nature
It can be understood in two ways, strictly and broadly. In the strict sense, it means “the intrinsic and essential principle of motion and rest in those things that have it.” It is characteristic of natural beings as opposed to artificial ones. In the broad sense, it opposes natural and supernatural and refers to everything that exists in the world except “grace.” Moreover, nature can also be understood as essence, and in this sense it is defined as “the principle of the operations of each thing.”
Necessary, Absolutely Necessary
That which is necessary is that which is and cannot not be (quod est et non esse non potest). There are several types of necessity. First, there is logical necessity, metaphysical necessity, and physical necessity. Second, there is absolute necessity and relative, conditional, or hypothetical necessity. There is a gradation in forms of necessity, ranging from the absolute to the conditional, and the conditional can be understood as an attenuation of the absolute. God is the Absolutely Necessary Being (non esse non potest).
Nobility
It is said of what stands out for its excellence. And precisely because it stands out, it is known, admired, and esteemed.
Nothing
The problem of nothing arises from the denial of being. What we have is being, and only when it is denied do we get nothing. It is generally accepted as a principle of reason that “nothing comes from nothing” (ex nihilo nihil fit). With the advent of creationist thought, such as Christian thought, the problem of nothing is reformulated, because there is a creator God who created the world from nothing. Nothingness has no power or efficacy, because it is nothing but a concept, which in no way limits divine creative power.
P
Proof
Reasoning that, starting from true premises, reaches a true conclusion. Proof is based on a search for the causes for which a thing is what it is. There are different types of demonstration: propter quid demonstrations, which start from self-evident principles and give the proper and complete reason for a thing, and quia demonstrations, which are not based on self-evident principles or do not provide an adequate reason.
W
Well (Good)
See “Good”
World, World of Sense
For Christians, it is the set of all created things. It coincides with the tangible world, with the exception of angelic beings. The characteristics of the sensible world include motion, finitude, and contingency.