Tuesday 25 June 2019

Preparation for the 2 July 2019 Session

Resultado de imagen para the power of the intellectSt Thomas Aquinas's Quaestiones disputatae de veritate contains 29 questions. For our discussion next Tuesday we will only see the first four articles of question 1.

Question One

1. What is truth?

2. Is truth found principally in the intellect or in things?

3. Is truth only in the intellect joining and separating?

4. Is there only one truth by which all things are true?

As you read through, you will find some terms that may sound more familiar after having read De ente et essentia in April 2019, for instance the concepts of being, essence, accident and others. If you wish to refresh them go to this post.

Your only preparation for this July session consists of reading carefully these articles. Try to follow the internal logic in each of them. You may find it tiring, but it's worth it: your intellect will be working out in a mental gym.

Remember you can access a vast number of St Thomas's works in English (and Latin) on this site compiled by the Dominicans in United States. Have a look, even if only to see all the works of Aquinas they have in the site.



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Wednesday 5 June 2019

Clarifications after the 4 June 19 session

Resultado de imagen para bible middle ages vulgataWhich version of the Bible was used in the Middle Ages?

The version of the Bible most widely used during the Middle Ages (especially around St Thomas's time) was the Vulgate, that's the short answer. The Vulgate was translated into Latin from the original texts by St Jerome (d. 420). The main reasons why the Vulgate became so widely used were: its clarity of exposition, the fidelity of its translation and its elegance of diction. By the 9th century it had been adopted by most of Christendom as the most authoritative translation. You can read a very good summary of the history of the Vulgate up to the 20th century by clicking on this link.

What exactly was an articulus?

The articulus, explains Pieper on his Guide to Thomas Aquinas, was the smallest building block of the quaestio disputata (and other forms of writing). It typically contained the following parts:
The question under discussion;
the opposing arguments to the idea the author was going to submit;
an idea contradicting the arguments (n. 2);
the thesis, a synthetic statement where the author advances his own reply to the question (n. 1).
a development addressing each of the opposing arguments (n. 2).


For a good example of this check the structure in any of the twelve articles of Question One of Aquinas's De veritate (the reading for our July 2019 session).

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