Feser Edward - Aquinas: A Beginners Guide

Aquinas

A Beginners Guide

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Aquinas

A Beginners Guide

Edward Feser

A Oneworld Book

Published by Oneworld Publications 2009
Reprinted 2010
This ebook edition published by Oneworld Publications 2011

Copyright Edward Feser 2009

The right of Edward Feser to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved

Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available
from the British Library

ISBN 9781780740065

Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India
Cover design by Simon McFadden

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Contents

Acknowledgements

For useful comments on an earlier draft of this book, I thank Christopher Kaczor, my editor Mike Harpley, and an anonymous referee. As always, I thank my beloved wife Rachel and our dear children Benedict, Gemma, Kilian, and Helena for their patience and love. Special thanks are owed to my father, Edward A. Feser, who advised me over twenty years ago that I ought to read Aquinas. You were right, Dad; I wish I had listened to you sooner. I dedicate this book to you.

System of citations

Listed below are the abbreviations used for works of Thomas Aquinas quoted or cited in the text. Unless otherwise indicated within the text, quotations are taken from the translations cited here.

CT	Compendium theologiae . Translated by Cyril Vollert as Light of Faith: The Compendium of Theology (Sophia Institute Press, 1993). References are by part and section number.
DEE	De ente et essentia . Translated by Robert P. Goodwin as On Being and Essence, in Robert P. Goodwin, ed., Selected Writings of St. Thomas Aquinas (Prentice-Hall, 1965). References are by chapter.
DPN	De principiis naturae . Translated by Robert P. Goodwin as The Principles of Nature, in Robert P. Goodwin, ed., Selected Writings of St. Thomas Aquinas (Prentice-Hall, 1965). References are by chapter and paragraph number.
In I Cor	Super Epistolam Primam Pauli Apostoli ad Corinthios . Commentary on St. Pauls first letter to the Corinthians, excerpt translated by Timothy McDermott in Timothy McDermott, ed., Thomas Aquinas, Selected Philosophical Writings (Oxford University Press, 1993).
In DA	Sententia super De anima . Translated by Kenelm Foster and Silvester Humphries as Commentary on Aristotles De Anima (Dumb Ox Books, 1994). References are by book, lecture number, and paragraph number.
In DC	Sententia de caelo et mundo . Translated by Fabian R. Larcher and Pierre H. Conway as Exposition of Aristotles Treatise On the Heavens , in two volumes (College of St. Mary of the Springs, 1964). References are by book and lecture number.
In DH	Expositio in librum Boethii De hebdomadibus . Translated by Ralph McInerny as How are Things Good? Exposition of On the Hebdomads of Boethius, in Ralph McInerny, ed., Thomas Aquinas, Selected Writings (Penguin Books, 1998).
In Meta	Sententia super Metaphysicam . Translated by John P. Rowan as Commentary on Aristotles Metaphysics (Dumb Ox Books, 1995). References are by book, lesson number, and paragraph number.
In NE	Sententia libri Ethicorum . Translated by C. J. Litzinger as Commentary on Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics (Dumb Ox Books, 1993). References are by book, lecture number, and paragraph number.
In PA	Sententia super Posteriora Analytica . Translated by Richard Berquist as Commentary on Aristotles Posterior Analytics (Dumb Ox Books, 2007). References are by book and section number.
In Phys	Sententia super Physicam . Translated by Richard J. Blackwell, Richard J. Spath, and W. Edmund Thirlkel as Commentary on Aristotles Physics (Dumb Ox Books, 1999). References are by book, lecture number, and section number.
QDA	Quaestiones disputatae de anima . Translated by John Patrick Rowan as The Soul (B. Herder, 1949). References are by article number.
QDM	Quaestiones disputatae de malo . Translated by Richard Regan as On Evil , ed. Brian Davies (Oxford University Press, 2003). References are by question number and article number.
QDP	Quaestiones disputatae de potentia Dei . Translated by Lawrence Shapcote as On the Power of God (Newman Press, 1932; reprinted by Wipf and Stock, 2004). References are by question number and article number.
QDV	Quaestiones disputatae de veritate . Translated by Robert W. Mulligan, James V. McGlynn, and Robert W. Schmidt as Truth , in three volumes (Henry Regnery Company, 1954; reprinted by Hackett Publishing Company, 1994). References are by question number and article number.
SCG	Summa contra gentiles . Translated by Anton C. Pegis, James F. Anderson, Vernon J. Bourke, and Charles J. ONeil as On the Truth of the Catholic Faith , in five volumes (Doubleday, 19551957; reprinted as Summa Contra Gentiles by the University of Notre Dame Press, 1975). References are by book, chapter, and paragraph number.

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