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
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from the British Library
ISBN 9781780740065
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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 |
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