| Whenever one finishes a work of scholarship and looks back on the long hours devoted to completing the project, one becomes aware that the result is not wholly one's own. A great debt is owed to others. There are some debts that one can repay in life, but in one's intellectual development there are, happily, many debts that one can only acknowledge, and never repay. First I wish to pay tribute to the late Dr. Anton C. Pegis. It was he who first encouraged me to work on St. Thomas' philosophical anthropology and especially on St. Thomas' Questions on the Soul; over the years, first as his student and later as colleague, I learned more from him than from anyone else about how to read St. Thomas. |
| I wish to thank also Maria Carl, my graduate assistant, who checked all the textual references, a demanding and unrewarding task. Dr. Robert Engbring, director of the Marquette University Press, and Mrs. Lois Carlson, his assistant, have been of unfailing help and encouragement. Over the years they have worked tirelessly to help our Press to achieve distinction. |
| There is one other person to whom I owe much more than I can even express. This is the Rev. William E. Dooley, S.J. of our Philosophy Department. When I was about to begin the final revision of my translation, Fr. Dooley offered to read my text and to make suggestions for corrections and improvements. I know of no one more qualified to do this. His mastery of Latin and Greek, his splendid competence in both ancient and mediaeval philosophy, his command of English, all make him to be an unsparing and superlative critic. He read every line of my translation and made hundreds of suggestions for improving both the correctness and the clarity of the text, as well as for achieving felicity of expression. I have adopted nearly all of his suggestions, and I shall probably regret that I did not adopt them all. I am listed as translator, and although I must take responsibility for the final text, I consider Fr. Dooley to be my co-translator. With his usual generosity he also volunteered to compile an Glossary of Terms, and I am sure that many will find this index to be one of the most useful sections of this book. Those who use this edition will have as much reason as I do to be grateful to all that Fr. Dooley has so generously done. |
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