Aristotle's Metaphysics is foundational for the philosophical study of those speculative objects that extend beyond the realm of natural science: being, unity, goodness—Aristotle here begins the scientific treatment of what transcends the physical. St. Thomas Aquinas's justly renowned commentary, written at the peak of his scholarly life, illuminates what is obscure in Aristotle's text and guides readers through passages that are often dense and impenetrable. Available for the first time in a bilingual edition, complete with Aristotle's Greek, The Aquinas Institute here presents its lovingly prepared edition, perfect for students and scholars alike. In this second volume, Thomas's comments on bks.7-12 of the Metaphysics, which study substance, potency and act, and unity, before concluding with a consideration of the first and highest cause.
Thomas Aquinas was an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis.
He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived as a reaction against, or as an agreement with, his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law and political theory.
The philosophy of Aquinas has exerted enormous influence on subsequent Christian theology, especially that of the Roman Catholic Church, extending to Western philosophy in general, where he stands as a vehicle and modifier of Aristotelianism, which he fused with the thought of Augustine.
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