Book contents
- AQUINAS ON METAPHYSICS AS A SCIENCE
- AQUINAS ON METAPHYSICS AS A SCIENCE
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Editions and Translations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1The Problem of the Leaky Hull
- Chapter 2Aquinas on Scientia
- Chapter 3Aquinas on the Subject of Metaphysics
- Chapter 4Aquinas on Metaphysical Properties
- Chapter 5Aquinas on Metaphysical Principles
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Chapter 4 - Aquinas on Metaphysical Properties
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2026
Book contents
- AQUINAS ON METAPHYSICS AS A SCIENCE
- AQUINAS ON METAPHYSICS AS A SCIENCE
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Editions and Translations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1The Problem of the Leaky Hull
- Chapter 2Aquinas on Scientia
- Chapter 3Aquinas on the Subject of Metaphysics
- Chapter 4Aquinas on Metaphysical Properties
- Chapter 5Aquinas on Metaphysical Principles
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter overturns the longstanding consensus that Aquinas identified the transcendentals of De veritate q. 1, art. 1 – that is, thing, one, something, true, and good – as the properties of being. Instead, they should be identified with disjunctive pairs like necessary or contingent, universal or particular, prior or posterior, one or many, and actual or potential. This radical revision in how we think of Aquinas’s account of the properties of being brings with it a corresponding reorientation of Thomistic metaphysics – for if what is primarily “at issue” in Aquinas’s metaphysics is the demonstrability of these disjunctive properties, then Thomistic metaphysics will place a far higher premium on themes like the diversity of being and ontological degree than is typically presented.
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- Aquinas on Metaphysics as a Science , pp. 111 - 147Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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