Aquinas Against the Averroists: On There Being Only One Intellect

Ralph McInerny, Saint Thomas (Aquinas), Thomas Aquinas

Purdue University Press, 1993 - Intellect - 222 pages

In the mid-1260s in Paris, a dispute raged that concerned the relationship between faith and the Augustinian theological tradition on the one side and secular leaning as represented by the arrival in Latin of Aristotle and various Islamic and Jewish interpreters of Aristotle on the other. Masters of the arts faculty in Paris represented the latter tradition, indicated by the phrase "double truth theory." In 1269, Thomas Aquinas wrote the polemical work On There Being Only One Intellect, Against the Averroists (De unitate intellectus contra averroistas). Thomas is intent on countering two views: first, that intellect is not a faculty of the soul that animates our body, and second, that there is a single intellect existing separately that suffices for all people. Brief as it is, this work puts into play all the significant strands of Thomas's teaching on man - historical doctrinal, philosophical, and theological. It is a valuable source for discussing Thomas's views on the relationship between Aristotle and Christianity and puts to rest the misleading claim that Thomas baptized Aristotle." The introduction places the work historically and sketches the controversy to which it was a contribution. Part 2 includes the Latin Leonine text and McInerny's translation. Part 3 analyzes the basic arguments of Thomas's work and provides a series of interpretive essays meant to make Thomas accessible to today's readers.

Contents

• Aristotle: 2
• Paris 126972: 4
• Siger of Brabant: 7
• PART TWO: 15
• On There Being Only One Intellect Chapter: 17
• Chapter II: 69
• Chapter III: 77
• Chapter IV: 101
• Chapter V: 119
• Analysis: 145
• four Interpretive Essays: 153
• I In Pursuit of the Soul: 162
• I Defining the Soul: 169
• I Aristotles Analysis of Cognition: 177
• I Averroes or Aquinas?: 186
• I Is Soul Equivocal?: 195
• I This Human Being Understands: 203
• I DoubleTruth Theory: 210
• SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY: 213
• INDEX: 217

About the author

Peter A. Kwasniewski is associate professor of philosophy and theology at Wyoming Catholic Colleg

Bibliographic information

• Title: Aquinas Against the Averroists: On There Being Only One Intellect; Purdue University series in the history of philosophy; Series in the History of Philosophy
• Authors: Ralph McInerny, Saint Thomas (Aquinas), Thomas Aquinas
• Publisher: Purdue University Press, 1993
• ISBN: 1557530297, 9781557530295
• Length: 222 pages