Pregledni rad
Medieval discussion on the question of the World: Thomas Aquinas work De aeternitate mundi
Oliver Jurišić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2155-2248
; Univerzitet u Sarajevu - Katolički bogoslovni fakultet, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina
Sažetak
The aim of this article is to give an overview of discussion about the eternity
of the world in the short work of Thomas Aquinas entitled De aeternitate mundi. With
the discovery of Aristotle’s philosophy, the eternity of the world became an important
philosophical question in medieval thought. With translations and the commentaries
of the Arabic philosophers Avicenna and Averroes on Aristotle, controversy began over
personal immortality as well as over the eternity of the world. This ultmately led the
Bishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier, in 1270 to condemn some of the theses being taught
at Paris University. It was in the same year exactly that Aquinas’ short work is known
to have been published. De aeternitate mundi is believed to have been Aquinas’ response to his opponents, Bonaventure and John Pecham.
The opening section of the article briefly reviews the context in which the
work was written as well as certain terminological differences regarding notions of
time. After reviewing the context the author introduces scholarly opinions regarding
the date of publication of the work. With a few exceptions, most scholars believe that
Aquinas wrote De aeternitate mundi during 1270.
Since some scholars classify Bonaventure and John Pecham as Aquinas’ opponents, the article introduces the positions of both authors regarding the eternity of
the world. It then introduces Aquinas’ position through a survey of some of his works.
Finally, the article introduces the main arguments of Aquinas in De aeternitate mundi making the case that Aquinas took a metaphysical approach to the eternity of the
world and in addition that he argued for the aeviternitas of the world, not aeternitas,
which is the term used specifically for God’s eternity. In this sense Aquinas differs from
his opponents. The article concludes with some observations on the relationship between faith and reason and the actuality of Thomistic philosophy for a scientific view
of the world.
Ključne riječi
Thomas Aquinas; Bonaventure; John Pecham; aeviternitas; aeternitas; metaphysical approach
Hrčak ID:
265680
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2015.
Posjeta: 750 *