My colleague, Dan Bonevac, and I are putting the final touches on two manuscripts about Thomas Aquinas’s Five Ways. One is designed for an academic press, and the other for a more popular or “trade” press. We think that the first will probably be appearing in late 2026, and the other a few months later.Continue reading “Two New Books on the Five Ways”
Tag Archives: god
God’s (Finite) Mercy
That God is merciful signifies that God gives to His creatures benefits that go beyond the requirements of justice. If we assume, as Thomas does, that existence itself is a good, then God’s mercy is in evidence in His creating us, since none of us had (prior to existing) a right to exist based onContinue reading “God’s (Finite) Mercy”
God is Just, and Life Still Isn’t Fair
What is required for God to be distributively just? Not very much, according to Thomas Aquinas. It is sufficient that God create a world that makes sense, that obeys reasonable laws, containing things that are well-designed, although never perfectly designed: “Hence Dionysius says (Div. Nom. viii, 4): ‘We must needs see that God is trulyContinue reading “God is Just, and Life Still Isn’t Fair”
“Body, blood, soul, and divinity”
This is the second in a series on the doctrine of transubstantiation. Here I want to focus on further theological reasons for preferring Aristotelian hylomorphism to any kind of substance dualism (like Cartesianism). Here is what the Council of Trent taught about the Eucharist: “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body andContinue reading ““Body, blood, soul, and divinity””
Causal Powers and Natural Teleology
This is second in a series of posts on teleology and the natural law. In my previous post, I sketched the difference between the new natural law and classical Aristotelian-Thomist natural law. Once one has causal power in one’s ontology, one also has teleology. Each causal power is essentially forward-looking: it refers to a possibleContinue reading “Causal Powers and Natural Teleology”
New Natural Law and Natural Teleology
The natural law tradition is rooted in the work of Plato, Aristotle, and others and plays a central and foundation role in the history of Western civilization, in particular, in its conception of ethics, law, and politics. It has played that role simply because it is both profound and correct. Therefore, the task of interpretingContinue reading “New Natural Law and Natural Teleology”
Strictly Uncausable Things
There is a good reason for thinking that the existence of a strictly uncausable thing (the sort of thing that composes any First Cause of the Universe) would have to be atemporal, beyond the limits of time. Any time-bound entity would be the sort of thing that could change and that could conceivably even beginContinue reading “Strictly Uncausable Things”
Defending Universal Causation
The argument for an uncausable First Cause sketched in earlier posts relies on a principle of Universal Causation. The principle of Universal Causation is a fundamental principle of reason. As such, its truth cannot be demonstrated from more fundamental principles. However, I can argue for the principle dialectically, pointing out the unacceptably high price ofContinue reading “Defending Universal Causation”
The Pluralization Argument
My second argument for a First Cause relies on the Pluralized version of the principle of Universal Causation. Let’s assume again that the Universe exists, that is, that there are some broadly causable things. Is the Universe itself broadly causable? Each member of the universe is broadly causable (by definition). So, we can conceive ofContinue reading “The Pluralization Argument”
Infinite Regresses: The Unsatisfiable Pair Diagnosis
This is a follow-up to a previous post, in which I presented an argument against the conceivability of infinite regresses. Some critics (Schmid and Malpass, forthcoming) have argued that the Patchwork Principle too strong. Perhaps we should add an exception: Revised Patchwork Principle. If (i) a certain causal structure S is conceivable, (ii) a finiteContinue reading “Infinite Regresses: The Unsatisfiable Pair Diagnosis”
The Analytic Thomist 