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First Actuality
''Actus primus'', or first actuality, is a technical expression used in scholastic philosophy. The Latin word ''actus'' means determination, complement. In every being there are many actualities, which are subordinated. Thus existence supposes essence; power supposes existence; action supposes faculty. The first actuality (''actus primus'') begins a series; it supposes no other actuality preceding it in the same series, but calls for a further complement, namely, the second actuality (''actus secundus''). But as the same reality may be called "actuality" when viewed in the light of what precedes, and "potentiality" when viewed in the light of what follows (see ''actus et potentia''), the meaning of the term "first actuality" may vary according to the view one takes, and the point where the series is made to begin. Primary matter (see matter and form) is a pure potentiality, and the substantial form is its first determination, its first actuality. The complete substance constit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholastic Philosophy
Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translated scholastic Judeo—Islamic philosophies, and thereby "rediscovered" the collected works of Aristotle. Endeavoring to harmonize his metaphysics and its account of a prime mover with the Latin Catholic dogmatic trinitarian theology, these monastic schools became the basis of the earliest European medieval universities, and scholasticism dominated education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. The rise of scholasticism was closely associated with these schools that flourished in Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and England. Scholasticism is a method of learning more than a philosophy or a theology, since it places a strong emphasis on dialectical reasoning to extend knowledge by inference and to resolve contradictions. Scholastic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition. Latin is a highly inflected language, with three distinct genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), six or seven noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative), five declensions, four ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Essence
Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the entity or substance has contingently, without which the substance can still retain its identity. The concept originates rigorously with Aristotle (although it can also be found in Plato), who used the Greek expression ''to ti ên einai'' (τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, literally meaning "the what it was to be" and corresponding to the scholastic term quiddity) or sometimes the shorter phrase ''to ti esti'' (τὸ τί ἐστι, literally meaning "the what it is" and corresponding to the scholastic term haecceity) for the same idea. This phrase presented such difficulties for its Latin translators that they coined the word ''essentia'' (English "essence") to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Existence
Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontological property of being. Etymology The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval Latin ''existentia/exsistentia'', from Latin ''existere'', to come forth, be manifest, ''ex + sistere'', to stand. Context in philosophy Materialism holds that the only things that exist are matter and energy, that all things are composed of material, that all actions require energy, and that all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of the interaction of matter. Dialectical materialism does not make a distinction between being and existence, and defines it as the objective reality of various forms of matter. Idealism holds that the only things that exist are thoughts and ideas, while the material world is secondary. In idealism, existence is sometimes contrasted with transcendence, the ability to go beyond the limits of existence. As a form of epi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actus Purus
In scholastic philosophy, ''Actus Purus'' ( English: "Pure Actuality," "Pure Act") is the absolute perfection of God. Overview Created beings have potentiality that is not actuality, imperfections as well as perfection. Only God is simultaneously all that He can be, infinitely real and infinitely perfect: ' I am who I am' (Exodus ). His attributes or His operations are really identical with His essence, and His essence necessitates His existence. (Contrast this understanding with the Essence–Energies distinction in Eastern Christian, particularly Palamite, theology). In created beings, the state of potentiality precedes that of actuality; before being realized, a perfection must be capable of realization. But, absolutely speaking, actuality precedes potentiality. For in order to change, a thing must be acted upon, or actualized; change and potentiality presuppose, therefore, a being which is '' in actu''. This actuality, if mixed with potentiality, presupposes another ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actus Et Potentia
In philosophy, potentiality and actuality are a pair of closely connected principles which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his ''Physics'', ''Metaphysics'', '' Nicomachean Ethics'', and ''De Anima''. The concept of potentiality, in this context, generally refers to any "possibility" that a thing can be said to have. Aristotle did not consider all possibilities the same, and emphasized the importance of those that become real of their own accord when conditions are right and nothing stops them. Actuality, in contrast to potentiality, is the motion, change or activity that represents an exercise or fulfillment of a possibility, when a possibility becomes real in the fullest sense. These concepts, in modified forms, remained very important into the Middle Ages, influencing the development of medieval theology in several ways. In modern times the dichotomy has gradually lost importance, as understandings of nature and deity have changed. Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacramental Matter And Form
According to Catholic theology, the sacraments of the Catholic Church can be described in their matter and form. Description The terminology of ''form'' and ''matter'' to describe the sacraments seems to have been first proposed by William of Auxerre. However, the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' states this conceptual view of the sacraments was already present in Augustine of Hippo's writings. The Catechism of the Council of Trent explains this concept this way: "every Sacrament consists of two things; 'matter,' which is called the element, and 'form,' which is commonly called 'the word. The ''matter'' of a sacrament is "that part of a sacrament with which or to which something is done in order to confer grace", "materials used and actions performed". The ''form'' of a sacrament consists of the words and the intention by which the sacrament is effected. For example, the ''matter'' for the sacrament of baptism is water. For baptism, the matter (water) is administered to a recipient alon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ousia
''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary designation for philosophical concepts of '' essence'' or '' substance''. In contemporary philosophy, it is analogous to English concepts of ''being'' and '' ontic''. In Christian theology, the concept of (''divine essence'') is one of the most important doctrinal concepts, central to the development of trinitarian doctrine. The Ancient Greek term (; ''divine essence'') was translated in Latin as or , and hence in English as '' essence'' or '' substance''. Etymology The term is an Ancient Greek noun, formed on the feminine present participle of the verb , , meaning "to be, I am", so similar grammatically to the English noun "being". There was no equivalent grammatical formation in Latin, and it was translated as or . Cicero coined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
