Theology, Metaphysics, and Physics: Their Limits, Connections, and Relations in the Late Middle Ages

  • Carolina Julieta Fernández Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Keywords: Metaphysics, Theology, Natural science, Thomas Aquinas, Ockham

Abstract

We discuss here if the process of progressive autonomy of science from theology and metaphysics might have had some antecedents in the Later Middle Ages. Firstly, we analyze Aquinas's distinction between revealed and rational theology, as well as his defense of the efficacy of secondary causes. Secondly, we present Ockham's even deeper tendency towards a distinction between Christian theology, metaphysics and natural science. Nevertheless, their effort to support an autonomous science with philosophical foundations is not likely to have had real impact on the following process of distinguishing science from speculation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Amann, É. (1931). Guillaume d’Occam/Vie. Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, vol. XI, cols. 864-876, Paris.

Bianchi, L. (1990). Il vescovo e i filosofi. La condanna parigina del 1277 e l’evoluzione dell aristotelismo scolastico. Bergamo: Pierluigi Lubrina.

Castello Dubra, J. A. (2006). Acerca de la radicalidad de la metafísica de Tomás de Aquino. En Camargo Rodrigues de Souza, J. A. (ed.). ldade Média: tempo da mundo, tempo das homens, tempo de Deus. Porto Alegre: EST Edições, 109-116.

Clagett, M. (1948). Some General Aspects of Physics in the Middle Ages. The History of Science Society, 39(1), 29-44.

De Muralt, A. (1991). L’enjeu de la philosophie médiévale. Leiden/New York/Köln: Brill.

Fernandez, C. (2004). Conocimiento humano y conocimiento teológico en el Prólogo del Comentario a las Sentencias de Ockham. Información filosófica, Revista internacional de filosofía y ciencias humanas, 1(2), 157-170.

Gregory, T. (1966). L’idea di natura nella filosofia medievale prima dell’ingresso della fisica di Aristotele. Il secolo XII. En La filosofia della natura nel Medioevo. Atti del terzo Congreso Internazionale di Filosofia Medievale (Passo della Mendola [Trento], 31 agosto-5 settembre 1964). Milano: Società editrice Vita e pensiero, 27-65.

Grant, E. (1983). La ciencia física en la Edad Media, trad. de Adalberto Weinberger. Ciudad de México: FCE.

Guelluy, R. (1947). Philosophie et Théologie chez Guillaume d’Ockham. Louvain/Paris: E. Nauwelaerts.

Koyré, A. (1961). De l’influence des conceptions philosophiques sur l’évolution des théories scientifiques. En Koyré, A. Études d’Histoire de la Pensée Philosophique, Cahiers des Annales nº 19. Paris: Libraire Armand Colin, 231-249.

Koyré, A. (1990). Los orígenes de la ciencia moderna, una interpretación nueva. En Koyré, A. Estudios de historia del pensamiento científico, trad. de E. Pérez Sedeño y E. Bustos. Madrid: siglo XXI, 51-75 (edición original francesa: Paris, 1973).

Leijenhorst, C., Lüthy, C. & Thijssen, Johannes M.M.H. (2002). The Tradition of Aristotelian Natural Philosophy. Two Theses and Seventeen Answers. En Leijenhorst, C., Lüthy, C., Thijssen, Johannes M.M.H. (eds.). The Dynamics of Aristotelian Natural Philosophy from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century, Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy and Science. Leiden: Brill.

Lohr, Ch. A. (1982). The Medieval Interpretation of Aristotle. En Kretzmann, N., Kenny, A., Pinborg, J. & Stump, E. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 80-98.

Murdoch, J. & Sylla, E. (1981). Anneliese Maier and the History of Medieval Science. En Maierù, A. & Paravicini Bagliani, A. (eds.). Studi sul XIV secolo in memoria di Anneliese Maier. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, nº 151, 7-13.

Obeman, Heiko A. (1981). The Reorientation of the Fourteenth Century. En Maierù, A. & Paravicini Bagliani, A. (eds.). Studi sul XIV secolo in memoria di Anneliese Maier. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, nº 151, 513-530.

Thijssen, Johannes M.M.H. (1991). Some Reflections on Continuity and Transformation of Aristotelianism in Medieval [and Renaissance] Natural Philosophy. Documenti e Studi sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale, II(2), 503-528.

Thijssen, Johannes M.M.H. (2000). Late-Medieval Natural Philosophy: Some Recent Trend in Scholarship. Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévales, LXVII(1), 158-190.

Wykstra, S. J. (2001). Religious Beliefs, Metaphysical Beliefs, and Historiography of Science. Osiris, 16, 29-46.

Published
2008-06-02
How to Cite
Fernández, C. J. (2008). Theology, Metaphysics, and Physics: Their Limits, Connections, and Relations in the Late Middle Ages. Patristica Et Mediævalia, 29, 43-52. Retrieved from http://revistascientificas2.filo.uba.ar/index.php/petm/article/view/7821
Section
Articles