PHIL 768 Disputed Metaphysical Themes in Aquinas

Although there is broad agreement among scholars about the fundamentals of Aquinas's metaphysical thought, there are also significant interpretive disputes between them on key themes. This course will examine these scholarly debates, focusing on a different contested theme each week. Topics will include how Aquinas thinks the subject of metaphysics is discovered; questions of the demonstrative force of his arguments for the real distinction between essence and existence (esse); and whether it belongs solely to metaphysics to prove the existence of God. Some familiarity with both Latin and Aquinas's metaphysics is recommended but is not required.