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Order of Contents
Whole of History 1
Time Periods 8
Reformed 10+
Scottish 22+
Christian Platonism 24+
Protestant Reception of Aquinas 4
Thomism & Scholastic Philosophy 10+
Scottish Common Sense Philosophy 3
Occasionalism, Secondary Causes & Concurrence 7
From Form to Corpuscles 7
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On the Whole of History
Copleston, F. – A History of Philosophy, 9 vols. in 3 vols. (1946-1974; New York etc.: Doubleday, 1985)
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On Time Periods
On the Middle Ages
Gilson, Etienne – The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy tr. A. H. C. Downes (1991; repr., Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2009)
Oberman, H.A. – The Harvest of Medieval Theology. Gabriel Biel & Late Medieval Nominalism (1963; repr. Durham, N.C.: Labyrinth Press, 1983)
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On the Renaissance
eds. C.B. Schmitt et al., The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1988)
Woolford, Thomas – Natural Theology & Natural Philosophy in the Late Renaissance PhD diss. (Univ. of Cambridge, 2011)
After surveying the theology of Romanism and Protestantism, this dissertation analyzes works by Raymond Sebond, Philip de Mornay and Lambert Daneau.
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Early Modern Philosophy
eds. J. Kraye & M.W.F. Stone, Humanism & Early Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2000)
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1500’s to 1600’s
eds. C. Blackwell & S. Kusakawa, Philosophy in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries. Conversations with Aristotle (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999)
eds. Garber & Ayers, The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998)
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On Lutheran Philosophy
Kusakawa, S. – ‘Lutheran uses of Aristotle: a Comparison Between Jacob Schegk & Philip Melanchthon’ in eds. C. Blackwell & S. Kusakawa, Philosophy in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries. Conversations with Aristotle (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999), pp. 169–188
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On Reformed Philosophy
Articles
Sytsma, David
‘Sixteenth-Century Reformed Reception of Aquinas’ in The Oxford Handbook of the Reception of Aquinas (2021), pp. 121-143 This is an abstract with a bibliography.
”As a Dwarfe set upon a Gyants shoulders’: John Weemes (ca. 1579-1636) on the Place of Philosophy and Scholasticism in Reformed Theology’ in Philosophie der Reformierten (frommann-holzboog, 2012), pp. 299-321
ch. 1, ‘Richard Baxter as Philosophical Theologian’ in Richard Baxter & the Mechanical Philosophers (Oxford, 2017), pp. 1-22
See a review of the book by Stephen J. Hayhow.
‘Puritan Critics of New Philosophy, ca. 1660-1680’ in Reform & Revival 21 (2018): pp. 116-150
‘Reformed Theology & the Enlightenment’ in The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology (2020), pp. 74-98
Popkin, R.H. – ‘The Religious Background of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy,’ in R.H. Popkin, The Third Force in Seventeenth-Century Thought (Brill, 1992
Woo, B. Hoon – ‘The Understanding of Gisbertus Voetius & René Descartes on the Relationship of Faith & Reason, & Theology & Philosophy’ in Westminster Theological Journal 75, no. 1 (2013): pp. 45–63
Johnson, Charles – ‘Are the Reformed Philosophically Thomist?’ (2023) 20 paragraphs
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Books
eds. Hart, van derHoeven & Wolterstorff – Rationality in the Calvinian Tradition (London: University Press of America, 1983)
Goudriaan, Aza – Reformed Orthodoxy & Philosophy, 1625–1750: Gisbertus Voetius, Petrus Van Mastricht, And Anthonius Driessen Buy (Brill, 2006)
“…focuses on the relationship of theology and philosophy as formulated in the thought of three key Dutch Reformed theologians… All three were at the forefront of the philosophical debates that swirled in the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially instigated by the arrival of Renee Descartes (1596–1650) in the Netherlands in 1628… By studying these three theologians, Goudriaan “seeks to understand better how Dutch Reformed theology integrated and responded to philosophical views in the period from 1625 through 1750.
Voetius, professor of theology at the University of Utrecht, was initially the premier defender against the Cartesian encroachment upon the Dutch Reformed Church that sought to undermine both her theology and piety. This mantle would be taken up by his successor at the university, Petrus van Mastricht. As might be expected, Goudriaan demonstrates that Voetius and Mastricht were in essential agreement with one another in their theology and polemic against Cartesianism as they engaged it from distinctly Reformed premises and commitments.
Goudriaan deals successively with specific loci where the relationship between theology and philosophy was acutely tried and tested, including: reason and revelation; creation and the physical world; the providential rule of God over the world; anthropological issues of the relationship between the soul and the body; and divine and natural law. He notes that both Voetius and Mastricht had aligned themselves with the older Aristotelian philosophy against the newer Enlightenment philosophy, yet the debate was not waged over whose philosophical system was correct. This in itself would have been a losing concession, for it was precisely their aim that Reformed theology not be corrupted by alien philosophical concepts or categories that ultimately undermined Scriptural authority and teaching.
Philosophy was instead viewed by them as an instrument or servant of the most basic Reformed principle, namely, the authority of Scripture as their principium cognoscendi. For them Scripture was not subordinated to philosophy, but philosophy to Scripture. This starting point alone accounted for the full-orbed nature of creation with its rich diversity, including spirits and bodies, heaven and earth, which Cartesian dualism could not account for or bring into any real, dynamic relation. Because of this common commitment to the Reformed principle of Scripture’s authority, Goudriaan observes, “the theological development from Voetius to Driessen supports the broader claim that biblical Christianity outlives the philosophical and conceptual apparatus with whose help it is explained.” To put it another way, philosophy was not the indispensable lord of theology, but its disposable handmaiden—it would, therefore, continue even when philosophies changed or failed.” – Daniel Ragusa
Sytsma, David – Richard Baxter & the Mechanical Philosophers (Oxford, 2017)
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On Scottish Philosophy
Articles
Gellera, Giovanni
‘Descartes in Scotland & Pre-Enlightenment Scottish philosophy’
‘The Epistemology of Sense from Calvin to [Francis] Hutcheson [d. 1746]’ Journal of Scottish Thought, no. 7 (2016), pp. 148-170
Hutcheson (1694-1746)
‘The Scottish Faculties of Arts & Cartesianism (1650-1700)’ History of Universities XXIX (2), pp. 166-187
‘The Doctrine of the Fall in Early Modern Reformed Scholasticism: Philosophy Between Faith & Scepticism’ eds. Zohar Hadromi-Allouche & Áine Larkin, Fall Narratives (Routledge, 2017), pp. 78-89
‘English Philosophers & Scottish Academic Philosophy (1660-1700)’ Journal of Scottish Philosophy, issue 2, vol. 15, (2017), pp. 213-231
‘A Scotistic Answer to a Thomistic Problem. Scotism & the Eucharist in the Seventeenth Century’ Proceedings of the Conference: Implications Philosophiques et Théologiques de la Doctrine Eucharistique, Geneva, 17-18 June 2015
‘Sixteenth-Century Philosophy & Theology after John Mair’ in eds. D. Fergusson & M. Elliott History of Scottish Theology (2019)
‘Logic & Epistemology in the 17th Century Scottish Universities’ in Alexander Broadie, Scottish Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century (2020)
‘Reformed Scholasticism in 17th Century Scottish philosophy’ in Alexander Broadie, Scottish Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century (2020)
‘Calvinist Metaphysics & the Eucharist in the Early Seventeenth Century’ (2013)
“This paper wishes to make a contribution to the study of how seventeenth-century scholasticism adapted to the new intellectual challenges presented by the Reformation. I focus in particular on the theory of accidents, which Reformed scholastic philosophers explored in search of a philosophical understanding of the rejection of the Catholic and Lutheran…”
‘The Scottish Faculties of Arts & Cartesianism (1650–1700)’ Vol. XXIX / 2
‘English Philosophers & Scottish Academic Philosophy (1660–1700)’ (2017)
‘“Calvinist” theory of matter? Burgersdijk & Descartes on res extensa‘
Abstract: “In the Dutch debates on Cartesianism of the 1640’s, a minority believed that some Cartesian views were in fact Calvinist ones. The paper argues that, among others, a likely precursor of this position is the Aristotelian Franco Burgersdijk (1590-1635), who held a reductionist view of accidents and of the essential extension of matter on Calvinist…”
‘Robertson’s Philosophical Theses (1596): between Late Renaissance & Early Modern Scholasticism’ eds. Alexander Broadie & J.S. Reid, Philosophical Discourse in Seventeenth-Century Scotland: Key Texts (The Scottish History Society)
‘The Philosophy of Robert Forbes: A Scottish Scholastic Response to Cartesianism’ Journal of Scottish Philosophy 11(2) (Sept., 2013): 191-211
Abstract: “In the second half of the seventeenth century, philosophy teaching in the Scottish universities gradually moved from scholasticism to Cartesianism. Robert Forbes, regent at Marischal College and King’s College, Aberdeen, was a strenuous opponent of Descartes. The analysis of the philosophy of Forbes and of his teacher Patrick Gordon sheds light on the relationship between Scottish Reformed scholasticism and the reception of Descartes in Scotland.”
‘The Reception of Descartes in the Seventeenth-Century Scottish Universities: Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy (1650-1680)’ Journal of Scottish Philosophy, 2015
“In 1685, during the heyday of Scottish Cartesianism (1670-90), regent Robert Lidderdale from Edinburgh University declared Cartesianism the best philosophy in support of the Reformed faith. It is commonplace that Descartes was ostracised by the Reformed, and his role in pre-Enlightenment Scottish philosophy is not yet fully acknowledged. This paper offers an introduction to Scottish Cartesianism, and argues that the philosophers of the Scottish universities warmed up to Cartesianism because they saw it as a newer, better version of their own traditional Reformed scholasticism, chiefly in metaphysics and natural philosophy.”
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Books
McCosh, J. – The Scottish Philosophy, Biographical, Expository, Critical. From Hutcheson to Hamilton (London: Macmillan, 1875) 480 pp. ToC
Seth, Andrew – Scottish Philosophy; a Comparison of the Scottish & German Answers to Hume (1885) 255 pp. ToC
Laurie, Henry – Scottish Philosophy in its National Development (Glasgow, 1902) 345 pp. ToC
Robinson, Daniel Sommer – Story of Scottish Philosophy: a Compendium of Selections from the Writings of Nine Pre-Eminent Scottish Philosophers, with Biobibliographical Essays (NY: 1961) 285 pp. ToC
Stewart, Michael A. – Studies in the Philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment (Oxford Univ. Press, 1990)
Broadie, Alexander – Scottish Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century Pre (Oxford, 2020)
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Scottish Philosophy Bibliography
Jessop, Thomas Edmund – A Bibliography of David Hume & of Scottish Philosophy from Francis Hutcheson to Lord Balfour (NY: 1966)
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On Christian Platonism
On the Whole of Church History
eds. Hampton, Alexander J. B. & John Peter Kenney – Christian Platonism: a History Ref (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2020) 512 pp.
“…this landmark volume examines the history of Christian Platonism from antiquity to the present day, covers key concepts, and engages issues such as the environment, natural science and materialism.”
Baldwin, Anna & Sarah Hutton – Platonism & the English Imagination Pre (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994) 343 pp. ToC
Markos, Louis – From Plato to Christ: How Platonic Thought Shaped the Christian Faith Ref (InterVarsity Press, 2021) 256 pp.
“…Markos offers careful readings of some of Plato’s best-known texts and then traces the ways that his work shaped the faith of… Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, Dante, and C. S. Lewis.”
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On the Early & Medieval Church
eds. Pavlos, Janby, Emilsson & Tollefsen – Platonism & Christian Thought in Late Antiquity Pre (Routledge) ToC
Rist, John, M. – Platonism & its Christian Heritage Ref (Variorum Reprints, 1985) 318 pp.
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On the Early Church
O’Daly, Gerard – Platonism Pagan & Christian: Studies in Plotinus & Augustine (Ashgate, 2001) 135 pp. ToC
On the Alexandrian School & Clement
Bigg, Charles – The Christian Platonists of Alexandria: 8 Lectures: being the Bampton Lectures of the Year 1886 (Oxford, 1913) 380 pp. ToC
Bigg was an Anglican canon and professor of ecclesiastical history.
Lilla, Salvatore R.C. – Clement of Alexandria: a Study in Christian Platonism & Gnosticism Pre (Wipf & Stock, 1971) 235 pp. ToC
Casey, Robert Pierce – Clement of Alexandria & the Beginnings of Christian Platonism Ref (Gorgias Press, 2007) 63 pp.
“Casey’s survey reveals not only his adept insights into Clement’s thought but also the great breadth of his knowledge of the Greek philosophers and the early Jewish and Christian theologians in the Roman Empire.” – Bookflap
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On Augustine
Dobell, Brian – Augustine’s Intellectual Conversion: The Journey from Platonism to Christianity Pre (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009) 239 pp. ToC
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On the Medieval Church
Henle, R.J. – Saint Thomas & Platonism: A Study of the Plato & Platonici Texts in the Writings of St. Thomas Pre (Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1956) 479 pp. ToC
Walker, Daniel Pickering – The Ancient Theology: Studies in Christian Platonism from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century Ref (Duckworth, 1972) 276 pp.
Siniossoglou, Niketas – Radical Platonism in Byzantium: Illumination & Utopia in Gemistos Plethon Pre (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011) 427 pp. ToC
Pletho (c. 1355/1360–1452/1454) was a Greek scholar and one of the most renowned philosophers of the late Byzantine era. He was a chief pioneer of the revival of Greek scholarship in Western Europe. As revealed in his last literary work, the Nomoi or Book of Laws, which he only circulated among close friends, he rejected Christianity in favour of a return to the worship of the classical Hellenic Gods, mixed with ancient wisdom based on Zoroaster and the Magi.
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1400’s – 1900’s
ed. Kim, Alan – Brill’s Companion to German Platonism Pre (Brill, 2019) 379 pp. ToC
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On the Post-Reformation Era
Harrison, John Smith – Platonism in English Poetry of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries (NY: Columbia Univ. Press, 1903) 250 pp. ToC
Walker, Daniel Pickering – The Ancient Theology: Studies in Christian Platonism from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century Ref (Duckworth, 1972) 276 pp.
eds. Hedley, Douglas & Sarah Hutton – Platonism at the Origins of Modernity: Studies on Platonism & Early Modern Pre (Springer, 2008) 283 pp. ToC
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On the 1500’s
Article
Parker, Eric M. – ”Saint Dionysius:’ Martin Bucer’s Transformation of the Pseudo-Areopagite’ Ref in From Rome to Zurich, between Ignatius & Vermigli: Essays in Honor of John Patrick Donnelly, SJ in Studies in the History of Christian Traditions, vol. 184 (Brill, 2017), pp. 122-45
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Book
Kirby, W.J. Torrance – Richard Hooker, Reformer & Platonist Pre (Ashgate, 2005) 113 pp. ToC
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On the 1600’s
Article
Parker, Eric M. – Ch. 9, ”The Sacred Circle of All-Being’: Cusanus, Lord Brooke & Peter Sterry’ Ref in Nicholas of Cusa & the Making of the Early Modern World in Studies in the History of Christian Traditions, vol. 190 (Brill, 2019), pp. 257-84
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Books
Roberts, James Deotis – From Puritanism to Platonism in Seventeenth Century England Pre (Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1968) 275 pp. ToC
eds. Hedley, Douglas & David Leech – Revisioning Cambridge Platonism: Sources & Legacy Pre (Springer, 2019) 259 pp. ToC
Ch. 3 discusses Jerome Zanchi.
Bryson, James – The Christian Platonism of Thomas Jackson Ref (Peeters, 2016) 228 pp.
William Twisse wrote against Jackson.
“Although Thomas Jackson (1579-1640) is recognized by scholars as the most important theologian of the [Anglican, Arminian] Laudian church, hitherto there has been no comprehensive study of his philosophical theology. The reason for Jackson’s neglect is that scholars have been puzzled by the sources, character and influence of his Christian Platonism.
From a close and comprehensive reading of his magnum opus – a massive twelve book commentary on the Apostle’s Creed – this book shows how Jackson regards the Platonic tradition as an essential and perennial resource for the Christian theologian, anticipating and informing central aspects of Christian theological speculation and belief, given by divine providence to help him interpret and defend his creed. Special attention is paid to the influence of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) on Jackson, an important moment in the history of thought since the German cardinal is generally thought to have been without intellectual successors in the early modern period.”
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On the 1700’s
Hickman, Louise – Eighteenth-Century Dissent & Cambridge Platonism: Reconceiving the Philosophy of Religion Pre (Routledge) ToC
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On the 1800’s & Mormonism
Fleming, Stephen J. – The Fulness of the Gospel: Christian Platonism & the Origins of Mormonism Ref (Univ. of California, 2014) 524 pp.
“Scholars have long wondered about the source of Mormon doctrines, many of which differed significantly from the Protestantism that dominated Joseph Smith’s environment. In 1994 John Brooke’s Refiner’s Fire proposed that Joseph Smith drew on Renaissance ‘hermeticism’, esoteric beliefs… Mormon scholars criticized Brooke, often arguing for ancient connections inaccessible to Smith, while scholars of Western esotericism argued that the concept of hermeticism was problematic and that the esoteric ideas labeled hermetic were actually Platonic.
This dissertation argues that Smith’s quest to restore what he called ‘the fulness of the gospel’, or the complete truth that was missing from contemporary churches and even the Bible itself drew from the thought of Christians influenced by Plato and is best understood as a form of Christian Platonism. Thus, for Smith, ‘the fulness of the gospel’ included the restoration of divination, the central Christian-Platonic doctrine, as well as the rites and priesthood offices needed to achieve it.”
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In the Modern Era
Tyson, Paul – Returning to Reality: Christian Platonism for our Times Pre (ISD) 213 pp. ToC
Tyson examines Christian, platonic concepts in C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. He covers some of Church history and puts forth a case in the last part for an ‘Applied Christian Metaphysics’.
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On Neo-Platonism Historical Theology
On the Whole of Church History
ed. O’Meara, Dominic J. – Neoplatonism & Christian Thought Pre (Norfolk, VA: International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 1982) 293 pp. ToC
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On the Topic Generally
Camus, Albert – Christian Metaphysics & Neoplatonism tr. Ronald D. Srigley Pre (Univ. of Missouri Press, 2007) 135 pp. ToC
The chapters include the topics: Evangelical Christianity, Gnosis, Mystic Reason and Augustine.
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On the Protestant Reception of Aquinas
Article
Haines, David
‘The Use of Thomas Aquinas & Aristotle in Reformed Theology’ 13 pp.
“The Use of Aquinas in Early Protestant Theology” in ed. David Haines, Without Excuse (Davenant Press, 2020)
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Books
Vos, Arvin – Aquinas, Calvin & Contemporary Protestant Thought: A Critique of Protestant Views on the Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Christian University Press, 1985) 195 pp. ToC
eds. Matthew Levering & Marcus Plested, The Oxford Handbook of the Reception of Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Buy, David – “Sixteenth-Century Reception of Aquinas by Luther & Lutheran Reformers”
Sytsma, David – ‘Sixteenth-Century Reformed Reception of Aquinas’
Truman, Carl R. – “The Reception of Thomas Aquinas in Seventeenth-Century Reformed Orthodoxy & Anglicanism”
Mayes, Benjamin T. G. – “Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Reception of Aquinas”
Duby, Steven J. – “Eighteenth- & Nineteenth-Century Reformed, Anglican, & Lutheran Reception of Aquinas”
van Drunen, David – “The Contemporary Reception of Aquinas on the Natural Knowledge of God”
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On Thomism & Scholastic Philosophy
Articles
Intro
Geisler, Norman – ‘Does Thomism Lead to Catholicism?’ 24 paragraphs
Reeves, Ryan – ‘The Significance of Thomas Aquinas’ Ligonier Ministries
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Scholarly
Sacred Congregation of Studies – ‘The Twenty-Four Fundamental Theses Of Official Catholic Philosophy’ (1914) with commentary by P. Lumbreras They are divided into 3 subsections: ontology, cosmology, psychology.
Donnelly, J.P. – ‘Calvinist Thomism’ Viator, vol. 7, pp. 441-55
Haines, David – ‘The Use of Thomas Aquinas & Aristotle in Reformed Theology’
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Books
1800’s
Brothers of the Christian Schools – Elementary Course of Christian Philosophy, based on the Principles of the Best Scholastic Authors, adapted from the French of Brother Louis of Poissy 2nd ed. rev. (NY: Oshea & Co., 1893) 570 pp. ToC
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1900’s
Shallo, Michael W. – Lessons in Scholastic Philosophy (Philadelphia, 1916)
Table of Contents
Introduction: Definition & Division of Philosophy 3
Part 1: Logic: Definition & Division of Logic 5
Bk. 1, Dialectics 6
Bk. 2, Critics 57
Metaphysics: its Definition & Division 119
Part 2: General Metaphysics 121
Part 3: Cosmology 179
Part 4: Rational Psychology 261
Part 5: Natural Theology 319
Index 389
Gilson, Etienne – The Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas authorized 3rd rev. & enlarged ed. trans. Bullough & Elrington (Cambridge, 1929) 390 pp. ToC 6th ed. trans. Shook & Maurer
Wuellner, Bernard J. – Summary of Scholastic Principles Buy Ref (Loyola University Press, 1956) 164 pp.
“Principles may well be regarded as the main part of philosophy. They are among the major discoveries of philosophy, condensing in themselves much philosophical inquiry and insight…
…They serve the student and the reader of philosophy much as legal maxims serve jurists and as proverbs serve the people. They are for scholastic philosophers the household truth of their tradition. This book includes not only all principles of scholastic philosophy, but also exercises to apply the principles to several occasions. The book is useful for all students and professionals in philosophy.” – Bookflap
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2000’s
Cleveland, Christopher – Thomism in John Owen Pre (Routledge, 2013)
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Multi-Volume Set
Grenier, Henri – Thomistic Philosophy 2nd impression (Charlottetown, Canada: St. Dunstan’s University, 1948-50), vol. 1 (Logic), 2 (Metaphysics), 3 (Moral Philosophy), 4 ToC 1, 2, 3, 4 Both a 3 vol. & a 4 vol. edition exists.
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Latin Books
Blanc, Elia – Manual of Scholastic Philosophy, containing, vol. 1: a Scholastic Lexicon, Logic, Ontology, Cosmology; vol. 2: Psychology, Natural Theology, Ethics, Natural Law & an Accurate History of Philosophy (Leiden, 1901) ToC 1, 2 The Preface and the history of philosophy is in French.
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On the Scottish Common Sense Philosophy
Article
Gellera, Giovanni
‘Common Sense & Ideal Theory in 17th Century Scottish philosophy’ in ed. C.B. Bow, Common Sense in the Scottish Enlightenment (Oxford, 2018)
Abstract: “In the 19c James McCosh and many others identified the Common Sense school with ‘Scottish philosophy’ tout court: the supposedly collective ‘Scottish’ reply to Hume was the rejection of scepticism and Ideal Theory. This paper addresses the anticipations of the Common Sense school and its broader place in the history of Scottish philosophy. The 17c Scottish philosophers reacted to Cartesian scepticism with epistemological views which anticipate Thomas Reid: direct realism and perception as a faculty of judgment. Common sense-like views seem to have been a popular strategy against scepticism already before the Common Sense school, thus providing additional evidence for McCosh’s claim of the special role of common sense in the history of Scottish philosophy.”
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Books
ed. Johnston, G.A. – Selections from the Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense (Chicago, 1915) 265 pp. ToC
Davie, George Elder – The Social Significance of the Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense (Univ. of Dundee, 1973)
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On Occasionalism, Secondary Causes & Concurrence
Quote
Andreas Beck
ch. 13, ‘God, Creation, and Providence in Post-Reformation Reformed Theology’, p. 206 in eds. Lehner, Muller, Roeber, The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theology, 1600-1800 (Oxford, 2016)
“Another issue concerned substantial forms. Here, Voetius and others defended a neo-Aristotelian concept because they found it to be more compatible with the Physica Mosaica [Mosaic physics] than early modern alternatives.
The substantial forms could not only explain the classification of ‘kinds’ in the biblical creation account, but also constituted the internal principles of activity in secondary causes. In contrast, the Cartesian mechanistic worldview with its rejection of substantial form seemed to create more difficulties than it might solve. In particular, it implied a denial of genuine secondary causality, leading either to occasionalism or Spinozistic pantheism, as Voetius noted with remarkable foresight (Van Ruler 1995; Goudriaan 2006, 113-33; Beck 2007, 65-69).”
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Articles
Manzo, Silvia – ‘Efficient Causality & Divine Concurrence in the Disputationes Metaphysicae of Francisco Suárez & in the Colombricense’s Commentary to Aristotle’s Physics’ Patristica Et Mediævalia, 31 (2010), pp. 29-42 Ref
Abstract: “In Francisco Suárez’ Disputationes Metaphysicae and the Coimbran commentaries on Aristotle’s works are to be found critical and innovative stances toward Aristotle and Aquinas. As transitional exponents of late Scholasticism at the turn of seventeenth century, their works are relevant case studies to understanding early-modern natural philosophy. Efficient causation is a central issue to such understanding. A particularly controversial point of the views on efficient causation in this background was the exact meaning of divine concurrence with secondary causes. This paper aims to explore Suarez’ (part 1) and the Coimbrans’ (part 2) accounts of efficient causation and divine concurrence in the context of Thomist concurrentism.”
Ruler, J.A. Han van – ‘New Philosophy to Old Standards. Voetius’ Vindication of Divine Concurrence & Secondary Causality’ NAK/DRCH 71 (1991), pp. 58–91
Goudriaan, Aza – ch. 3, ‘The Providence of God, Secondary Causality, & Related Topics’ in Reformed Orthodoxy and Philosophy, 1625-1750 : Gisbertus Voetius, Petrus Van Mastricht, and Anthonius
Driessen Pre (Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 143-242
Sangiacomo, Andrea – ‘Divine Action & God’s Immutability: a Historical Case Study on how to Resist Occasionalism’ European Journal of Philosophy of Religion, 7/4 (Summer 2015), pp. 115-135
Sangiacomo is an associate professor at the faculty of philosophy at the University of Groningen (NL).
Abstract: “Today’s debates present ‘occasionalism’ as the position that any satisfying account of divine action must avoid. In this paper I discuss how a leading [French] Cartesian author of the end of the seventeenth century, Pierre-Sylvain Régis [1632–1707], attempted to avoid occasionalism. Régis’s case is illuminating because it stresses both the difficulties connected with the traditional alternatives to occasionalism (so-called ‘concurrentism’ and ‘mere-conservationism’) and also those aspects embedded in the occasionalist position that should be taken into due account. The paper focuses on Régis’s own account of secondary causation in order to show how the challenge of avoiding occasionalism can lead to the development of new accounts of divine action.”
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Book
Ruler, J.A. Han van – The Crisis of Causality. Voetius & Descartes on God, Nature & Change (Brill, 1995) ToC
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Latin
Calvin, John – An Instruction Against the Fanatical & Furious Sect of the Libertines, which Call Themselves ‘The Spiritual Ones’ in The Smaller Works of John Calvin… (1563)
ch. 13, pp. 184-188
ch. 14, pp. 189-200
ch. 15, pp. 200-205
ch. 16, pp. 205-212
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From Form to Corpuscles, 1500’s-1700’s
Articles
W.R. Newman – ‘“Matter” & “Form”: By Way of a Preface’ in Early Science & Medicine 2 (1997), pp. 215–226
Goudriaan, Aza – 3.2 ‘Substantial Forms’ in ch. 2, ‘Creation, Mosaic Physics, Copernicanism & Divine Accommodation’ in Reformed Orthodoxy and Philosophy, 1625-1750 : Gisbertus Voetius, Petrus Van Mastricht, and Anthonius Driessen Pre (Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 113-125
Sytsma, David – ‘Puritan Critics of New Philosophy, ca. 1660-1680’ in Reform & Revival 21 (2018): pp. 116-150
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Books
eds. Lüthy, Murdoch & Newman – Late Medieval & Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories (Brill, 2001)
Emerton, N.E. – The Scientific Reinterpretation of Form (Cornell Univ. Press, 1984)
Sytsma, David – Richard Baxter & the Mechanical Philosophers (Oxford, 2017)
Abstract: “Drawing on largely unexamined works, including Baxter’s Methodus Theologiae Christianae (1681) and manuscript treatises and correspondence, Sytsma discusses Baxter’s response to mechanical philosophers on the nature of substance, laws of motion, the soul, and ethics. Analysis of these topics is framed by a consideration of the growth of Christian Epicureanism in England, Baxter’s overall approach to reason and philosophy, and his attempt to understand creation as an analogical reflection of God’s power, wisdom, and goodness, or vestigia Trinitatis. Baxter’s views on reason, analogical knowledge of God, and vestigia Trinitatis draw on medieval precedents and directly inform a largely hostile, though partially accommodating, response to mechanical philosophy.”
See a review of the book by Stephen J. Hayhow.
Feser, Edward – Aristotle’s Revenge: The Metaphysical Foundations of Physical and Biological Science Buy (2019) 515 pp.
“Actuality and potentiality, substantial form and prime matter, efficient causality and teleology are among the fundamental concepts of Aristotelian philosophy of nature. Aristotle’s Revenge argues that these concepts are not only compatible with modern science, but are implicitly presupposed by modern science.” – Blurb
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Related Pages