トマス・アクィナスの形而上學研究 (完) : 合成實體の存在と本質について

Abstract

The revival of the ancient Aristotelian tradition through the Metaphysics of S. Thomas Aquinas, in the course of the 13th Century, proved to be a remarkable achievement of S. Thomas' genius. This enabled him to build up a powerful system which gave an answer to quite a number of 'aporiae' left unsolved by Aristotle himself. First of all, S. Thomas gave his own answer to the 'aporia' concerning the notorious ambiguity of the Aristotelian conception of First Philosophy or Metaphysics by making a clear-cut distinction between the field of 'theologia revelationis' and the proper realm of 'theologia naturalis'. The metaphysical system of S. Thomas is so built that it might be fundamentally characterized as a kind of hierarchical order starting from a lower grade of substances to reach a higher one. The human intellect considers first the sensible substances, which are closer to our knowledge, and, from them, passes to the cognition of the existence of God, who is the highest of all substances and consequently the most intelligible in itself although far remote from our human knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to examine and to restate the metaphysical value of this systematic construction, especially as regards the following points : 1--The twofold reciprocal similarities of actus and potentia, as found in substantiae compositae sensibiles, i. e. of forma substantialis and materia, and of esse and essentia. 2--The answers given by S. Thomas to the traditional problems concerning the universalia and the distinction between the first and second substances. The key of the solution has been looked for in what S. Thomas calls esscntia absolute considerata, which is interpreted in this paper as being the original idea of creation such as it exists in the Divine mind.