Ordering Wisdom. The Hierarchy of Philosophical Discourse in Aquinas by Mark D. Jordan (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 745 and psycholOgical doctrine developed in Bks. I-II in terms of the traditional theme of macrocosm and microcosm. Theologically, the author understands the classical gods as symbolizing intellects, heavenly bodies, or spirits. The allegorizing tendencies of Porphyry and even Proclus are much in evidence, as abundant citation of parallel texts demonstrates. The most important psychological doctrine inherited from the Neoplatonists , albeit greatly simplified and heavily allegorized, is the deification of the divine (Mercury) and human (Philology) intellects. Gersh breaks no new ground in this chapter, but his crisp presentation of Martianus's allegory against the Neoplatonic metaphysical background affords an easy grasp of how he fits into the Platonic tradition. The outstanding virtue of this study is that it assembles the fruits of decades of scholarship and, together with exhaustive textual summaries and quotations, weds Quellenforschung with incisive analysis. It is a gold mine of information for scholars of late antique and medieval philosophy, who now have all the evidence at their fingertips, even if specific interpretations do not always warrant assent. I look forward with great eagerness to the appearance of the subsequent volumes. The bibliography is outstanding and the index of Latin texts is quite useful. In this time of increasingly shoddy copy editing, the University of Notre Dame Press is to be commended for producing such a large and complex book with so few misprints (I noticed fewer than half a dozen, and all of them minor) . Department of Philosophy University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico JOHN BussANICH Ordering Wisdom. The Hierarchy of Philosophical Discourse in Aquinas. By MARK D. JoRDAN. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986. 297 pp., bibliography and index. Hardcover, $35.00. Thomas Aquinas is primarily a theologian. The object of the majority of his works is the revealed God. He is also a philosopher-a great one-although in thiis modality he is much less known. The greater part of his philosophical works are commentaries on Aristotle. Consequently, although his commentaries are masterpieces, the reader does not know how much Thomas ·agrees with the Greek philosopher, and how much his commentaries are his own doctrine. Any serious study of Aquinas as a philosopher is therefore welcome. 746 BOOK REVIEWS The present volume, Ordering Wisdom: The Hierarchy of Philosophical Discourse in Aquinas, by Mark Jordan, is indeed a profound and professional investigation of Aquinas as a philosopher. The scope of Jordan's volume is ambtitious and modest at the same time. Ambitious because there are a lot of philosophical questions discussed in the volume. Modest because the reader cannot expect an exhaustive explanation of the contents of Aquinas's philosophical works. The present work is not easy to read. It is very synthetic and dense, on occasion a little obscure, but always profound and very personal. Jordan 1is a philosopher familiar with his subject. The book is really an "ordering wisdom," which positions the different discourses as part of a whole. Analysis and synthesis are used hand in hand, and the reader feels satisfied with new insights. The texts are presented in relation to their historical sources. We know few studies on Aquinas with so many and valuable references to the sources: Aristotle, Plato, Boethius, Averroes, Avicena, Maimonides, and countless others are to light, and their connection with Aquinas revealed. To know AqUJinas in relation to his philosophical sources is to know him better. Jordan's treatise may become a classical volume for the understanding of Aquinas's philosophy in relation to tradition. The philosophical discourses of appeal to the hut this intelligibility is always incomplete and subordinated to the greater intelligibility of revelation and theology. Jordan never forgets this, and he always reminds us of the intrinsic value of philosophy which, in the end, gives way to a greater wisdom. The quotations of Aquinas are carefully selected and in Latin. This may perhaps narrow the number of readers of this work, but it gains in exactitude and clarity, for no ideal translation can match the original Latin text. For whom is this volume written? What is the purpose of these discourses ? Those who wish to investigate the hooks of Physics and Metaphysics must engross themselves in a...