Temps, Dieu, Liberté dans les Commentaires Aristotéliciens de Saint Thomas d’Aquin by S. Decloux, S. J. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Temps, Dieu, Liberte dans les Commentaires AristotelicierM de Saint Thomas d'Aquin. Essai sur la pensee grecque et la pensee chretienne. By S. DEcLoux, S. J. Bruxelles: Desclee de Brouwer, 1967. Pp. 262. In the Introduction the author clearly states his thesis: La pensee grecque aurait constamment privilegie !'aspect d'universalite et d'objectivite , au detriment de Ia singularite et du mouvement de l'acte subjectif. Ariatote , toutefois, dans son opposition a Platon, a voulu porter son interrogation sur Ia singularite irreductible du rolie n et sur le dynamisme du mouvement. Mais cet eflort-nous le verrons-n'a pu etre pousse jusqu'au bout, et les cadres "noetiques" de Ia pensee grecque continuent a regir la pensee du Stagirite. N'a-t-on pu souliguer, a plusieurs reprises, I' "ambivalence" d'Aristote et le "dilemme" auquel il se trouve accule? La pensee chretiennc, au contraire, dans sa refiexion sur le message du salut et dans sa refiexion sur l'lwmme, pose de maniere definitive Ia realite de Ia personne singuliere et de sa liberte historique. C'est qu'elle trouve son point de depart dans Ia foi au Dieu personnel, Pere, Fils et Esprit, et a la communion de " dialogue " qu'il veut instaurer avec l'homme. Du coup, par cette acceptation radicale de la dimension "pneumatique," le " noetique" lui-meme se trouve transforme: de totalite objective, le voici devenu unite spirituelle, d'echange, de partage, de communion. Par Ia conjonction dialectique du " noetique " et du " pneumatique," l'univers et l'histoire humaine, ainsi que Ia vie de chaque homme, peuvent done etre penses, a partir de !'engagement premier d'un Dieu qui, en creant, se comml)nique luimeme a sa creature, et atteint dans une meme generosite Ia totalite de la creation et tous les etres qui Ia " oomposent." 1 It is, therefore, through the use of the twofold " noetique " and " pneumatique ," such as he found them in the work of Maurice Blonde!, that the author attempts to precise the philosophical divergences which exist between the Christian thought of St. Thomas and the thought of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In this perspective the author seeks, in the first chapter, to reinstate the Aristotelian commentaries of St. Thomas in their historical milieu. The second chapter, with its Aristotelian analysis of time and movement, explores the cosmological level of the thought of the philosopher and establishes comparisons with St. Thomas. In the third chapter theological questioning aims at precising the difference between the God of Aristotle and the God of St. Thomas. As for the last chapter, it is "anthropologi1 Op. cit., p. 10. 755 756 BOOK REVIEWS cal " in the sense that it considers the problem of person in Aristotle and St. Thomas. We can see the interest and importance of such a study, one which would merit a point by point examination. For, as the author himself has noted, here the three ages of philosophical thought are touched upon: the cosmological age of Greek thought, the theological age of the Middle Ages, and the anthropological age of the modern epoch. We could say that Greek cosmological thought was a preparation for theological thought, while the latter, in turn, prepared the way for anthropological thought. What is certain is that Christian thought, and in particular that of St. Thomas, reveals a marvelous unity of these three ages. In this perspective the author concludes-and his position is clearest in his conclusion, which is why we somewhat insist on it-by showing the grandeur of St. Thomas's vision regarding God and man: Le Dieu createur suscitant, au coeur de la personne spirituelle, une liberte capable de lui repondre en s'engageant dans une histoire, qu'elle construit en union avec toutes les libertes et dont Dieu est lui-meme la fin.• St. Thomas recognizes that philosophers, at the beginning of their reflection, were oriented toward this progressive discovery but were unable to attain it on account of their desire to "possess the truth": Dieu seul peut en definitive engengrer dans l'histoire des hommes, comme dans sa vie intime, son Verbe eternel; lui seul peut purifier le coeur de l'homme pour lui permettre de recevoir cette...