Brief Notices

BRIEF NOTICES Aquinas. By F. C. CoPELSTON, S. J. Baltimore: Peguin Books, 1955. Pp. 268. $0.85. (paper). The distinguished Jesuit has contributed this volume on Aquinas to the Pelican Philosophy Series. It is a thought provoking volume intended mainly for the general student of Philosophy but not without great interest to the specialist. It contains an introduction of sixty-nine pages and subsequent chapters on" The World and Metaphysics"; "God and Creation"; " Man (I) Body and Soul "; Man (2) Morality and Society "; and Thomism. Appended to these chapters are Biographical Notes and an Index. The method of approach is multiple. The author essays, and not without success, the difficult task of giving a synthesis of the basic philosophical principles of Thomism. In this he seems to be unnecessarily troubled on the one hand by the fact that Aquinas wrote no ex professo course in philosophy and on the other by the presumption that St. Thomas' philosophy is theological in its import. Dr. Copleston is eminently an expert in the history and development of philosophical thought and in this area this volume is very enlightening. The historical antecedents of Thomism are presented in proper perspective with emphasis on Aristotelianism. Likewise the contrasts between Thomism and a variety of modern and contemporary philosophies are relevant and suggestive. It seems, however, that the author, as in the question of Essentialism and Existentialism, is a victim of the popular confusion about the Thomistic interpretation. The reader will be especially intrigued by the author's analysis of the nature and the survival of Thomistic metaphysics. Many Thomists will find it difficult to accept the text's explanation of being as being and the emphasis on the intuition of being. Dr. Copleston gives a broadening survey of contemporary Thomism and pays great and just tribute to Maritain and Gilson in this connection. He might have elaborated more the excellence of American Thomists and American Thomistic centers. Some of these, incidentally, will not be pleased with the implications of the term " Thomistic Agnosticism," even though he explains his use of it. Again many will not take without question the author's pessimism about the possibility of reducing Thomistic philosophy to certain fundamental propositions. Despite these debatable points the work is valuable and helpful. 283 ~84 BRIEF NOTICES In Librum de Causis Expositio. S. THOMAE AQUINATIS. Cura et studio CEsLAI PERA, 0. P. Turin: Marietti, 1955. Pp. ~31 with index. In Aristotelis Libros Peri Hermeneias et Posteriorum Analyticorum Expositio . S. THOMAE AQUINATIS. Cura et studio RAYMUND! M. SPIAZZI, 0. P. Turin: Marietti, 1955. Pp. 457 with index. In Octo Libros Physicorum Aristotelis Expositio. S. THOMAE AQUINATis. Cura et studio P.M. MAGGIOLO, 0. P. Turin: Marietti, 1954. Pp. 675 with index. In these latest releases, the publishing house of Marietti gives us two more manual editions of the Leonine text, viz., St. Thomas' commentaries on Aristotle's Physics and on parts of the Organon, and also a good working text for St. Thomas' exposition of de Causis. Though smallest in size, the edition of de Causis is by far the most interesting of these volumes. Lacking the definitive text being prepared by the Leonine Commission, and recognizing that previous versions border on the unintelligible, Fr. Pera and his associates have prepared an interim edition that removes most of the obscurities and gives a readable presentation of St. Thomas' commentary. They also furnish good historical introductions through which the reader can acquaint himself with the evolution of the text on which St. Thomas commented, and its doctrinal content as compared with neo-Platonic and Arabian sources. In accordance with the opinion common in his day, St. Thomas evidently first viewed de Causis as a work of Aristotle, and cited it quite frequently in the various Quaestiones Disputatae, although with some reservations on the authority which should be accorded it. Critical study of the text gradually convinced him of a twofold element in its composition, and this led to the suspicion that the doctrine of the original had been tampered with by Arabian commentators to align it with nco-Platonism. Thus he undertook a detailed exposition of the book to lay bare its genuine teaching, and particularly to refute...