This monograph, The Knowledge of the First Principles in St. Thomas Aquinas, has a well-articulated vision of the issue addressed, both from the metaphysical and epistemological perspectives. It surveys the nature, roles, and habits of basic principles from the Thomistic view. It is a study directed towards a wise understanding of basic reality.
This monograph is a fundamental theme in Thomism. It deals with the basic ontological principles. From the Thomistic perspective and based on Aristotle, it studies the nature and roles of the essential principles on which reality itself is constructed.
The work starts with a brief historical survey of first principles from the classical period through the modern/post-modern philosophical schools.
The monograph proceeds to study Thomas Aquinas’ understanding and use of the principles along with the possibility of the knowledge of these first principles especially through their habits. It underlines the central position of the habits of the first principles in realistic philosophy.
To determine their proper character, the volume juxtaposes the first ontological principles with some transcendental notions followed by the most basic practical ethical principles. Since there are no demonstrations for the first principles, the work further investigates the evidence and indirect demonstration of these first realistic crucial principles and ends with an accent on transition from principles to a wise vision that culminates in man’s relationship to reality and especially to God
Mary Christine Ugobi-Onyemere
Aquinas First Knowledge Medieval philosophy Ontology Onyemere Principles Reality Saint Thomas Transcendentalism Ugobi
«Ugobi-Onyemere's study is [...] an important and impressive work of scholarship which should be read by all Thomist scholars.»
(Brian Kemple, Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 2018)
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