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743Synchronic Contingency, Instants of Nature, and Libertarian Freedom: Comments on 'The Background to Scotus's Theory of Will'Modern Schookman 72 (2-3): 169-74. 1995.
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140Goodness as transcendental: The early thirteenth-century recovery of an aristotelian ideaTopoi 11 (2): 173-186. 1992.In this paper I investigate the philosophical developments at the heart of what appears to be the earliest systematic formulation of the doctrine of the transcendentals by comparing the first questions of Philip the Chancellor''sSumma de bono (the so-called first treatise on the transcendentals — ca. 1230) with its immediate ancestor, a small group of questions from William of Auxerre''sSumma aurea (ca. 1220). I argue that Philip''s innovative position on the relation between being and goodness,…Read more
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40Boethius’s Claim that all Substances are GoodArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 70 (3): 245-79. 1988.
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14William of Auvergne and Robert Grosseteste (review)International Studies in Philosophy 19 (3): 100-102. 1987.
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71Theory of KnowledgeIn Norman Kretzman & Eleonore Stump (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, Cambridge University Press. pp. 160. 1993.
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31A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy (review)Review of Metaphysics 43 (1): 154-155. 1989.This volume is an important supplement to the two volumes in the series of Cambridge Histories covering the philosophy of the Middle Ages. Dronke's book, which adopts the format of the latter volume, is intended to fill the gap between them. It contains sixteen contributions by fifteen scholars. The contributions are arranged in four parts. The four essays in part 1, "Background," provide useful summaries of the intellectual inheritance that provides the cultural environment for what has been ca…Read more
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150Petit larceny, the beginning of all sin: Augustine’s theft of the PearsFaith and Philosophy 20 (4): 393-414. 2003.In his reflections on his adolescent theft of a neighbor’s pears, Augustine first claims that he did it just because it was wicked. But he then worries that there is something unacceptable in that claim. Some readers have found in this account Augustine’s rejection of the principle that all voluntary action is done for the sake of some perceived good. I argue that Augustine intends his case to call the principle into question, but that he does not ultimately reject it. His careful and resourcefu…Read more
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58Egoistic Rationalism: Aquinas's Basis for Christian MoralityIn Michael Beaty (ed.), Christian Theism and the Problems of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Press. 1990.
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20Book Review: Pseudo-Dionysius and the Metaphysics of Aquinas. Fran O'Rourke. (review)Speculum 69 (3): 866-68. 1994.
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174Ultimate ends in practical reasoning: Aquinas's aristotelian moral psychology and Anscombe's fallacyPhilosophical Review 100 (1): 31-66. 1991.
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16The divine natureIn Eleonore Stump & Norman Kretzmann (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Augustine, Cambridge University Press. pp. 71--90. 2001.
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Gilbert of Poitiers' Metaphysics of GoodnessRecherches de Theologie Et Philosophie Medievales 57-77. 1999.
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4Book Review: Wyclif in His Times. Anthony Kenny. (review)Philosophical Books 28 (3): 152-55. 1987.
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40On a Complex Theory of a Simple God: An Investigation in Aquinas' Philosophical Theology (review)Philosophical Review 101 (4): 956. 1992.
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203How can one search for God?: The paradox of inquiry in Augustine's confessionsMetaphilosophy 39 (1). 2008.The Confessions recounts Augustine 's successful search for God. But Augustine worries that one cannot search for God if one does not already know God. That version of the paradox of inquiry dominates and structures Confessions 1–10. I draw connections between the dramatic opening lines of book 1 and the climactic discussion in book 10.26–38 and argue that the latter discussion contains Augustine 's resolution of the paradox of inquiry as it applies to the special case of searching for God. I cl…Read more
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10Aquinas's Libertarian Account of Free ChoiceRevue International de Philosophie 52 (204): 309-28. 1998.
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41Practical Reasoning and Reasons-Explanations: Aquinas's Account of Reasons Role in ActionIn Scott MacDonald & Eleonore Stump (eds.), Aquinas's Moral Theory, Cornell University Press. 1999.
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82Foundations in Aquinas's ethicsSocial Philosophy and Policy 25 (1): 350-367. 2008.Aquinas argues that practical reasoning requires foundations: first practical principles (ultimate ends) grasped by us per se from which deliberation proceeds. Contrary to the thesis of an important paper of Terence Irwin's, I deny that Aquinas advances two inconsistent conceptions of the scope of deliberation and, correspondingly, two inconsistent accounts of the content of the first practical principles presupposed by deliberation. On my account, Aquinas consistently takes first practical prin…Read more
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14Book Review: Philosophies of Existence: Ancient and Medieval. Parviz Morewedge. (review)Ancient Philosophy 7 259-61. 1987.
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44Aquina's Ultimate Ends: A Reply to GrisezAmerican Journal of Jurisprudence 46 (1): 37-49. 2001.A large part of the ambitious project that Grisez sketches in his paper can reasonably be thought of as developing and extending in interesting ways ideas of Thomas Aquinas. But in Part IV of the paper Grisez dramatically parts company with Aquinas on what might seem a fundamental issue. Aquinas famously holds that human beings find their ultimate fulfillment in beatific vision of God. Grisez tells us that, as he understands that claim, it is false.
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149The Esse/Essentia Argument in Aquinas's De ente et essentiaJournal of the History of Philosophy 22 (2): 157-72. 1984.The purpose of the article is to offer a detailed exegetical analysis of the argument in chapter four of "de ente et essentia" in which aquinas argues for a distinction between "esse" and essence and to develop an interpretation of it on the basis of the analysis. I argue that the reconstructed argument shows that aquinas argues for a real distinction and that he establishes it earlier in the argument than some commentators have thought. I criticize a rival interpretation of the argument defende…Read more
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1Augustine, Confessions (ca. 400)In Jorge J. E. Gracia, Gregory M. Reichberg & Bernard N. Schumacher (eds.), The Classics of Western Philosophy: A Reader's Guide, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 96. 2003.
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19In Memoriam: Norman Kretzmann, 1928-1998Journal of Nietzsche Studies 7 (2): 111-114. 1998.Mos enim amicorum est ut cum amicus ad suam exaltationem vadit, de eius recessu minus desolentur
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50Christian FaithIn Eleonore Stump & Norman Kretzmann (eds.), Reasoned faith: essays in philosophical theology in honor of Norman Kretzmann, Cornell University Press. 1993.
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