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Durand and Suarez on divine causationIn Gregory E. Ganssle (ed.), Philosophical Essays on Divine Causation, Routledge. 2021.
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23Suárez's Metaphysics of Active PowersReview of Metaphysics 74 (1): 43-80. 2020.In the last several years, there has been an uptick of scholarly interest in Aristotelian theories of efficient causation. Much of this interest has focused on the late scholastic figure Francisco Suárez (1548-1617). This paper clarifies an important but neglected aspect of Suárez's theory of efficient causation—namely, his account of active causal powers. Like other Aristotelians, Suárez understands active causal powers as features that enable their subjects to perform certain sorts of actions.…Read more
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71Suárez on Creation and Intrinsic ChangeAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 93 (1): 29-51. 2019.The late scholastic philosopher Francisco Suárez articulates and defends an extraordinarily detailed account of efficient causation. Some of the most interesting and difficult questions connected with this account concern the particular types of efficient causation he acknowledges. This paper clarifies one of the most fundamental distinctions Suárez employs in the course of his treatment of efficient causation—namely, that between motion or change, on the one hand, and creation ex nihilo, on the…Read more
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55Suárez's Non-Reductive Theory of Efficient CausationOxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy 4 (1): 125-158. 2016.This paper examines an important but neglected topic in Suárez’s metaphysics–—namely, his theory of efficient causation. According to Suárez, efficient causation is to be identified with action, one of Aristotle’s ten highest genera or categories. The paper shows how Suárez’s identification of efficient causation with action helps to shed light on his views about the precise nature of efficient causation, and its role in his ontology. More specifically, it shows that Suárez understands efficient…Read more
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114Composite Substances as True Wholes: Toward a Modified Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika Theory of Composite SubstancesCanadian Journal of Philosophy 41 (2): 289-316. 2011.In the Categories Aristotle defined substance as that which is neither predicable of nor in another. In saying that a substance is not predicable of another, Aristotle meant to exclude genera and species from the category substance. Aman is a substance but not man. In saying that a substance is not in another, Aristotle meant to exclude property particulars from the category. A man is a substance, not his color. The Categories treats substances as simples. Though a particular substance, Bucephal…Read more
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