Summaries & Keywords

Natalia Kunat, “Egzystencjalna interpretacja Tomasza z Akwinu koncepcji bytu w ujęciu Étienne Gilsona [Étienne Gilson’s Existential Interpretation of Thomas Aquinas’ Concept of Being],” Studia Gilsoniana 5:3 (July-September 2016): 451-464:

SUMMARY: The article attempts to present Étienne Gilson’s approach to Thomas Aquinas’ existential interpretation of being. The French thinker’s apprehension of Aquinas’ system is characterized by accentuating existential perspective within the framework of the analysis of the structure of being. Gilson supported existential Thomism and, consequently, strongly emphasized the role of existence (esse) for being real. The French philosopher was of opinion that the existence of being should be depicted by means of existential judgments that affirm real and specific existence of beings. According to Gilson, the existential judgment of the affirmation-oriented being is the starting point for metaphysics.

KEYWORDS: existential Thomism, being, existence, existential judgment, Étienne Gilson.

Michael Ewbank, “Counterpoint in Explanation of Originative Apprehension,” Studia Gilsoniana 5:3 (July-September 2016): 465-489:

SUMMARY: Originative apprehension often has been examined in recent decades in light of Aquinas’ reflections. Yet there has not always been agreement in regard to what constitutes such, often due to different emphases given by interpreters to aspects of St. Thomas’ analyses articulated in different contexts. Arguably, it is possible to reconcile certain seemingly divergent important interpretations by reflecting on an important, yet somewhat recessive, theme that Thomas adverted to sparingly throughout his career in utilizing analyses of predecessors to forge his own synthesis to explain cognition in terms of being that is centered on the reciprocal priorities of judging and concomitant incomplex abstracting.

KEYWORDS: originative apprehension, Thomas Aquinas, cognition, being, judgment, abstraction.

Fr. Michael Nnamdi Konye, “Dignity, Equality, Freedom: The EU-Policy Values Viewed Personalistically,” Studia Gilsoniana 5:3 (July-September 2016): 491-526:

SUMMARY: The author points out that dignity, equality, and freedom are leading themes of the European Union policy and should be respected and upheld if understood personalistically. He agrues that the subjectivity of the individual person, rather than that of the public state, underlines the context of interpreting those themes which are the liberal values the Western society purports to cultivate. Therefore, he claims that dignity is grounded on the understanding of man as imago Dei, equality is doubly grounded in both the unique identity and incommunicability of each human person, and freedom is doubly grounded in the dual responsibility of each human person for his or her actions as well as the responsibility we share for each human life from conception to natural death.

KEYWORDS: dignity, equality, freedom, European Union, personalism, subjectivity, individual, person, imago Dei, identity, incommunicability, responsibility, human action, human rights.

Wojciech Ziółkowski, “Józefa Tischnera koncepcja tragedii estetycznej: potępienie i usprawiedliwienie [Józef Tischner’s Conception of Aesthetic Tragedy: Condemnation and Justification],” Studia Gilsoniana 5:3 (July-September 2016): 527-543:

SUMMARY: The article undertakes an attempt to unveil the tragic nature of beauty as present in Józef Tischner’s conception of aesthetic tragedy by reflecting on the aesthetic condemnation of the artist and forms of justification sought by him in the realm of beauty. The performed analysis are focused on the course of aesthetic tragedy, beginning with conditions of its coming into being, through forms of its expression, concluding with its term achieved by the parting of its subjects (the artist and his work of art). According to Tischner, it is possible for the artist condemned by his own work of art to find the way out from the framework of aesthetic horizon and all it contains within itself. The artist can overcome his aesthetic condemnation in two ways: he can either disprove the condemnation and demonstrate its falsehood, or replace the beauty in the structure of “the aesthetic I” with some other high value.

KEYWORDS: Józef Tischner, aesthetics, tragedy, condemnation, justification, art, man, woman.

Hugo Costarelli Brandi, “Lo Bello y la belleza en el comentario Tomasino al De Divinis Nominibus [The Beautiful and Beauty in St. Thomas’ Commentary to De Divinis Nominibus],” Studia Gilsoniana 5:3 (July-September 2016): 545-560:

SUMMARY: While St. Thomas Aquinas has not written any separate treaty on beauty, the theme of beauty regularly appears in his writing from its very beginning as that which corresponds with the Platonic doctrine presented by Dionysius the Areopagite in his De Divinis Nominibus. The article is focused on three essential elements in Aquinas’ doctrine on beauty: 1) its identity with the subject, 2) its difference from the reason, and 3) its difference from the good.

KEYWORDS: Thomas Aquinas, Dionysius the Areopagite, beauty, beautiful, De Divinis Nominibus, reason, good.