The Divine Lamp

To Read Part 1 go HERE.

What follows are some notes of mine on chapter two of Etienne Gilson’s THE PHILOSOPHY OF ST THOMAS AQUINAS. Due to the length of the chapter, and the difficulty of the subject matter, I will deal with it in several posts. Boldfaced numbers refer to the paragraphs in that chapter.

7. In this paragraph Gilson seeks to answer the question “what is the object of metaphysics?” (also called “first philosophy” and “wisdom”) He presents what is basically a summary of Book 1, Chapter 1 of the Summa Contra Gentiles. Here is what St Thomas himself wrote: a. The general use which, in the Philosopher’s opinion, should be followed in naming things, has resulted in those men being called wise who direct things themselves and govern them well. Wherefore among other things which men conceive of the wise man, the Philosopher reckons that it belongs to the wise man to direct things. b. Now the rule of all things directed to an end of government and order must needs be taken from their end: for then is a thing best disposed when it is fittingly directed to its end, since the end of everything is its good. c. Wherefore in the arts we observe that the arts which governs and rules another is the one to which the latter’s end belongs: Thus the medical art rules and directs the art of the druggist, because health which is the object of medicine is the end of all drugs which are made up by the druggist’s art. The same may be observed in the art of sailing in relation to the the art of ship-building, and in the military art in relation to the equestrian are and all warlike appliances. d. These arts which govern others are called master-arts (architectonicae), that is principle arts, for which reason their craftsmen, who are called master-craftsmen (architectores), are awarded the name of wise men. e. Since, however, these same craftsmen, through being occupied with the ends of certain singular things, do not attain to the universal end of all things, they are called wise about this or that thing, in which sense it is said: “As a wise architect, I have laid the foundation;” (1 Cor 3:10) f. whereas the name of being wise simply is reserved to him alone whose consideration is about the end of the universe, which end is also the beginning of the universe: wherefore, according to the philosopher, it belongs to the wise man to consider the highest causes.

Summary of the quote:

a-b. It is common to term a man wise when he is able to direct things to the proper end.

c. Some arts, such as architecture, rule others, such as carpentry and masonry.

d. For this reason they are called master arts, and those proficient in them are termed Master Artists, or Wise Men.

e. They are however called wise only in a certain, limited sense. They are wise only in regard to this or that art.

f. Gilson: “If we imagine, on the contrary, a sage who proposes to consider not such and such a particular end, but the end of all things: He would not be called a sage (i.e., wise man) in such and such an art, but an absolute sage.” The object of metaphysics (wisdom, first philosophy) is the end of all things, “and, since the end of an object is the same as its principal or cause, we meet again the definition of Aristotle: the first philosophy has for its object the study of first causes.”

8. In this paragraph Gilson continues his summary of Book 1, Chapter 1 of the Summa Contra Gentiles. St Thomas writes: a. Now the last end of each thing is that which is intended by the first author or mover of that thing: b. and this first author or mover of the universe is an intellect, as we shall prove further on. c. Consequently the last end of the universe must be the good of the intellect: and this is truth. Therefore truth must be the last end of the whole universe; and the consideration thereof must be the chief occupation of wisdom. d. And for this reason, Divine Wisdom, clothed in flesh, declares that He came into the world to make known the truth, saying (John 13:37): “For this was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth,” Moreover the Philosopher defines the First Philosophy as being the “knowledge of the truth,” not of any truth, but of that truth which is the source of all truth, of that, namely wo that which relates to the first principle of being of all things; wherefore its truth is the principle of all truth, since the disposition of things is the same in truth as in being.

a. The last end of anything is that for which it was made.

b. the first author or mover of all created existence is an intellect.

c. The last end of all created existence is the good of an intellect. The good of an intellect is truth. Truth, then, is the final end of all creation. Truth, being the end of all creation, is the proper object of Wisdom and the Wise man’s contemplation.

d. Metaphysics, or the first philosophy is defined as knowledge of the truth. But it is not knowledge of just any truth “but only that truth which is the source of all truth” (Gilson). When Aquinas writes that “the disposition (final arrangement) of things is the same in truth as in being,” he is saying that truth and being are equivalent. This means that: “A truth which is the source of all truth can be found only in a being which must be the first source of all being” (Gilson). The object of first philosophy therefore is the truth made known By the Word made flesh. God is the proper object of metaphysics since he is the highest (first) cause of all created being.

For more on this, consult the Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 3, Chapter 25; also, lessons 1-3 of St Thomas’ Commentary of the Metaphysics of Aristotle.

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