On the concept of subsistence in Thomas Aquinas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21597832 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Raphael Mary Salzillo (0000-0003-3761-9053, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 460-491 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-04 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal for the History of Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0960-8788 • E-ISSN: 1469-3526 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09608788.2025.2461152 |
| OpenAlex | W4408913430 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
The importance of the concept of subsistence for Thomas Aquinas' metaphysics, and especially for his account of human nature, cannot be overstated. Yet few authors have attempted to give a systematic explanation of what subsistence is, often glossing it in terms of the ability of a thing to exist independently. This is unfortunate since this standard gloss on the concept of subsistence is, as an interpretation of Aquinas, demonstrably mistaken. In this paper, I propose a more defensible account of subsistence by first specifying its extension correctly, and then moving to a positive, conceptual explication. In doing so, I take seriously what Aquinas says about the subsistence and operation of both complete substances and subsistent parts of substances, including bodily organs and the human soul
Agriculture · Archaeology · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Subsistence agriculture · Theology · History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Theology and Philosophy of Evil
| Highly cited | No |
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