Universalità e individualità del male: note sul rapporto tra peccato originale e male morale

Thomas Aquinas has developed an answer to the problem of evil within the co-ordinates of the culture of his age, i. e. within the myth of the Genesis and within the Christian tradition integrated by some Aristotelian characters: what we would nowadays call "universal evil" was indicated as the "original sin", the evil actions committed by each individual were the " actual sin". Adam was in possession of the original justice (both natural good and concession of the divine grace), which corresponded to an harmonic articulation of all the human being's components under the aegis of reason, in man's path to the contemplation of God. The first sin was a sin of pride, a desire for one's own excellence, and it caused a misuse of the faculties originally ordered to the ultimate purpose. Formally loss of the original rectitude, the transmission of the sin has in concupiscence (i. e. in a disorder of the desires) its material element. Committed by the forefather of mankind, Adam's sin was not only a personal sin, but a sin of nature which branded each individual forever. Thus, in an unusual (for Thomas) strongly realistic vision, the sin of nature forces on mankind an unavoidable causality: man does not have the faculty, by his natural means, of completely avoiding evil. However, his responsibility is not compromised: man remains free, by following the guide of reason, of fighting against evil, even in the corrupted state of nature. Moral actions represent, for Thomas, the solution to the chasm between an intrinsically good nature and a human condition which has become fallible: by remaining faithful to one's own humanity (intended as image of the creator), by following the guide of reason and by recognising its normative universal character, each individual, within his human limits, is called to fight the battle against the initial inordinatio which determines his condition

Il linguaggio e la comunicazione degli angeli nel pensiero medievale: la concezione di Tommaso d’Aquino

The aim of this contribution is to illustrate the issue of the language and communication of the angels in mediaeval thought, particularly taking the thinking of St Thomas Aquinas as a starting point. We know that in the mediaeval Latin cultural context word and language are called upon to assume an essential role, not only as instruments of pastoral work and preaching, but also as an object of abundant theological and philosophical speculation. In this study the aim is to present the principal theories on the language of the angels present in mediaeval philosophers and theologians; there are, in fact, a great many mediaeval sources that deal with this subject. As it is not possible to include all, particular attention is given to the doctrine of St. Thomas.O objetivo deste contributo é o de ilustrar a problemática da linguagem e comunicação angélicos no pensamento medieval, especialmente a partir do pensamento de S. Tomás de Aquino. Sabemos que no contexto cultural medieval latino a palavra e a linguagem são chamadas a assumir um papel essencial, não apenas enquanto instrumentos da pastoral e da pregação, mas também, enquanto objeto de abundante especulação teológica e filosófica. Neste nosso estudo propomo-nos apresentar os elementos mais relevantes das teorias sobre a linguagem dos anjos presentes nos filósofos e teólogos medievais: são, de facto, numerosas as fontes medievais que se ocupam deste assunto. Não podendo tratar de todos, daremos especial atenção à doutrina de S. Tomás

Appunti sulla metafisica nel pensiero medievale: tra Aristotele e Descartes

Estos apuntes esbozan tres modelos de la metafísica en la Edad Media: los de Tomás de Aquino, Juan Duns Escoto y Maestro Eckhart. Si bien estos autores comparten la herencia y el imponente marco conceptual de la Metafísica de Aristóteles, sus propias sensibilidades y orientaciones filosóficas los llevan a elaborar tres formas distintas de «metafísica». Tomás de Aquino, apoyándose en la interpretación aristotélica de Avicena, considera la metafísica como una ontología general, la cual engloba una teología natural arraigada en la física y la cosmología. Juan Duns Escoto concibe también la metafísica como una ontología, pero la cimenta en un concepto unívoco del ente y rehúye toda intervención de la física en el conocimiento del primer principio de las cosas. Maestro Eckhart rechaza tanto la mediación de la ontología como de la física en la elaboración de la metafísica, que él concibe como una teología negativa que lo lleva a formular el concepto de Dios como "Uno". René Descartes opera una síntesis de la tradición filosófica medieval y de su propia visión de la mecánica: para él la metafísica no es ya cima final de la filosofía, sino raíz de todo saber y garantía de la veracidad de la nueva física