CAUSALITY AND NATURE IN THOMAS AQUINAS’ COSMOLOGY

Authors

  • Evaniel Brás dos Santos Universidade Estadual de Campinas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5216/phi.v20i1.28101

Keywords:

causality, creation, nature, cosmology.

Abstract

Aquinas’ conception of causality, especially when associated to the notions of creation and nature, grounds his cosmology as presented in the Summa contra gentiles. Two theses are central to this cosmology. The first claims that the divine causality bestows order upon the world. The second in turn maintains that the set of stars, the heaven, rules and moves the sublunar realm, which necessarily occurs due to divine causality. There is therefore an articulation conceived by Aquinas between the two theses. To show this articulation is the aim of this paper. For this, I investigate how Aquinas understands and associates the notions of causality, creation and nature in such a way that it guarantees both divine creation and the operation proper to natural beings, among which stands out the heaven, which, in virtue of continuous locomotion, sets the condition for the actualization of beings’ potentialities.

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Author Biography

Evaniel Brás dos Santos, Universidade Estadual de Campinas

Mestre em Filosofia pela UNICAMP. Doutorando em Filosofia pela UNICAMP. Membro do grupo de pesquisa Revolução Científica dos Séculos XVI e XVII: Origens, Influências e Bases Científicas e Filosóficas (certificado pela UNICAMP e credenciado junto ao CNPq).

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Published

2015-08-31

How to Cite

BRÁS DOS SANTOS, Evaniel. CAUSALITY AND NATURE IN THOMAS AQUINAS’ COSMOLOGY. Philósophos a journal of philosophy, Goiânia, v. 20, n. 1, p. 95–124, 2015. DOI: 10.5216/phi.v20i1.28101. Disponível em: https://revistas.ufg.br/philosophos/article/view/28101. Acesso em: 5 dec. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 1 (2015): Steady Flow

Section

Artigos Originais

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