The Importance of the Arabic Philosophical Tradition to the Thought of Thomas Aquinas: Four Striking Examples
摘要
While it is well-known that Thomas Aquinas engaged the Arabic philosophical tradition with detailed critical argumentation, the positive influence of that tradition on the development of his philosophical and theological teachings is much less widely appreciated. In this chapter that positive influence is illustrated for four key doctrines of Thomas: the metaphysics of being, the nature of creation, the attainment of knowledge, and the explanation of ultimate human happiness in seeing God “face-to-face.”