Natural Final Causality and Scholastic Thought

Corey Barnes

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English

Routledge
13 August 2024

Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600; Philosophy of religion; History of religion; Christianity

Series: Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies

This book examines scholastic conceptions of final causality through the methods and concerns of historical theology. It argues the history of final causality is most profitably understood according to the interplay of regularity, order, and intentionality as interpretive categories. Within this analytic framework, the author explores the history and theological implications of final causality from Aristotle to Nicole Oresme, utilizing shifts in the dominant interpretive category to clarify how final causality could change from one of four co-equal explanatory strategies in Aristotle to the cause of causes in Avicenna to a merely metaphorical cause in Walter Chatton. Theological debates – ranging from questions of creation, the relationship of primary and secondary causality and of the ultimate good to secondary goods, the autonomy or instrumentality of nature, and the compatibility of chance with providence – motivated many of these changes. The chapters examine final causality in Aristotle and the commentorial tradition from late antiquity to medieval Arabic sources and then consider in detail various scholastic understandings and uses of final causality. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of historical theology, systematic theology, scholastic thought, and medieval philosophy.

By: Corey Barnes
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032756516
ISBN 10: 1032756519
Series: Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies
Pages: 262
Publication Date: 13 August 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Corey Barnes is Robert S. Danforth Associate Professor of Religion at Oberlin College, USA.