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  1. Home
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  3. Thomas Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Human Act
  • Cited by 4
  • Can Laurens Löwe, Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities ‘Human Abilities’, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2021
Print publication year:
2021
Online ISBN:
9781108986120
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108986120
Subjects:
Philosophy of Religion, Medieval Philosophy, Religion, Philosophy
  • 32.99 (USD)
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Book description

This book offers a novel account of Aquinas's theory of the human act. It argues that Aquinas takes a human act to be a composite of two power-exercises, where one relates to the other as form to matter. The formal component is an act of the will, and the material component is a power-exercise caused by the will, which Aquinas refers to as the 'commanded act.' The book also argues that Aquinas conceptualizes the act of free choice as a hylomorphic composite: it is, materially, an act of the will, but it inherits a form from reason. As the book aims to show, the core idea of Aquinas's hylomorphic action theory is that the exercise of one power can structure the exercise of another power, and this provides a helpful way to think of the presence of cognition in conation and of intention in bodily movement.

Reviews

This book is an important contribution from a rising scholar who is already making his mark.  Historically well-researched and philosophically incisive, Löwe's account of Act Hylomorphism opens up rich new avenues for considering Aquinas's action theory and will surely become indispensable reading.

Thérèse Cory - University of Notre Dame

‘This book makes an innovative and impressive contribution to the field of Thomistic studies of human agency. … it is also highly original and engaging.’

Colleen McCluskey Source: The Thomist

‘… a powerful and plausible interpretation of Aquinas’s writing on human acts.’

Jeffrey Hause Source: Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

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