tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post2081691143636501553..comments2023-10-04T09:50:08.070-05:00Comments on Logismoi: Ways of Knowing in St Dionysius, Aquinas, & LewisAaron Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-23001727054673904002012-04-08T22:39:39.739-05:002012-04-08T22:39:39.739-05:00Jeremy> Perhaps, but I'm not so sure. Truth...Jeremy> Perhaps, but I'm not so sure. Truths being 'evident through wisdom' sounds like another way of saying that they would be self-evident if our organs of understanding were sufficiently healthy, and surely Aquinas would agree with the Fathers that theological truths are of this kind...or would he? I'm afraid it may take a real Aquinas guy to answer!Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-79662886640656006972012-04-06T17:57:44.226-05:002012-04-06T17:57:44.226-05:00I am far from proficient in Patristics or theology...I am far from proficient in Patristics or theology, but it sounds to me that the difference might be something like this:<br />For Aquinas (as expounded on by Lewis), it sounds like <i>intellectus</i> is exercised whenever a truth that is evident in itself is apprehended. What makes the truth evident in these cases is something about the truth itself; <i>it</i> is <i>self</i>-evident. For Dionysius, on the other hand, it sounds like <i>intellectus</i> is exercised whenever a truth is apprehended through wisdom. The factor that makes the truth evident in these cases is not something straightforwardly internal to that truth. That 1+1=2 is self-evident, and therefore simply grasping its truth is intellectual in Aquinas' sense. Constructing a formal proof that 1+1=2 would be a rational exercise, even if we have already intellectually grasped its truth. Theological propositions, on the other hand, may not be self-evident but are evident through wisdom (i.e., through Christ?, i.e., through revelation?), and therefore intellectual in Dionysius' sense.Take this all with a grain of salt; I know hardly anything about Patristics.Fr. Jeremiahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16294655091425113130noreply@blogger.com