Being and God - Introduction to Philosophy of Being and to Natural Theology

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GEORGE P. KLUBERTANZ, S.J. MAURICE R. HOLLOWAY, S.J. Saint Louis University

BEING AND GOD An Introduction to

The Philosophy of Being And to

Natural Theology

New York

APPLETON-CENTURY-CROFTS Division of Meredith Publishing Company

IMPRIMI POTEST:

John J. Foley, S.J. Provincial, Wisconsin Province, Linus J. Thro, S.J. Provincial, Missouri Province IMPRIMATUR:

� Joseph Cardinal Ritter Archbishop of St. Louis May 13, 1963

Copyright © 1963 by MEREDITH PUBLISHING COMPANY All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission. For information address the publisher, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Division of Meredith Publishing Company, 34 West 33rd Street, New York 1, New York 683-2 Library of Congress Card Number: 63-15359 Copyright © 1959 by Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. Copyright © 1963 by Meredith Publishing Company PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Foreword many scholastic philosophers have been taking stock of their curricula. As a result of this scrutiny, a growing number of schools has decided to compress the systematic se­ quence of courses and expand their offerings in the history of philosophy. This trend has forced some changes in the traditional course structure. Specifically, more and more philosophy depart­ ments have decided that two semesters of general metaphysics and natural theology were more than they could afford and so have designed single semester courses which include both general meta­ physics and natural theology. Although these departments have expressed general satisfaction with this combined course, instructors who leaned toward an ex­ istential Thomism have had great difficulty in finding an adequate textbook. Many of these teachers admired Father Klubertanz' Introduction to the Philosophy of Being but felt that it did not cover enough natural theology to justify adopting it. By and large, these same philosophers considered Father Holloway's Natural Theology to be the best text for the second metaphysics course. It was natural, then, that someone should suggest to Appleton­ Century-Crofts that they bring out a combined edition for use in a one-semester course. Fortunately, the publishers and the au­ thors liked the idea of a combined text and have carried it through to the publication of the present volume, Being and God. This new text will undoubtedly rank as high for the one-semester course as the individual volumes have ranked in their respective fields. By way of bonus, the suggestion for a single volume abridge­ v IN RECENT YEARS

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FOREWORD

ment of the two texts came just as Father Klubertanz was pre­ paring a second edition of his metaphysics text. Consequently, instructors and students will be able to profit from Father Kluber­ tanz, second thoughts and from the suggestions of his colleagues which he incorporates in the new edition. The new text, of course, also benefits from Father Klubertanz' mastery of the latest Tho­ mistic scholarship. When the idea of a combined text was first suggested, some thought that the work of the two authors might not fit together well enough to make a successful volume. This fear has proved to be groundless, for Fathers Klubertanz and Holloway both come to metaphysics with the same basic viewpoint, that of an existential Thomism. Consequently, the natural theology portion of the volume picks up where the general metaphysics leaves off. The transition is smooth and easy. In a word, the two parts weld into one book, the best in English on Being and God. The task of selecting the sections to be included in the single volume was fairly easy. Nine of the first ten chapters in Father Klubertanz' book give precisely the important points which have to be covered in any metaphysics course. In addition, the struc­ , ture of Father Klubertanz argument was able to be retained, so that nothing had to be wrenched out of context. For the natural theology, Father Hollowafs' excellent summaries made it pos­ sible to cover the whole course in brief. The full text had to be included only for those questions which could be treated fairly fully in a one semester course: the existence of God, the nature of God, and the per£ections of God. The summaries put these sections in context and so make them more intelligible than they would have been if isolated from the rest of the treatise. All in all, Being and God should be a boon to those who teach metaphysics and natural theology in a one-semester course. The book is doctrinally and pedagogically sound; it has behind it two experienced and well known Thomists of proved competency; it is written in a clear and direct style. James V. McGlynn, S.J. University of Detroit

Preface THIS 1s A TEXTBOOK of metaphysics. By calling it a textbook, we wish to indicate, first of all, that it is not a scholarly treatise, but an introductory exposition at the college level. Historical ques­ tions, recondite refinements, and scholarly documentation are not its concern, yet some reference to current views and their his­ torical origins is illuminating even for the most basic exposition. A textbook is for students. It is intended to help them learn something. To learn to be a philosopher is more than to mouth the words philosophers commonly use, yet unless we have a technical and even a sophisticated vocabulary we cannot even talk about metaphysics. But because it is intended to help students get started, it is at best only a beginning. If a student would per­ fectly master this book, he would be a competent beginner; com­ petent, we hope, but certainly a beginner. A textbook can do no more than bring the student to the point where he can intelli­ gently and therefore profitably read the masters. To attain this goal more perfectly, we strongly urge teachers to assign and stu­ dents to read the suggested readings. We hope that at the con­ clusion of the course the student could be somewhat capable of self-instruction under the guidance of St. Thomas Aquinas. The subject of this book is "metaphysics." Aristotle called it "first philosophy"; by this term he and St. Thomas Aquinas mean the full philosophical treatment of being and its Cause, of Being and God. Metaphysics begins with the beings of experience. Its preliminary concern is with the beings of direct experience, not with concepts, not with emotions or guesses ( no matter how noble), not with some logical pre-conditions of experience ( often Vil

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PREFACE

dignified with the impressive term "a priori conditions"). In the beings of experience, and there only, we find what being is, and by an inductive analysis we come to know its intrinsic and ex­ trinsic principles as well as its common attributes. But metaphys­ ics, in its full sense, is more than an "immanent metaphysics," as some recent philosophers would wish it to be; the principles the metaphysician finds in the beings of experience lead him be­ yond experience. And yet the philosophical study of God, which is expounded in the second part of the text, is a continuation of metaphysics and constitutes with it a single science. In natural theology the student uses principles inductively grounded in the beings of his experience to see the necessity for an ontological source of these beings. In demonstrating the existence and nature of this source, which is the fullness of Being, the full scientific value of meta­ physics is achieved. The ways of arriving at God, which in this book are the five ways of St. Thomas, are developed in some detail. And this for two reasons. First, that the student grasp with as much force as possible the necessity of finite being having a here and now ontological ground; and, secondly, that this ground be appreciated in some of its fullness. To come too quickly to God through creatures is to come to Him empty-minded. In fact, what we later go on to say about the nature of God is only a careful explicitation of the metaphysics of the five ways. Our effort in the section on natural theology is to make the student realize the theocentric condition of being, and understand that this center has the mysterious fullness of a source that is at once completely transcendent and immanent. How well the student will realize this depends upon how well he has understood his general metaphysics. Yet philosophy is not the whole of knowledge; it is limited on the one side by the sciences which have their own autonomous validity, and on the other by faith. The sciences, by their proper techniques, are able to give man a detailed knowledge of sensible things which is impossible for philosophy, as well as a practical control over the use of these things. On the other side, a philo­ sophical treatment is inferior to faith in completeness and certi­ tude; it is intrinsically limited to what can be known about being

PREFACE

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