What It Is to Exist. The Contribution of Thomas Aquinas’s View to the Contemporary Debate

240 Pages·2022·2.026 MB·English

by  Patrick Zoll

Patrick Zoll
What It Is to Exist
Quellen und Studien zur
Philosophie
Edited by
Dominik Perler and Michael Quante
Volume 149
Patrick Zoll
What It Is to Exist
The Contribution of Thomas Aquinas’s View to
the Contemporary Debate
ISBN 978-3-11-099130-7
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-097987-9
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-098012-7
ISSN 0344-8142
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022942224
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
Acknowledgments
This book is based on a manuscript which was accepted by the University of
InnsbruckinApril2022asfulfillingtherequirementsofahabilitation.Thewrit-
ingandcompletionofthemanuscripthasgreatlybenefitedfromthreelongerre-
searchperiodsatSaintLouisUniversity,MO,USA.Iamgratefultothemembers
oftheJesuitcommunities,tothestaffandstudentsoftheCatholicStudiesCen-
ter, to my colleagues at the philosophy department, and to other persons who
made these stays possible, warmly welcomed me, and made me feel truly at
homeduringthesetimes.Inparticular,Iwouldliketomention:MichaelBarber,
GregoryBeabout,VincentBernabéDávila,JustinDaffron,ChadW.Flanders,Tina
Godar,John Greco, Sean Hagerty, Dan Haybron, Don Highberger, Barbara Man-
ning,ColleenMcCluskey,DavidMeconi,ThomasMelancon,HeidiMoore,Ronny
O’Dwyer,ScottRagland,WilliamRegh,SeanSalai,Donald Stump,TheodoreVi-
tali, and John Padberg. I am especially indebted to Michael and Rita Mooney
whose generosity allowed me to accept a position as a postdoctoral fellow
from 2019 to 2020.
OfinvaluablehelpwasEleonoreStump’sdissertationgroupwithitsvarying
members from 2016 to 2021. I would like to mention those with whom a daily
emailroutinebecameajoyfulexperienceofmutualsupportwhenphysicalmeet-
ingswerenolongerfeasibleduringthefirstlockdownsduetothepandemic:Pat-
rick McCaffery, Emily McCarty, Jonathan Nebel, Alexandra Romanyshyn, James
Dominic Rooney, Shannon Sandridge, Hayden Stephan, Katherine Sweet,
Seyma Yazici,Chong Yuan, and Yling Zhou.
Iverymuchappreciatethegeneroushelpofcolleaguesandfriendswhoread
parts of the manuscript, or all of it: Jason Eberl, Joanne Falzon, Domink Fin-
kelde, Ann Garcia, Rosemary Jermann, Ralf Klein, John Peck, James Dominic
Rooney,GeorgSans,JeremySkrzypek,andOliviaWiniger.Theirnumerouscom-
mentsandsuggestionshelpedimprovetheargumentandtheprosesignificantly.
All remaining faults and infelicities are of course only attributable to me.
IwouldliketothankGodehardBrüntrup,BrunoNiederbacher,andTimothy
Pawlfortheir willingness to function asreferees.Theirreportswereveryvalua-
bleandaidedmeinrevisingmymanuscriptforpublication.Adebtofgratitude
is owed to Josef Quitterer for guiding me through the habilitation procedure at
the University of Innsbruck.
I am grateful to the editors of this series, Dominik Perler and Michael
Quante, for accepting my manuscript for publication.Their comments and sug-
gestionswereexceptionallyhelpfulinshapingthefinalformofthebook.Iowe
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110979879-001
VI Acknowledgments
mygratitudetoMarcusBöhmfromDeGruyterforhisuntiringsupportregarding
all technicalities.
A person whom I could have named in nearly all the regards mentioned
above is Eleonore Stump. I would like to single her out because without her
thisbookwouldnothaveseenthelightofday.Sheintroducedmetothethought
of Thomas Aquinas,welcomed me in St. Louis, and provided me with constant
and invaluable feedback at the different stages of this project. It was and is an
honorandprivilegetoworkwithher,notonlybecausesheisanexceptionalre-
searcherbutespeciallybecauseofherwayofteaching,whichisinformedbythe
Jesuit pedagogical ideal of cura personalis—‘care of the whole person.’ Being a
Jesuit myself, it is especially inspiring to witness the potential of this ideal
whenitisputintopracticelikeinhercase.Itisdeeplyconsolingtoseeandex-
perience how her students—and I include myself in this category—flourish as
philosophersandhumanbeingsthroughhercareforthem.Withdeepgratitude
andaffection,Iwouldliketodedicatethisbooktoher,andIhopethatIwillbe
able to paybackat least abitof whatI oweher by tryingtoteach mystudents
with the same patience,dedication, and care.
Contents
List of Abbreviations XI
Introduction 1
Part I: The Contemporary Debate About the Nature Question
 The Non-Reductive-Object View 31
. The Core Idea of the View 31
. Three Problems 32
.. AVicious Circularity 32
.. Existence Is Neither an Essential Nor an Accidental Property of an Ob-
ject That Has It 33
.. This View Does Not Explain What It Is Supposed to Explain 40
 The Reductive-Object View 44
. The Core Idea of Peter van Inwagen’s Version of This View 44
.. A General Problem with This View 44
.. Van Inwagen’s Attempt to Solve This Problem 46
.. Van Inwagen’s Motivation 48
. Three Problems 54
.. Reductionism Does Not Work 54
.. Existence Is Not an Essential Property of an Object 59
.. Not All Objects Which Are Identical with Themselves Exist 61
 The Property View 68
. The Core Idea of the View 68
. Four Problems 70
.. AVicious Circularity 70
.. AVicious Infinite Regress 73
.. Ontological Inflationism 76
.. The Problem of the Co-Existence of Objects and Properties 77
 The Unrestricted-Domain View 80
. The Core Idea of the View 80
. Two Problems 83
.. AVicious Circularity 83
VIII Contents
.. Incoherence 86
 The Restricted-Domain View 89
. The Core Idea of the View 89
. Six Problems 92
.. AVicious Infinite Regress 92
.. Ontological Inflationism 101
.. AVicious Circularity 102
.. The Problem of Constitution 104
.. Reductionism Does Not Work 107
.. What Kind of Entity Is a REDO? 109
Part II: The Contribution of Thomas Aquinas’s View to the
Debate
 Aquinas’s View on What It Is fora Substance to Exist 118
. Fora Substance to Exist Is to Have Esse by Means of Its Essence or
Form 118
. The Existence of a Substance Consists in the Participation of Its Es-
sence or Form in Esse 133
.. The Core Idea of Aquinas’s View: A Substance Is an Ens by
Participation 135
.. How a Substance Participates in Esse 137
. Participation in Esse Results from a Metaphysical Composition of a
Determinable and a Determinant 159
. Is Aquinas’s View Incoherent? 165
 Why Aquinas’s View Can Solve the Problems 176
. Why Aquinas’s View Can Solve the Problems of the Property View and
the Domain Views 176
.. Solution to a Vicious Circularity 176
.. Solution to a Vicious Infinite Regress 178
.. Solution to Ontological Inflationism 180
.. Solution to the Problem of Co-Existence 185
.. Solution to the Problem of Constitution 187
. Why Aquinas’s View Can Solve the Problems of the Object
Views 190
.. Solution to a Vicious Circularity 190
Contents IX
.. Solution to the Problem That Existence Is Neither an Essential Nor an
Accidental Property of an Object 195
.. Solution to the Problem That What Is Supposed to Be Explained Is
Not Explained 196
.. Solution to the Three Remaining Problems 197
Conclusion 200
Bibliography 213
A Thomas Aquinas’s Works 213
B Other Cited Literature 215
Index of Names 221
Index of Subjects 223