Browsing by Subject "metaphysics"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Aquinas on the Nature of Human Beings
    (Philosophy Education Society, 2004-12) Eberl, Jason T.
    In this paper, I provide a formulation of Thomas Aquinas’s account of the nature of human beings for the purpose of comparing it with other accounts in both the history of philosophy and contemporary analytic philosophy. I discuss how his apparently dualistic understanding of the relationship between soul and body yields the conclusion that a human being exists as a unified substance composed of a rational soul informing, that is, serving as the specific organizing principle of, a physical body. I further address the issue of Aquinas’s contention that a human rational soul can exist without being united to a body and show how this ability of a human soul does not contradict the thesis that a human being exists naturally as embodied. I will also respond to two related questions. First, what accounts for the individuation of human beings as distinct members of the human species?Second, what is the principle of identity by which a human being persists through time and change?
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    Is the Final Chapter of the Metaphysics of morals also the Final Chapter of the Practical Postulates?
    (American Catholic Philosophical Association., 2015) Kahn, Samuel
    In this paper I trace the arc of Kant’s critical stance on the belief in God, beginning with the Critique of Pure Reason (1781) and culminating in the final chapter of the Metaphysics of Morals (1797). I argue that toward the end of his life, Kant changed his views on two important topics. First, despite his stinging criticism of it in the Critique of Pure Reason, by the time of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant seems to endorse the physico-theological argument. Second, some time around the publication of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant seems to move away from the argument for the practical postulates
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    Metaphysical and Moral Status of Cryopreserved Embryos
    (Maney Publishing, 2012-08) Eberl, Jason T.
    Those who oppose human embryonic stem cell research argue for a clear position on the metaphysical and moral status of human embryos. This position does not differ whether the embryo is present inside its mother’s reproductive tract or in a cryopreservation tank. It is worth examining, however, whether an embryo in “suspended animation” has the same status as one actively developing in utero. I will explore this question from the perspective of Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysical account of human nature. I conclude that a cryopreserved human embryo counts, both metaphysically and morally, as a person; and thus the utilization of such embryos for inherently destructive research purposes is impermissible.
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    Pomponazzi and Aquinas on the Intellective Soul
    (Saint Louis University, 2005-01) Eberl, Jason T.
    One of Thomas Aquinas’s primary philosophical concerns is to provide an account of the nature of a human soul. He bases his account on Aristotle’s De anima [DA], wherein Aristotle gives an account of “soul” (psuchē) as divided into three distinct types: vegetative, sensitive, and intellective. Aristotle defines an intellective soul as proper to human beings and the only type of soul that may potentially exist separated from a material body. Aquinas argues that an intellective soul is indeed separable from its body and conceives of it as essentially, or unqualifiedly (simpliciter), immortal and separable from its body, and relatively (secundum quid) mortal and conjoined to its body. Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525), a Renaissance philosopher concerned with ridding neo-Aristotelianism of Platonic or Averroistic influences, criticizes Aquinas’s account as not being properly Aristotelian and having been influenced by Platonism. In this paper, I will present summaries of Aquinas’s arguments concerning an intellective soul’s essential immortality, as well as Pomponazzi’s criticisms of Aquinas’s position. I then propose ways in which Aquinas may respond to these criticisms.
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    Potentiality, Possibility, and the Irreversibility of Death
    (Philosophy Education Society, Inc., 2008-09) Eberl, Jason T.
    In this paper, I will consider the case of cryopreservation. A central conceptual focus throughout this discussion is the purportedly irreversible nature of death and the criteria by which a human body is considered to be informed by a rational soul.
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    A Thomistic Understanding of Human Death
    (Blackwell Publishing, 2005-01-17) Eberl, Jason T.
    I will review higher-brain and whole-brain death from the standpoint of Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysical understanding of human nature. I will critique arguments for higher-brain death being a proper interpretation of Aquinas’s views and make a case for whole-brain death to be compatible with Aquinas’s account of human death given current biological data.