Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima

St. Augustines Dumb Ox Books, November 1994. Paper Back. New. In their approach to metaphysics, the Greek philosopher Aristotle and the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas were preoccupied with the question of whether there is any kind of science that goes beyond natural science and mathematics. Aristotle answered this question affirmatively in his <i>De Anima</i> (On the Soul), a work whose translation into Latin in the 1200s opened debate on the relationship between faith and reason and led to the advent of scholastic theology. Aquinas' 1268 commentary on <i>De Anima</i>, undertaken in the final years of his life, was the first in a series of commentaries he produced on Aristotelian treatises. Today, Aquinas's commentaries enjoy growing respect among Aristotelian scholars, as well as being essential reading for any student of this preeminent Doctor of the Western Church. This recent edition of the <i>Commentary on De Anima</i> utilizes a 1951 translation into English by two Dominican scholars, Kenelm Foster and Silvester Humphries, and divides Aristotle's text into short sections, inserting Aquinas's related commentary after each section. Ralph McInerny observes in the introduction to this book that '.Christians believe.that we have an eternal destiny beyond this life, that death is not the end. Can philosophy supply support to this belief in the immortality of the human soul? Here we have the basis for the theologian's [and Aquinas's] interest in the <i>De Anima</i>.'