The Metaphysical Foundations of Love: Aquinas on Participatin, Unity, and Union

179 Pages·2018·2.6 MB·English

by  Anthony T. Flood

The Metaphysical
Foundations of Love
thomistic ressourcement series
Volume 10
series editors
Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary
Thomas Joseph White, OP, Dominican House of Studies
editorial board
Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas
Gilles Emery, OP, University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
Reinhard Hütter, The Catholic University of America
Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University
Emmanuel Perrier, OP, Dominican Studium, Toulouse
Richard Schenk, OP, University of Freiburg (Germany)
Kevin White, The Catholic University of America
The Metaphysical
Foundations of Love
Aquinas on Participation, Unity, and Union
Anthony T. Flood
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C.
For Dorothy, Cecilia, Simon, and Hugh
Copyright © 2018
The Catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standards for Information
Science—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984.
∞
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
from the Library of Congress
isbn 978-0-8132-3120-4
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
1. Love as a Unitive Force 1
Union and Friendship 1
Unity and the Love of Self 11
From Unity to Union 18
2. Degrees of Union 25
Distinctions Pertaining to the Unions of Similitude
and Possession 25
The Equalizing Effect of Charity 32
Marriage as the Greatest Human Union 35
3. Participation and the Love of God 44
The Love of Self and the Love of God 44
The Natural Inclination to the Love of God 50
The Supernatural Love of God 56
4. Conformity and Sin 67
The Necessity of Conformity 67
Sin and Hatred 71
Satan and Temptation 80
vi Contents
5. The Fulfillment of Love in God 85
Love and Self-Governance 85
Love and Worship 91
Love and Obedience to the Divine Will 97
6. The Love of Self and Subjectivity 110
The Love of Self and Conscious
Self-Experience 110
Participation, Irreducibility, and
Omnisubjectivity 120
Subjectivity in Light of Charity 127
Conclusion 134
Bibliography 139
Index 145
The Metaphysical Foundations of Love
Flood, Anthony T.
Published by The Catholic University of America Press
Flood, T..
The Metaphysical Foundations of Love: Aquinas on Participation, Unity, and Union.
Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/.
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Acknowledgments
As a continuation of my research program, I will begin by acknowl-
edging previous reviewers of my first book and articles on the con-
sidered themes in Aquinas. Two journals deserve special mention,
as I have revised articles they published to form chapters in this
work. Chapter 3, section 1 (“The Love of Self and the Love of God”)
revisits and significantly revises an argument I first made in “Aqui-
nas on Self-Love and Love of God: The Foundations for and Per-
fection of Subjectivity,” International Philosophical Quarterly 56, no. 1
(March 2016): 45–55.
Chapter 3, section 2 (“The Natural Inclination to the Love of
God”) revisits and significantly revises an argument I first made in
“Marriage as Friendship: Aquinas’s View in Light of His Account of
Self-Love,” Nova et Vetera 13, no. 2 (2015): 441–58. I thank both jour-
nals for the permission to reuse these sections.
Specific to this project, I wish to thank the reviewers for their
helpful comments. I thank Aldene Fredenburg and Theresa B. Walk-
er for their editorial assistance. In addition, William Mahoney de-
serves special mention for his assistance with both editing and ar-
gumentation. I am grateful to John B. Martino for shepherding my
proposal and manuscript through the review process. Lastly, I thank
my wife, Dorothy, for putting up with the research and writing pro-
cess (and with me).
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