Aquinas on Metaphysics as a Science

Thomas Aquinas regularly claims that metaphysics is not merely scientific, but the highest and most certain of all the sciences, and his conception of metaphysics is one of the boldest and most epistemically ambitious in the history of philosophy. This book presents a new account of Aquinas's metaphysics, approached from the perspective of his theory of science and knowledge. It offers a novel interpretation of his understanding of the properties of being, the principles of being, the requirements for demonstrative knowledge, and shows how Aquinas's account of metaphysics was able to meet those requirements in a more coherent and compelling way than any thinker who had come before him. It will be of interest to scholars of medieval philosophy, the Aristotelian tradition, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophical methodology.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. The problem of the leaky hull; 2. Aquinas on scientia; 3. Aquinas on the subject of metaphysics; 4. Aquinas on metaphysical properties; 5. Aquinas on metaphysical principles; Conclusion: a ship that does not leak?; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Philip-Neri Reese, O.P. is a Dominican friar, a Catholic priest, and Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), in Rome. He has published on metaphysics, ethics, analytic theology, and economics.

Product details

• Authors: O.P. Reese
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.03.2026
• EAN: 9781009668668
• ISBN: 978-1-009-66866-8
• Weight: 500 g
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: antiquity to present day; PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Medieval, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology, Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology, Religion and science, Religion & science, Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600, Medieval Western philosophy