Philosopher Charles
De Koninck (1906 - 1965) was one of the leading figures in the Laval or River
Forest tradition within 20th century Thomism. (Need a scorecard to keep track of the
different strands of Thomism? Go here
and here.) De Koninck was the author of several important
works on the relationship between the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition and
modern science, as well as important works in political philosophy, Catholic
theology, and other topics. The late
Ralph McInerny edited a series of De Koninck’s collected works titled The Writings of Charles De Koninck, of
which only Volume
1 and Volume
2 appeared before McInerny’s death. Now The Charles De Koninck Project has
been inaugurated with the aim of making all of De Koninck’s works available
online. Take a look at the website and
while you’re there consider donating to this worthy enterprise.
This is really exciting. Do you know David Quackenbush by any chance?
ReplyDeleteVery cool. I was hoping for a vol. 3.
ReplyDeleteSo excited about this project. I have volumes I & II. They were excellent!
ReplyDeleteDr. Feser,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your section in Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide on St. Thomas' doctrine of being and a great overview of the recent tussle over what that doctrine is about (pp. 55-9). Perhaps you could one day do a post on this, but very briefly, am I right to think that you believe the analytic Thomists (Kenny, Davies) who gut Aquinas' doctrine of being of any metaphysical robustness and reduce existence claims to "denials of nought" are way off in their reading of Aquinas? In your book you seemed to give more weight to the Gilsonian reading (Knasas, Braine) of existence in Aquinas as something metaphysically robust, an irreducible act of existence. However, in ascribing this tendency to you I didn't want to do to you what the Fregeans do to Aquinas as I see it, i.e. read my own views into what you meant to say.
If you ever do an actual post on this topic, perhaps you could also mention how important or unimportant you think it is relative to the prominent philosophical concerns of today. I would hazard a guess that you think it is not crucial to what should be some of the more important items on Thomism's present-day agenda, such as refuting materialism and atheism.
Anyway, thanks again for the overview of the literature.