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Explorations in Metaphysics: Being-God-Person
This collection of essays is a compilation of the thought and work of W. Norris Clarke, a philosopher inspired by the Thomistic tradition. Each essay offers arguments built on the points made in previous ones as they address the themes of the metaphyics of reality and the philosophy of God.
- GenresPhilosophyMetaphysics
229 pages, ebook
First published January 20, 1994
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About the author
W. Norris Clarke
13 books15 followersA native New Yorker, Father Clarke was born in 1915 and attended Loyola High School. He graduated, enrolled at Georgetown University in 1931 and entered the Society of Jesus two years later. His deepening interest in Thomist philosophy was developed at College St. Louis in England in 1936. He continued his studies at Fordham, earning a master’s in philosophy in 1939. He earned his doctorate from Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, where he studied under Roman Catholic philosopher Louis De Raeymaeker. Father Clarke was ordained into the priesthood in 1945 and joined the Fordham faculty 10 years later as an assistant professor of philosophy.
He taught for three decades before becoming an emeritus professor in 1985. "Norrie Clarke was the rare combination of scholar and teacher who continued to have a transforming influence on his students well into his '90s," said Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J., former president of Fordham. In 1961, Father Clarke helped found the International Philosophy Quarterly (IPQ), a journal promoting theological dialogue between Europe and the Americas. He served as editor until his 1985 retirement. Even though officially retired, Father Clarke continued to teach in Fordham’s philosophy department and to publish articles. In 2007, he was honored by his peers at a philosophy colloquium on campus, where he presented a talk, “Integration of Personalism and Thomistic Metaphysics in Twentieth-Century Thomism.”
Father Clarke considered his philosophical journey as one moving from strict Thomism to a perspective revitalizing Thomistic philosophy to include an “implicit dimension of personalism.” He felt that the latter was inspired by the writings of Pope John Paul II.The colloquium coincided with publication of a revised edition of his 1979 book, The Philosophical Approach To God (Fordham University Press, 2007). Additionally, the Press will publish a book of his essays on Thomistic philosophy in the fall of 2008, The Creative Retrieval of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The author of eight books and more than 70 articles, Father Clarke was the recipient of numerous awards, among them the “Aquinas Medal” from the American Catholic Philosophical Association and a Fordham “Outstanding Teacher Award.” He held honorary doctorates from Villanova University and Wheeling Jesuit College.In June 2000, International Philosophy Quarterly published a Festschrift in honor of Father Clarke’s 85th birthday and his longstanding editorial service. Presenting articles were religious philosopher Louis Louis Dupré, T. Lawrason Riggs, professor of the philosophy of religion at Yale University, and the late Gerald A. McCool, S.J., (FCRH ’40) professor emeritus of philosophy and former chair of the department.Father Clarke resided at Loyola Hall, where he was house confessor. Link (here)
He taught for three decades before becoming an emeritus professor in 1985. "Norrie Clarke was the rare combination of scholar and teacher who continued to have a transforming influence on his students well into his '90s," said Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J., former president of Fordham. In 1961, Father Clarke helped found the International Philosophy Quarterly (IPQ), a journal promoting theological dialogue between Europe and the Americas. He served as editor until his 1985 retirement. Even though officially retired, Father Clarke continued to teach in Fordham’s philosophy department and to publish articles. In 2007, he was honored by his peers at a philosophy colloquium on campus, where he presented a talk, “Integration of Personalism and Thomistic Metaphysics in Twentieth-Century Thomism.”
Father Clarke considered his philosophical journey as one moving from strict Thomism to a perspective revitalizing Thomistic philosophy to include an “implicit dimension of personalism.” He felt that the latter was inspired by the writings of Pope John Paul II.The colloquium coincided with publication of a revised edition of his 1979 book, The Philosophical Approach To God (Fordham University Press, 2007). Additionally, the Press will publish a book of his essays on Thomistic philosophy in the fall of 2008, The Creative Retrieval of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The author of eight books and more than 70 articles, Father Clarke was the recipient of numerous awards, among them the “Aquinas Medal” from the American Catholic Philosophical Association and a Fordham “Outstanding Teacher Award.” He held honorary doctorates from Villanova University and Wheeling Jesuit College.In June 2000, International Philosophy Quarterly published a Festschrift in honor of Father Clarke’s 85th birthday and his longstanding editorial service. Presenting articles were religious philosopher Louis Louis Dupré, T. Lawrason Riggs, professor of the philosophy of religion at Yale University, and the late Gerald A. McCool, S.J., (FCRH ’40) professor emeritus of philosophy and former chair of the department.Father Clarke resided at Loyola Hall, where he was house confessor. Link (here)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 22, 2016
In this book, W. Norris Clarke has collected essays over a 40-year span of work in Thomistic metaphysics. They represent his efforts both to interpret, and to creatively retrieve (or complete, in some cases) the metaphysical system of Thomas Aquinas.
Some essays have slight revisions from their original form, and in those cases Clarke either notes at the point where there is a change or he appends a new section at the end with an alert to the reader that the following section is a new addition or revision.
Three topics especially stood out to me, each of which have exemplary essays in the collection though the topics themselves are thematic of the whole book:
1) The relation of person and being. Clarke's writing consistently turns to being itself as intrinsically self-communicative act. He demonstrates how this is an area where he (and others like Etienne Gilson) make explicit an implicit theme in Aquinas. Because being is inherently self-communicative, the personal dimension of being is a clear expression of this pervasive dynamic of being. To be conscious and personal is to be a self-communicative agent capable to communication to oneself and interrelationally/mutually with others. His last chapter is the paradigmatic expression of the relation of personhood and being.
2) How the doctrine of analogy works in St. Thomas -- and should work for any self-conscious use of analogy for language about God. He does not make analogical language explicit in many of the essays, but one essay is dedicated entirely to the topic. He also makes it explicit in and throughout his book The One and the Many. The essay in this collection, though, makes it clear how analogy is not intended to be a formal semantic notion, but is regulative for making linguistic judgments. Namely, given an metaphysical analogy between God and creatures, whereby any positive perfection is creatures is due to a limited participation in the abundance of God's subsistent act of existence must be purged of its limitations to be opened to the content supplied by the unique actuality of God.
3) Divine immutability and its logic and possible qualifications. This is a penetrating essay, though it may be slow reading as it demands the reader suspend certain assumptions about being to imagine God's unique mode of existence. Here is an instance in which Clarke works out a creative retrieval of Aquinas. Clarke believes the traditional doctrine of immutability has been inadequately explained and qualified to make clear how God's relation to creation is fully personal and yet God is metaphysically self-sufficient logically prior to creation's actuality.
Overall, this collection offers many valuable discussions of metaphysics in the Thomistic tradition, both to guide the reader to better appreciate the internal logic and living viability of the tradition itself and to offer exemplars in the ongoing work of theological metaphysics. It is fairly accessibly written, though some familiarity with philosophy would make the reading more manageable.
Some essays have slight revisions from their original form, and in those cases Clarke either notes at the point where there is a change or he appends a new section at the end with an alert to the reader that the following section is a new addition or revision.
Three topics especially stood out to me, each of which have exemplary essays in the collection though the topics themselves are thematic of the whole book:
1) The relation of person and being. Clarke's writing consistently turns to being itself as intrinsically self-communicative act. He demonstrates how this is an area where he (and others like Etienne Gilson) make explicit an implicit theme in Aquinas. Because being is inherently self-communicative, the personal dimension of being is a clear expression of this pervasive dynamic of being. To be conscious and personal is to be a self-communicative agent capable to communication to oneself and interrelationally/mutually with others. His last chapter is the paradigmatic expression of the relation of personhood and being.
2) How the doctrine of analogy works in St. Thomas -- and should work for any self-conscious use of analogy for language about God. He does not make analogical language explicit in many of the essays, but one essay is dedicated entirely to the topic. He also makes it explicit in and throughout his book The One and the Many. The essay in this collection, though, makes it clear how analogy is not intended to be a formal semantic notion, but is regulative for making linguistic judgments. Namely, given an metaphysical analogy between God and creatures, whereby any positive perfection is creatures is due to a limited participation in the abundance of God's subsistent act of existence must be purged of its limitations to be opened to the content supplied by the unique actuality of God.
3) Divine immutability and its logic and possible qualifications. This is a penetrating essay, though it may be slow reading as it demands the reader suspend certain assumptions about being to imagine God's unique mode of existence. Here is an instance in which Clarke works out a creative retrieval of Aquinas. Clarke believes the traditional doctrine of immutability has been inadequately explained and qualified to make clear how God's relation to creation is fully personal and yet God is metaphysically self-sufficient logically prior to creation's actuality.
Overall, this collection offers many valuable discussions of metaphysics in the Thomistic tradition, both to guide the reader to better appreciate the internal logic and living viability of the tradition itself and to offer exemplars in the ongoing work of theological metaphysics. It is fairly accessibly written, though some familiarity with philosophy would make the reading more manageable.
February 28, 2012
Simply outstanding collection of essays by this brilliant mind. And, to boot, a few of the essays have been slightly updated to reflect Clarke's more mature positions based on the dialogue that ensued with other people who sharpened his argument.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews