Oscar Martinez II’s Reviews > Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction > Status Update

Essences can be either immanent or abstracted. Phantasm = mental image. Concepts are different than mental images. Property = proper accident. Properties flow from a thing's essence and are distinct from essence. The unborn are still rational animals even if their properties have not fully manifested due to immaturity.

Finished the first section on essence. Example, rational animal is the essence of the human being. That things have natures/essences is something obvious to the scholastic as alternatives lead to absurd conclusions. Moreover, the world operates as if essences were true i.e. unity and uniform predictable behavior of things. Science reinforces the idea of real essences. The conventionalist position leads to incoherence

Finished substance and accidents section.

Finished sections on hylomorphism vs atomism and the anti-reductionism in contemporary analytic metaphysics. Moving on to the section regarding substance vs accidents.

Finished section on Matter and Form. Matter is always accompanied by some form, it cannot be otherwise. However, some forms can exist without matter (ex. Angels). Started and finished section on substantial form vs accidental form. Learned about natural objects vs artifacts. Started section on Prime matter and secondary matter.

Read about the Principle of Proportionate Causality. Rejecting PPC means rejecting PC and PSR which would be an absurdity. Evolution does not refute PPC. Those who claim to use science to deny metaphysics are, ironically, using metaphysical assumptions. Started the chapter on Substance which began by recapping potency and then explaining matter and form.

Finished reading about series of efficient causes per se vs per accidens. This idea serves as the basis for the argument from motion which, contrary to popular objections, is immune from objections from infinite chains. Those objections are committing a category error which misses the point of the argument. This section also clarifies what is meant by First Cause and what God as first cause means.