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Philosopher · Contemporary

Étienne Gilson

1884–1978 · Existential Thomism; history of medieval philosophy

Catholic Latin Thomism · Existential Thomism

Member of the Académie française; founder of the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto.

The historian who recovered medieval philosophy as philosophy, and who argued that St. Thomas's deepest insight is the primacy of the act of being (esse) over essence, so that God is Ipsum Esse Subsistens and metaphysics is “existential.” His “Unity of Philosophical Experience” and “Methodical Realism” insisted that realism cannot be reached by starting from Descartes's doubt.

Why he matters: Made the history of Christian philosophy a serious discipline and persuaded a generation that Thomism is a philosophy of being, not a system of concepts; his students fill the North American Catholic academy.

School of Thomism · Existential Thomism

Gilson and Maritain: Thomas's deepest insight is the act of existing (esse), which distinguishes him from Aristotle and every essentialism; philosophy is to be done historically and in Thomas's own texts, not the commentators'.

Others in this strand: Jacques Maritain, Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

Reading

  • The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy
    Étienne Gilson · The Gifford Lectures; Christian philosophy as a real thing.
    Journal
  • The Unity of Philosophical Experience
    Étienne Gilson · What happens when philosophy forgets being.
    Journal
  • Being and Some Philosophers
    Étienne Gilson · The existential reading of St. Thomas.
    Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error
I

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology
How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes
Do natures and essences really exist? Realism
Nominalism Realism
God's essence and His energies Absolute simplicity
Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity
How should we speak of God? Cataphatic (analogical) way
Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way
Is 'being' said of God and of creatures in the same sense? Analogy of being
Analogy of being Univocity of being
How does creation speak of God? Natures studied in their own right
Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges
II

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Between
Rationalism Fideism
Where does knowledge begin? Senses and abstraction
Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas
Is truth objective? Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth
Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium
What is theology for? A science ordered to knowing
A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving
Does doctrine develop? Between
Always the same, in the same words A living development
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized
III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul
Is the body really you? Body–soul unity
Dualism Body–soul unity
Are you free? Free will
Determinism Free will
How fallen is human nature? Between
Totally depraved Basically good
Does nature desire God? Between
Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity
What makes you this one and no other? This matter, this body
This matter, this body A positive thisness (haecceity)
What is suffering for? Between
An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross
IV

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law
Relativism Natural law
Why is the good good? Eternal law (intellectualism)
Divine command (voluntarism) Eternal law (intellectualism)
What is happiness? Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God
What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? The intellect's vision of God
The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God
V

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace
VI

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ
Laicism Social kingship of Christ
Reform or tradition? Guided by tradition
Remake by reason Guided by tradition
VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato
The Second Vatican Council Between
Reject the Council A new beginning
When the Pope speaks Every word binds
Resist and judge Every word binds
Holy Orders and the Church's constitution A clerical Church
A clerical Church Reformable by the people
Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? Between
One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms
Contemplation or action? Between
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful

A profile of your philosophical and theological leanings, measured against the settled teaching of the Catholic Church, East and West. It is a tool for examination and reading, not an instrument of judgment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.