From the beginning of time, people have wondered about the meaning of human life. Who are we? Why are we here? What is the point of it all? These questions have eternal significance, and just asking them tends to change the way people live their lives.
But there are even more fundamental questions than these, questions that ask not only about our being, but about being itself. What does it mean for anything to exist? What makes a being a being? How does being differ from nonbeing? And the ultimate question: Why is there something rather than nothing?
Philosophy and the Science of Being
Philosophy, in its traditional form as the love of wisdom and pursuit of truth, strives to answer these ultimate questions. And the branch of philosophy that seeks to do so is metaphysics. Aristotle called it the "science of being" because it is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of existence itself.
Catholics might ask, why study metaphysics or philosophy? Don't we have the answers to those questions in theology? But as St. Thomas Aquinas shows, revealed theology is the study of God as he is in himself. What Aquinas calls "philosophical theology" or metaphysics, studies God as the cause of being. Metaphysics proves through logical deduction that the existence of the universe requires a First Cause, a Creator, to account for why there is anything at all.
Metaphysics in the Catholic Tradition
Dr. Gregory T. Doolan offers a survey of metaphysics in the Catholic tradition. He discusses these topics and more:
- The distinction between philosophy and theology
- The nature, principles, and causes of being
- The existence of God as the first cause of all being
If you're ready to explore the deepest realities of existence, join Professor Gregory T. Doolan for this philosophical survey of metaphysics.
- What is Metaphysics?
- The Pre-Socratics and Plato
- Aristotle’s Metaphysical Thought
- Neo-Platonism and Early Medieval Philosophy
- Aquinas on the Subject of Metaphysics
- Aquinas on the Inner Structure of Beings
- Aquinas on Proving God’s Existence
- Aquinas on Knowing and Talking About God
Dr. Gregory T. Doolan holds his Doctorate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America. He currently teaches as an Associate Professor at the Catholic University of America in the School of Philosophy and the Medieval & Byzantine Studies Program.
At Catholic University, he specializes in St. Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysics, addressing such topics as the metaphysics of creation, the divine ideas, and the categories of being. Professor
Doolan previously taught as Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. where his courses included Philosophy of Being, Philosophy of Nature, and Philosophical Ethics.
Professor Doolan is the author of the book Aquinas on the Divine Ideas as Exemplar Causes (Catholic University of America Press, 2008), and recently edited The Science of Being as Being: Metaphysical Investigations (CUA Press, 2011). Apart from his native English, Professor Doolan speaks conversational French and reads German and Latin. His writings are featured in such journals as International Philosophical Quarterly, The Thomist, and Review of Metaphysics. He is a member of the American Catholic Philosophical Association and the American Maritain Association.
Homeschooling Products
The Homeschooling Set includes the Streaming Video and Homeschooling Course Guide. Each Course Guide contains everything needed for a student to complete the course, including:
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