The Concept in Physics and Metaphysics: An Anthropological, Epistemological and Ontological Analysis

Abstract

Saint Thomas Aquinas distinguishes two modes of abstraction: abstractio per modum totius and abstractio per modum formae. These are essential modes, not degrees, of the human knowledge. Whereas in the first mode knowledge retains the subject of what is known, in the second mode it rejects the subject. The consequences of these fundamental differences of knowledge may be addressed through three different perspectives: anthropological (the human hylemorphic structure), epistemological (the intellect going back to the singular), and metaphysical (the reality of the singular prevailing over the universal).