<p>St. Thomas Aquinas is vastly influential in contemporary philosophical theology, not least in the analytic tradition. His concept of eternity explored what has traditionally been the theological understanding of divine foreknowledge and its relation to a temporal reality. With Arthur Prior’s tense logic, especially in “The Formalities of Omniscience” (1962), the Thomistic view was challenged, according to some, beyond repair. By focusing on both Aquinas’ and Prior’s views on propositions and the knowledge of a tensed reality, this article investigates whether Aquinas’ timeless understanding of divine eternity is compatible with knowledge of tensed state of affairs. This article argues that the Thomist mainly has two options in the contemporary debate.</p>

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Prior and Aquinas: propositions and the knowledge of a tensed reality

  • Thomas N. Steiner

摘要

St. Thomas Aquinas is vastly influential in contemporary philosophical theology, not least in the analytic tradition. His concept of eternity explored what has traditionally been the theological understanding of divine foreknowledge and its relation to a temporal reality. With Arthur Prior’s tense logic, especially in “The Formalities of Omniscience” (1962), the Thomistic view was challenged, according to some, beyond repair. By focusing on both Aquinas’ and Prior’s views on propositions and the knowledge of a tensed reality, this article investigates whether Aquinas’ timeless understanding of divine eternity is compatible with knowledge of tensed state of affairs. This article argues that the Thomist mainly has two options in the contemporary debate.