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To know Wisdom one must know the first
causes and principles of things. For example, if one does not
where a thing came from or by whom it was designed, he cannot know its
purpose or true meaning.
While modern science runs deeper and deeper
into specificity (and obscurity), classical philosophy seeks to climb
higher and higher into generalities, seeking to understand the
principles that explain everything.
Classical Physics is the study of
material objects that are subject to change.
Classical Mathematics is the study
of things that are not subject to change, but are dependent upon
material things. Metaphysics fills the remaining gap, studying the
immaterial and unchanging and includes the study of God. Thus,
Metaphysics is Theology from a philosophical perspective, consisting of
the study of the
first causes and principles that govern the universe.
COURSE OVERVIEW
Note: This course will not be offered
until at least 2010 and is organized strictly according to the content
of the same course in the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599.
In the third year of Philosophy students
continue their path through natural science to the study of the
supernatural. We read Aristotle's second book On Generation, the books
On the Soul, and the Metaphysics. One of the most beneficial parts of this
study is the survey students receive of the opinions of
the ancient philosophers that are discussed in the first book On the
Soul and in the Metaphysics.
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