Proceedings of the Second Symposium of the Dionysius Circle: “Participationes tripliciter considerari possunt”: The Absolute Notion of Esse in Aquinas’s Commentary on the Divine Names

In this paper, I argue that, for Aquinas, esse commune is the absolute notion of esse. It is absolute, moreover, precisely in the Avicennian sense insofar as it is the consideration of esse as abstracted from intelligible and material modes of being. First, I clarify Dionysius’s distinction between the two senses of per se theonyms, focusing on the Procline provenance of adverbs like ἀπολύτως and ἀρχηγικῶς in the Divine Names. Second, I defend Aquinas’s interpretation and development of Dionysius’s distinction, higlighting his reliance on Avicenna’s threefold consideratio in his account of per se theonyms as absolute natures. I will conclude with suggestions for further research.