Nor TON DIOTIMA REVUE DE RECHERCHE PHILOSOPHIQUE REVIEW OF PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH EDITORS JOHN P. ANTON E, MoursorouLos PROFESSOR AT EMORY UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS MANAGING EDITOR L. BARGELIOTES PART I 7 Me O7.9 PUBLICATION DE LA SOCIETE HELLENIQUE DES ETUDES PHILOSOPHIQUES PUBLICATION OF THE HELLENIC SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIESEmong B (s- Be ue Hon of A view Hbody Nas me- Gristian Ssimple Smorta Has its Seng in fontr, Fal and = soul is OF meth at of the Emity of Sent life “buman le bod Ron gontrasts rewards Christia- SELIOTES TWO METAPHYSICS OF THE DIVINE BEING ‘THOMISM AND PALAMISM Recent discussions between a group of Thomists and the promo- ters of a revival of Palamism in Orthodox theological circl at the origin of the present communication, My purpose is to clarify the metaphysical and epistemological principles involved in either position, the philosophical problem being my immediate A prelimi Palamism, and St Gregory Palamas did not do anything else but working out a conception of the Divine Being ennntiated and re various contexts by the Greck Fathers, especially the ary remark may be useful. Neo-Palamism is authentic peated Cappadocians. On the other hand, ‘Thomism, far from being a monolithic system, came to be understood in two different ways, ed according to whether the metaphysies of Aquinas was interpr as a variety of the medieval philosophy of static essences, or as a metaphysies of actual existents, which may properly be called an existentialism, inasmuch as it affirms the primacy of existence over essence: first, to be, prior to being this or that, This problem of interpretation has its or of u s used by Aquinas, for ‘substantive ”, ens, id quod est, and “being in the verbal sense”, esse, acs essendi. The omission or neglect of a clear distinction between these different meanings was traced back to Aristotle by Professor Gilson. Aristotle’s starting point had been the consideration of material objects empirically known, whose existence is limited by their own essence, and which are set in motion by the actuation of their na- tive potentialities. At the basis of the scale of beings, a limit-case: prime matter, which is neither “a thing”, nor “such or such”, but ‘close to nought”, potentiality through and through. At the top, 21GEORGE A. BARROIS the pure act, untimited fullness, not begging for the actuation of further potential, It is the prime mover of everything that is subject to motion and, for Aristotle, motion itself is without be- ginning. Aristotle’s physical mover moves itself eternally, setting in motion the mackina mundi as by the attraction of a divine telos This god of Aristotle, unmoved from without and absolutely se- patate, is prisoner of his own transcendence and can be said to move the world only insofar as he is himself desired. St Thomas’ -akthrough consists in the metamorphosis of Aristotle's metaphy- sics, as it is made to include a notion of creation which cannot be demonstrated, on the philosophical plane, to have occurred in time, or initio temporis, Postulating a Creator God does not mean knowing his essence. God's being cannot be grasped by human minds, whose germane object is those realities which are susceptible of analysis by being this or that, inasmuch as they are limited effects of the first cause. ‘The superessence cannot be conceptualized. God remains the hidd- en God, unless he choose to reveal himself; but, quoting from Exodus 33:20, “Thou canst not see my face, for no man shall see me, and live”. ‘The discontinuity between God and the world of men is no less apparent if we define the philosophy of Aquinas as primarily an existentialism, and if we scrutinize his doctrine of creation. By de- fining creation not as a change being — $ the ve nothingness cannot change into Thomas regards the creative act as proceeding from «esse of God and having as its term the esse of the creatures, ah actu ad actum essendi. It is beyond the grasp of human minds; the very act of being, in its elusiveness, defies conceptualization, for we cannot form a concept of pure existence as such, unless it is the existence of this or that thing, For the same reasons, we cannot expect to gain an adequate knowledge of God by starting from his works in creation, since creation is neither the total nor a necessary effect of the Creator. ‘A negative approach, by ruling out what he is not or how he not, wherever such predications would contradict his pure actua- lity, may only outline, so to speak, the external contour of the Divine Being. We do not advance any further with the so-called analogical process; analogy is not a means of discovering, but me-quate Since lator THOMISM AND PALAMISM rely of speaking with some validity of the Divine Being, lest a univocal predication would suggest promiscuity with the creatures, while pure equivocation leads to sophistry, A.D. Sertillanges went agnosticism of even as far as calling analogical predication “ definition”. At any rate, the philosophy of Aquinas does not satisfy our crav- ing “to know God even as we are known”, and its limitations must be frankly acknowledged, if it is to provide a suitable instrument for “sacred doctrine”. Can we hope to find in the metaphysics of valid basis for further theolo- Palamas,definitely an existentialis, gical or spiritual developments? But here, a warning: be aware that St Thomas speaks as a professor of theology, from his chair in the Studia Generalia of the Preachers. St Gregory Palamas is bent upon vindicating the spi- rituality of the hesychasts; his is not to compose a manual of theo- logy for his students, but to defend his brethren of the Holy Moun- tain against biased criticisms. Aquinas speaks always formally; the terminology of Palamas often lacks the rigor of academic exposition. Palamas does not depart, for the essentials, from the theology of the Cappadocians. The divine essence cannot be object of concept; its transcendent simplicity is precisely what makes it undefinable. But apophatic theology is in itself insufficient. To “know that we do not know” is not what we aim at. The “Cloud of Unknowing” or “The Dark Night of the Soul” would not appeal to Palamas, a Greek, a seeker after light, who craves to see God’s own radiance, that was before creation”, as we sing in a tro- “the light in parion for the feast of the Theophany. The working principle of Palamism is the distinction, in God him- self, of the essence, ousia, and of the energy or energies, energeiai We are resolutely steering away from the static philosophy of the medieval schoolmen in the West. The unknowable essence should not be spoken of as an inert substance, “une essence morte”, Gilson scent on the esse of God, identical would say. Aquinas placed the with his essence. Palamas goes one step further. Existence connotes Supreme Existent is also the supremely Active and the supremely Free, since acting out of ne- cessity would detract from absolute existence. And precisely be- cause of the identity of God's essence and existence, the distinction rgy: only an existent can act. The 23GPORGE A. BARROIS of essence and energy introduces no element of composition within ne simplicity of the Divine Being, Palamas affirms repeatedly the reality, in God, of the distinction upon which his doctrine stands or falls; but of essence and energy his terminology as to the exact nature of this distinction fluctuates ‘without further precision. It is of course not the distinction of two separate entities, nor the distinetion of substance and accidents, nor even of two modes of one and the same reality. As a matter of fact, it is probably impossible to find an adjective to describe it, on account of the very transcendence of its object. A plausible analogy might be the “formal” distinctions of the Scotists, who insist that they are not merely in the mind of the philosopher, but have their roots in the real. Now this is a mere analogy, on which I would not lay too much store. ‘The perfections of the created world, which pre-cxist simulta- neously in the unity of the first cause, are brought one by one into existence, maintained and infallibly directed to the los through the energies of God. It should be understood that the word “through” means here no intermediary, no instrumentality whatsoever, but the immediate operation of Gc breaking out of the transcendence of the superestence, unto a continuous transmission of being, in- tclligibility and power to his creatures, short of pantheistic ema- natism; it does not deny, but rather makes possible, the action of second causes. ‘This means for us the benefice of an immediate contact with the Greator and of an immediate knowledge of God, free from the fallibility of circuitous processes. Such a knowledge should develop into the vision of which saints and mystics enjoy glimpses, in the luminous radiance of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. Pamals’ distinction of the essence and the energy of God is heavy of consequences for a Christian understanding of the nature and destiny of man. It brings the realization of the telos well within the reach of our natural resources, as we were made in our Creator's image, and called to grow into his likeness; for creation is the first grace, not to be overcome nor defeated by sin, and not in need of being restored through the supernatural agency of “created grace”, a proteiform construction of western schoolmen, who failed to assimilate the patristic notion of theo oy The the ve applies anthro cism at confirn The partici achiew Let thi of pureon within istinction falls: but fluctuates gn of two icccients, describe plausible Bsts, who lesopher, alogy, on Simulta- pough the through” ever. but fendence being, in- Stic ema- Betion of ith the from the Hidevelop ein the ibor. fisheavy flare and HI within Greator’s Ba is the i not in Rereated Mao failed THOMISM AND PALAMISM ‘The revival of Palamism in Orthodox circles has demonstrated the versatility of a doctrine which can be, and was, profitably applied to philosophical and theological problems in the fields of anthropology and ethics, ecclesiology, and the study of monasti- cism and mysticism. It works, and in this we may find a pragmatic confirmation of its validity and timeliness. ‘The Palamite liberation of God from his inaccessibility, and the participation of men in the thrice-hypostasied life of God find their prototype in the Delphic liberation, when the beautiful young god Apollon supplanted the forbidding deities entrenched in the solitude of the Olympos. It inspired St Clement of Alexandria to tell, in the first chapter of the Paidagogos, the legend of Eunomos A string of his lyre had sprung; strument and through her song the Locrian at the Pythic gam ada flew on the yoke of the achieved the interrupted poem to the accents of a new harmony Let this story by my excuse for having ventured beyond the borders of pure philosophy. Ic is Greek culture at its bes. G. A. Barrows Princeton Theological Seminar