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AboutaContemporaryThomisticMetaphysics
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St.Thomas.ThewholeThomistictradition,joininginSt.Thomas,
boththeAristoteliantraditionandNeo-Platonism.Thomismisthe
originalsynthesisoftheAristotelianandNeo-Platonic,anditmustbe
both,notjustAristotelian.So,AristotleandPlotinus,notjustPlato.
IwouldstressthatSt.ThomasisnotjustAristotelian,butalsocomes
fromtheneo-Platonicparticipationmetaphysicsinessenceandexist-
ence,soheisnotjustAristotelian.
P.Mazanka:Duringthe1998WorldCongressofPhilosophyin
Boston,somephilosophershavebeenaskedtotalkaboutwhatdoing
philosophyhastaughtthem.Iamdirectingthisquestionnowtoyou?
Prof.Clarke:Oh,ithastaughtmetogototherootsofaquestion.
Oneofthefundamentalpresuppositionsofallofourphilosophical
questionshastaughtmetogototherootofmanyquestions,because
mostquestionspresupposesomethingelse.Whatarethebasicsuppo-
sitionsofallthinking?That’sphilosophy.Thebasicpresuppositions,
ofknowledge,andoftheworld.Inotherwords,metaphysicsandepis-
temology.
P.Mazanka:MayIaskyouabout,notphilosophicalbooks,but
otherbooksthatweremostimportantforyou?Maybeabouthistoryor
sciences?
Prof.Clarke:I’vealwayskeptupwithmodernsciences,suchas
astronomyandquantumphysics.Justthegeneraltheory,butit’svery
importanttokeepupwithmodernscience.Whenyougetdowntothe
quantumworld,it’saverystrange,strangekindofworld,sowe
shouldn’thavetoosimpleofanideaofthescience.Weshouldkeepup
withthedynamicnotionofscience,fromthedevelopmentofthebig
bangandunfoldingasastory.Thequantumworld,aswell,waydown
atthebottom,that’smuchmoremysterious-aconstantlymoving
world.So,theconstantdynamicofscienceisveryimportant,andthe
quantumworldwherethingsarechangingallthetime,andnotalways
definitebutasortofopenandflexibleworld.Youcandothat,for
example,everyTuesdayintheNewYorkTimeswiththeirscience
section,soyoucankeepupwiththemaindevelopmentsofscience.
