SOME LATIN PHILOSOPHICAL SAYINGS

argumentum ad hominem
(an argument against the man. Directing an argument against an opponent's character rather than the subject at hand.)

credo quia absurdum
(I believe because it is absurd)

fides quaerens intellectum,
(faith seeking understanding, the spirit of Augustine)

*Boethius (480-524)
"De consolatione philosophiae"

Si Quidem Deus est, unde mala? Bona vero unde, si non est?
(If there is God, from where do bad things come? From where do good things come, if there is not?)

Deus est summum bonum.
(God is the highest good.)

Idem est unum atque bonum.
(It is the same thing to be one and good.)

Rerum omnium finis bonum est.
(The end of all things is good.)

Malum nihil est.
(Evil is nothing.)

Omne quod bonum est boni participatione bonum est.
(All that is good is good by participation of good.)

*John Scotus (810-877)
"De divisione naturae"

natura creans increata,
(the creating nature that is not created)

natura creans creata,
(the creating nature that is created)

natura creata nec creans,
(the not creating nature that is created)

natura nec creata nec creans
(the not creating nature that is not created)

*Anselmus of Canterbury (1033-1109) Archbishop of Canterbury
"Dialogus de grammatico"
"Monologium de divinitatis essentia sive Exemplum de ratione fidei"
"Proslogium sive Fides quoerens intellectum"
"De veritate"
"De fide trinitatis"
"Cur Deus Homo?"

a priori,
(Anselmus assumes, a priori, that revelation and reason are in perfect accord.)

ens realissimum, existentia a se et per se
(existence of God as ens realissimum)

unum est quidquid essentialiter de summa substantia dicitur.
(God is justice as such, goodness as such, wisdom as such, happiness as such, truth as such, being as such. All of God's attributes constitute but a single attribute, by virtue of the unity of his essence.)

universalis ante rem
(the existence of universals ante rem in the mind of God)

Credo ut intelligam, Intelligo ut credam
(I believe in order to understand; I understand in order to believe.)

id, quo nihil majus cogitari potest, existit
(From the idea of God as supremely perfect, St. Anselm deduces a whole system of natural theology: God is infinite, eternal, the sum of all perfection, the origin of all created being.)

veritas enunciationis, veritas cogitationis, veritas voluntatis
(St. Anseim distinguishes three kinds of truth. A proposition is true when it expresses the relation existing between things; a thought is true when we judge (cogitamus) that to be which is, and that not to be which is not; the will is true when we will what we ought, to will. The truth of the will is moral rectitude.

Rectitudo sola mente perceptibilis.
(Truth of whatever kind is rectitude; truth may be defined as "Rectitudo sola mente perceptibilis.")

*Abaelardus (1079-1142)
"Sic et non"
"Scito teipsum"

Peccatum est non facere vel non dimittere quod convenit.
(Sin is not doing or dismissing what is proper.)

Peccatum non numquam committi sine mala voluntate.
(Sin is sometimes committed without bad will.)

Concupiscentiae consentire peccatum est.
(Agreeing to desire is sin.)

*Bonaventura (1221-1274)
"Itinerarium Mentis in Deum"

prout credibile transit in rationem intelligibilis et hoc per adductionem rationis
(The subject to which all things are reduced as to a universal whole can be named by a disjunction, then it is reality and sign, where sign means sacrament; or it can be named by the word credible, insofar as the credible takes on the note of intelligibility by having reason brought to bear on it.)

veritas ut scrutabilis, ut diligibilis, ut desiderabilis
(Philosophical knowledge is nothing other than certain knowledge of the truth as what can be investigated [ut scrutabilis]. Theological knowledge is loving knowledge of truth as credible. The gift of knowledge is holy knowledge of the truth as lovable [ut diligibilis]. The knowledge of glory is sempiternal knowledge of truth as desirable [ut desiderabilis].")

duplex est cognitio, scilicet apertae comprehensionis et inanuductione ratiocinationis
(Bonaventura points out the difference between knowledge which is of open comprehension" and that which results from reasoning.)

ex parte scibilis immutabilitas et infallibilitas ex parte scientis.
(By nobility of knowledge Bonaventure means that certain knowledge requires immutability on the part of the knowable and infallibility on the part of the knower.)

ratio inferior, rationes creatae, ratio superior, rationes increatae, rationes aeternae
(Owing to inferior reason (ratio inferior), the soul is referred to things in themselves by way of abstractive forms or concepts which are accordingly rationes creatae; because of superior reason (ratio superior), which makes it an image of God, the soul refers to the divine Ideas which are rationes increatae. True and certain knowledge is had by bringing the rationes aeternae to bear on the rationes creatae.)

ab intellectibus scientium ut ductivae, ab intellectibus sapientium ut reductivae quietativae
(For such Ideas are attained in the concepts of scientists as instruments, but in the concepts of the wise as terms and resting points.)

bonum est diffusivum sui
(The principle that Bonaventure invokes to discuss creation is that the good is diffusive of itself, what might be called the principle of the generosity of the good.)

principium omnis limitationis est materia vel alquid materiale
(The principle of any limitation is matter or something material.)

*Albertus Magnus (1193-1280)
"Opera omnia"
"Summa de creaturis"
"Liber de causis et processu Univertitatis"

creatio ex nihilo
(creation from nothing)

universale ante rem, in re, post rem
(universal before thing, in thing, after thing)

*Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
"De ente et essentia"
"Summa theologiae"
"Summa contra Gentiles"

suppositum
(The term suppositum refers to the individual as individual. "The nature or essence must differ from the suppositum" means that the individual is not his own nature or essence. God, on the other hand, is his divinity, and is his goodness, and is his justice, and is identically whatever can truly be predicated of him.)

qua
(Qua means "in respect of being", or "in his capacity as". Qua student you do not have a right to vote in elections for parliament, but you do qua adult citizen.)

William of Ockham (1298-1350)
"Dialogus"

entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate
(Beings are not to be multiplied without necessity.)