Cursus Philosophicus II-I [Joannes a Sancto Thoma]: Prima Pars Naturalis Philosophiae

In his introductory remarks to this volume, John Deely writes, “what the Cursus Philosophicus presents us with is nothing less than a careful and complete summation of what philosophy was able to achieve independently and in its own right prior to the advent of science in the modern sense as a complementary intellectual development.” Put otherwise, this is the very height of human philosophical wisdom presented in the most succinct, concise, and brilliant a fashion possible at its time of writing—published originally between 1631 and 1635. In this reproduction of the 1929 Latin edition prepared by Beatus Reiser, O.S.B., the Lyceum Institute makes available a timeless treasure in the study of logic (both formal and material), physics, and the soul. For ease of printing, affordability, and reproduction, we have divided the original three volumes into five. This, the first part of the second (II-I) constitutes the first part of natural philosophy, concerning mobile being in general. The first part of the first volume (I-I), comprises Deely's preface, Reiser's introduction, the prologue to dialectic as a whole, and the first part of the art of logic—including the disputed questions and appendix. The second part of the first volume (I-II) includes the second part of the art of logic. The second of the second (II-II) covers the third part of natural philosophy, on corruptible mobile being—Poinsot suppressed the second part of his natural philosophy, dealing with the heavens, after the condemnation of Galileo, and it was never published. The third (III) comprises the fourth part, on the soul, and the indices for the whole of the Cursus. Much credit is due to Martin Walter of Vinzenz-Pallotti-University for his extensive work in duplicating the revised 1948 second Marietti edition of Reiser's text.