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Single Idea 16642

[filed under theme 29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / b. Transubstantiation ]

Full Idea

Transubstantiation maintains that the accidents of the bread and wine endure after consecration without inhering in the substance.

Gist of Idea

Transubstantion says accidents of bread and wine don't inhere in the substance

Source

Robert Pasnau (Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 [2011], 10.3)

Book Ref

Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.185


A Reaction

It's a big puzzle to outsiders why softness and nice taste should have theological significance. If it is the body and blood of Christ, presumably a miracle has occurred, so normal theories don't apply. It is the key difficulty for scholastic metaphysics.


The 53 ideas from 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671'

A substrate may be 'prime matter', which endures through every change [Pasnau]
There may be different types of substrate, or temporary substrates [Pasnau]
If a substrate gives causal support for change, quite a lot of the ingredients must endure [Pasnau]
Weak ex nihilo says it all comes from something; strong version says the old must partly endure [Pasnau]
Scholastic authors agree that matter was created by God, out of nothing [Pasnau]
The commentaries of Averroes were the leading guide to Aristotle [Pasnau]
Atomism is the commonest version of corpuscularianism, but isn't required by it [Pasnau]
A substratum can't be 'bare', because it has a job to do [Pasnau]
Priority was a major topic of dispute for scholastics [Pasnau]
Corpuscularianism rejected not only form, but also the dependence of matter on form [Pasnau]
In the 17th C matter became body, and was then studied by science [Pasnau]
Philosophy consists of choosing between Plato, Aristotle and Democritus [Pasnau]
Original philosophers invariably seek inspiration from past thinkers [Pasnau]
After c.1450 all of Plato was available. Before that, only the first half of 'Timaeus' was known [Pasnau]
Renaissance Platonism is peripheral [Pasnau]
Atomists say causation is mechanical collisions, and all true qualities are microscopic [Pasnau]
Philosophy could easily have died in 17th century, if it weren't for Descartes [Pasnau]
Scholastics use 'substantia' for thick concrete entities, and for thin metaphysical ones [Pasnau]
Hylomorphism may not be a rival to science, but an abstract account of unity and endurance [Pasnau]
Hylomorphism declined because scholastics made it into a testable physical theory [Pasnau]
Corpuscularian critics of scholasticism say only substances exist [Pasnau]
Corpuscularianism promised a decent account of substance [Pasnau]
Modernity begins in the late 12th century, with Averroes's commentaries on Aristotle [Pasnau]
Transubstantion says accidents of bread and wine don't inhere in the substance [Pasnau]
Scholastics say there is a genuine thing if it is 'separable' [Pasnau]
Once accidents were seen as real, 'Categories' became the major text for ontology [Pasnau]
The biggest question for scholastics is whether properties are real, or modes of substances [Pasnau]
Scholastic Quantity either gives a body parts, or spreads them out in a unified way [Pasnau]
Anti-Razor: if you can't account for a truth, keep positing things until you can [Pasnau]
Scholastics thought Quantity could be the principle of individuation [Pasnau]
Typical successive things are time and motion [Pasnau]
In 1347, the Church effectively stopped philosophy for the next 300 years [Pasnau]
Plato only made an impact locally in 15th century Italy [Pasnau]
Scholastic causation is by changes in the primary qualities of hot, cold, wet, dry [Pasnau]
In mixtures, the four elements ceased to exist, replaced by a mixed body with a form [Pasnau]
17th C qualities are either microphysical, or phenomenal, or powers [Pasnau]
17th century authors only recognised categorical properties, never dispositions [Pasnau]
Scholastics wanted to treat Aristotelianism as physics, rather than as metaphysics [Pasnau]
Scholastics reject dispositions, because they are not actual, as forms require [Pasnau]
Scholastics made forms substantial, in a way unintended by Aristotle [Pasnau]
Aquinas says a substance has one form; Scotists say it has many forms [Pasnau]
Aristotelians deny that all necessary properties are essential [Pasnau]
Scholastics began to see substantial form more as Aristotle's 'efficient' cause [Pasnau]
If there are just arrangements of corpuscles, where are the boundaries between substances? [Pasnau]
Substantial forms were a step towards scientific essentialism [Pasnau]
There is no centralised power, but we still need essence for a metaphysical understanding [Pasnau]
If clay survives destruction of the statue, the statue wasn't a substance, but a mere accident [Pasnau]
For corpuscularians, a substance is just its integral parts [Pasnau]
If crowds are things at all, they seem to be Substances, since they bear properties [Pasnau]
The 17th century is a metaphysical train wreck [Pasnau]
Essences must explain, so we can infer them causally from the accidents [Pasnau]
If you reject essences, questions of individuation become extremely difficult [Pasnau]
Instead of adding Aristotelian forms to physical stuff, one could add dispositions [Pasnau]