Date of Award
Spring 1995
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Philosophy
Abstract
This dissertation is concerned with the problem of whether or not William of Auvergne maintains a real distinction in creatures between being and essence. We shall examine William's relevant texts in order to decide whether or not he legitimately can be said to hold such a distinction. One of the reasons why this problem is important is that scholars differ radically in their views of William's distinction between being and essence. For example, as we shall see in the next chapter, Etienne Gilson holds that being (esse) is not, according to William, an intrinsic component of created things, while Roland-Gosselin maintains that William saw being (esse) as really distinct from the essence. Amato Masnovo, on the other hand, considers that, for William, the being (esse) of created things is God himself. But while there is a wide divergence of scholarly opinion, there has yet to be a close and thorough investigation of William's relevant texts. Thus, providing this close and thorough investigation, as we intend to do, would certainly seem to be important...