On Understanding Being and Essence
Thomas Aquinas: Summa theologiae, Prima Pars.
The main work of Thomas Aquinas is part of the bedrock of Western thought. For the questions of this book, the sections on the person (I, q. 29), on the soul (I, qq. 75—89), and on being (I, qq. 3—11) are of particular importance. The famous sentence Persona significat id quod est perfectissimum in tota Natura — the person signifies that which is most perfect in all of nature — comes from Quaestio 29, Article 3. A complete German translation is available as Die katholische Wahrheit, oder, die theologische Summa (Manz, 1886); newer bilingual editions are available from Meiner. Beginners are well advised to start with the selection in the Reclam series.
Josef Pieper: Darstellungen und Interpretationen. Thomas von Aquin und die Scholastik (Meiner, 2001) (Presentations and Interpretations: Thomas Aquinas and Scholasticism).
Pieper possesses the rare gift of presenting the great thoughts of Thomas Aquinas in language that any educated reader can understand, without losing the depth of the thought. Anyone who wants to read Thomas but does not know where to begin is in the best of hands with Pieper. Also highly recommended is his short book Wahrheit der Dinge (Kösel, 1957; English edition: The Truth of All Things), which shows in just a few pages what it means that every being is true, good, and beautiful.
Josef Pieper: Schriften zum Philosophiebegriff (Meiner, 1995) (Writings on the Concept of Philosophy).
What, exactly, is philosophy? Pieper shows that genuine philosophizing is neither an academic industry nor a scholars’ game, but the question of the whole — of that which encompasses and sustains everything. Anyone who reads this book will understand why the question “What is the human being?” is not a question one is ever done with.
Full bibliographic details in the Bibliography.
Further reading: On Human Dignity →