The transcendentals (, from transcendere "to exceed") are "properties of

being Existence is the state of having being or reality in contrast to nonexistence and nonbeing. Existence is often contrasted with essence: the essence of an entity is its essential features or qualities, which can be understood even if one do ...

", nowadays commonly considered to be

truth Truth or verity is the Property (philosophy), property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth, 2005 In everyday language, it is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise cor ...

, unity (oneness), beauty, and

good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its ...

ness. The conceptual idea arose from medieval

scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and Ca ...

, namely

Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

but originated with

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, and

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

in the West. From the time of

Albertus Magnus Albertus Magnus ( 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great, Albert of Swabia, Albert von Bollstadt, or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop, considered one of the great ...

in the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

, the transcendentals have been the subject of

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

. Although there was disagreement about their number, there was consensus that, in addition to the basic concept of

itself (), unity (), truth () and goodness () were part of the transcendental family. Since then, essence (), otherness () and, more recently, beauty () have been added. Today, they are found in theology, particularly in Catholic thought, as unity, truth, goodness and beauty.

History

Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; ; fl. late sixth or early fifth century BC) was a Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic ancient Greece, Greek philosopher from Velia, Elea in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy). Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Veli ...

first inquired of the properties co-extensive with being.

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

, spoken through

, then followed (see ''

Form of the Good The Form of the Good, or more literally translated "the Idea of the Good" (), is a concept in the philosophy of Plato. In Plato's Theory of Forms, in which Forms are defined as perfect, eternal, and changeless concepts existing outside space and ...

'').

substance theory Substance theory, or substance–attribute theory, is an ontological theory positing that objects are constituted each by a ''substance'' and properties borne by the substance but distinct from it. In this role, a substance can be referred to as ...

(being a substance belongs to being ''qua'' being) has been interpreted as a theory of transcendentals. Aristotle discusses only unity ("One") explicitly because it is the only transcendental intrinsically related to being, whereas truth and goodness relate to rational creatures. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Catholic philosophers elaborated the thought that there exist transcendentals (''transcendentalia'') and that they transcended each of the ten Aristotelian categories. A doctrine of the transcendentality of the good was formulated by Albert the Great. His pupil, Saint Thomas Aquinas, posited six transcendentals: ''ens, res, unum, aliquid, bonum, verum''; or “being,” "thing", "one", "something", "good", and "true". Saint Thomas derives the six explicitly as transcendentals, though in some cases he follows the typical list of the transcendentals consisting of the One, the Good, and the True. The transcendentals are ontologically one and thus they are convertible: e.g., where there is truth, there is being and goodness also. In

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

the transcendentals are treated in relation to theology proper, the doctrine of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. The transcendentals, according to Christian doctrine, can be described as the ultimate desires of man. Man ultimately strives for perfection, which takes form through the desire for perfect attainment of the transcendentals. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

teaches that God is Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, as indicated in the ''

Catechism of the Catholic Church The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' (; commonly called the ''Catechism'' or the ''CCC'') is a reference work that summarizes the Catholic Church's doctrine. It was Promulgation (Catholic canon law), promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 ...

''.''Catechism of the Catholic Church''
references these three at Section 41. Each transcends the limitations of place and time, and is rooted in being. The transcendentals are not contingent upon cultural diversity, religious doctrine, or personal ideologies, but are the objective properties of all that exists. Modern “integral” or holistic philosophy within the Wilberian lineage, as well as Steve McIntosh, author of ''Evolution’s Purpose'', seek to integrate Beauty, Truth, and Goodness as necessary requisites of all evolution in the Kosmos (body, mind, soul, spirit) within the individual at the microcosmic developmental level, as well as sociologically.

References

Bibliography

* Jan A. Aertsen, ''Medieval Philosophy and the Transcendentals: the Case of Thomas Aquinas'', Leiden: Brill, 1996. * Jan A. Aertsen, ''Medieval Philosophy as Transcendental Thought. From Philip the Chancellor (ca. 1225) to Francisco Suárez'', Leiden: Brill, 2012. * John P. Doyle, ''On the Borders of Being and Knowing. Late Scholastic Theory of Supertranscendental Being'', Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2012. * Graziella Federici Vescovini (éd.), ''Le problème des Transcendantaux du XIVe au XVIIe siècle'', Paris: Vrin, « Bibliothèque d’Histoire de la Philosophie », 2001. * Bruno Pinchard (éd.), ''Fine folie ou la catastrophe humaniste, études sur les transcendantaux à la Renaissance'', Paris, Champion, 1995. * Piero di Vona, ''Spinoza e i trascendentali'', Napoli: Morano, 1977.

External links

*
Jan Aertsen on the History of Transcendentals. An Annotated Bibliography
{{Portal bar, Philosophy Metaphysical properties Ontology

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links