Two opuscula by Thomas Aquinas: On Lots and On the Judgment of the Stars
Abstract
Received: 14/06/2018Accepted: 21/11/2018Both Aquina’s opuscula Liber de sortibus and De iudiciis astrorum deal with the issue of lots: their origin, typology, efficacy and utility, as well as their morality. Human life is filled with events that seem casual to us; nevertheless, it is possible to foresee some of these events with some certainty by knowing the trajectory of the stars and the behavior of certain animals; other events, however, are unpredictable. In both cases, humanity has appealed to lots; hence, we have, for instance, just to give an example, that rolling dices have helped to establish an order, or a land distribution dispute is solved by watching birds flight. However, what is the efficacy of these actions? Are there any circumstances that support or even justify their use, as the last reasonable instance to decide, before boundary situations. Thomas Aquinas faces these and other questions with his usual intellectual rigour and mastery. Reflecting upon Aristotle’s notion of ens per accidens, and closely following Augustin’s and patristic Biblical hermeneutic, Saint Thomas writes in these two opuscles a brilliant exercise on metaphysics of everyday life. Jorge Medina Delgadillo and José Martín Castro Manzano introduce, comment and translate both opuscles, offering us a new bilingual version of them, backed up by an attractive critical apparatus.References
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