Transcendentals
Encyclopedia
The transcendentals are the properties of being
. In typical accounts being is said to be One, Good and True (unum, bonum, verum). Additional properties such as Thing, Beautiful and Being (ens) are often posited as transcendentals but remain more disputed.
It was Parmenides
who first explored the properties co-extensive with being. Plato
then followed. However, it is in Aristotle
we first see the term transcendentals used. They were so called as they transcended (ὑπερβαίνειν huperbainein) each of his ten categories
. St. Thomas Aquinas listed five transcendentals: res, unum, alquid, bonum, verum. Saint Thomas does not list these as transcendentals, at least not in the cited source. He follows the typical account of the transcendentals consisting of the One, Good, and True.
The transcendentals are ontologically
one, thus they are convertible. Where there is truth, there is beauty and goodness also.
In Christian theology
the transcendentals are treated in relation to Theology Proper
, the doctrine of God
. 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.
Each transcends the limitations of place and time, and are rooted in being. The transcendentals are not contingent upon cultural diversity, religious doctrine, or personal ideologies, but are the objective features of all that is.
Being
Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
. In typical accounts being is said to be One, Good and True (unum, bonum, verum). Additional properties such as Thing, Beautiful and Being (ens) are often posited as transcendentals but remain more disputed.
It was Parmenides
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides...
who first explored the properties co-extensive with being. Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
then followed. However, it is in Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
we first see the term transcendentals used. They were so called as they transcended (ὑπερβαίνειν huperbainein) each of his ten categories
Categories (Aristotle)
The Categories is a text from Aristotle's Organon that enumerates all the possible kinds of thing that can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition...
. St. Thomas Aquinas listed five transcendentals: res, unum, alquid, bonum, verum. Saint Thomas does not list these as transcendentals, at least not in the cited source. He follows the typical account of the transcendentals consisting of the One, Good, and True.
The transcendentals are ontologically
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
one, thus they are convertible. Where there is truth, there is beauty and goodness also.
In Christian theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
the transcendentals are treated in relation to Theology Proper
Theology Proper
Theology Proper is the sub-discipline of Systematic Theology which deals specifically with the being, attributes and works of God.In a Christian setting, this study includes Trinitarian, the Holy Spirit and the study of Jesus Christ . The term Theology Theology Proper is the sub-discipline of...
, the doctrine of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. 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.
Each transcends the limitations of place and time, and are rooted in being. The transcendentals are not contingent upon cultural diversity, religious doctrine, or personal ideologies, but are the objective features of all that is.