The purpose of this book is to integrate the fact of biological evolution (which, as such, should not be confused with the evolutionary theories and ideologies supposedly based on that fact) with the principles and contents of Thomistic philosophy. After identifying the main difficulties involved in this endeavor—and how they have been addressed by other authors within the Thomistic tradition—we present our own thesis. We begin by arguing that the diversity of species and varieties of corporeal living beings is consistent with Aquinas’ thought. Next, we distinguish between two forms of evolution, namely, intraspecific and transspecific; following the central tenets of Aquinas’ philosophy, the ontological significance and causalities involved in both types of evolution are analyzed. We complete this exposition by offering a general overview of evolutionary history in light of the criteria presented, with emphasis on anthropogenesis. Juan Eduardo Carreño Pavez (1976) holds a PhD in Medical Sciences and a PhD in Philosophy. After completing a postdoc at the Center for Medieval Philosophy, Georgetown University, he returned to the University of los Andes, Chile, where he has a position as Associate Professor. His research has focused on Thomas Aquinas’ thought, mediaeval philosophy, and the dialogue between theology, philosophy and science. He is the author of several articles and monographs, including Vivere viventibus est esse: la vida como perfección del ser en la obra de Tomás de Aquino (Eunsa, 2020), and Una reconsideración del estatus de la mente animal y humana (Ril Editores, 2024).

The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.

A groundbreaking collection of contemporary essays from leading international scholars that provides a balanced and expert account of the resurgent debate about substance dualism and its physicalist alternatives. Substance dualism has for some time been dismissed as an archaic and defeated position in philosophy of mind, but in recent years, the topic has experienced a resurgence of scholarly interest and has been restored to contemporary prominence by a growing minority of philosophers prepared to interrogate the core principles upon which past objections and misunderstandings rest. As the first book of its kind to bring together a collection of contemporary writing from top proponents and critics in a pro-contra format, The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism captures this ongoing dialogue and sets the stage for rigorous and lively discourse around dualist and physicalist accounts of human persons in philosophy. Chapters explore emergent, Thomistic, Cartesian, and other forms of substance dualism—broadly conceived—in dialogue with leading varieties of physicalism, including animalism, non-reductive physicalism, and constitution theory. Loose, Menuge, and Moreland pair essays from dualist advocates with astute criticism from physicalist opponents and vice versa, highlighting points of contrast for readers in thematic sections while showcasing today’s leading minds engaged in direct debate. Taken together, essays provide nuanced paths of introduction for students, and capture the imagination of professional philosophers looking to expand their understanding of the subject. Skillfully curated and in touch with contemporary science as well as analytic theology, The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism strikes a measured balanced between advocacy and criticism, and is a first-rate resource for researchers, scholars, and students of philosophy, theology, and neuroscience.

In his encyclical Humani Generis, Pope Pius XII stressed the importance of preserving the traditional Catholic approach to philosophy. In his work The Metaphysics of Evolution, Fr. Chad Ripperger demonstrates that the theory of evolution is incompatible with the metaphysics of the Catholic tradition.

Deeply rooted in the classical tradition, this book develops a contemporary, re-imagined proposal of an Aristotelian-Thomistic perspective on theistic evolution.