托马斯·阿奎那对亚里士多德形而上学主题之疑难的解决

On Thomas Aquinas’Approach to the Subject of Metaphysics In Aristotle’s Aporiai

因为在形而上学主题上的模棱两可,亚里士多德始终未能清楚说明他所说的“第一哲学”(“神学”)何以就是普遍科学,也未能澄清形而上学的真正性质。面对亚氏留下的疑难,阿维森纳、阿威洛伊这两位阿拉伯哲学家分别主张以“作为存在者的存在者”和“分离实体”作为形而上学的真正主题,并冀望藉此说明作为存在论的形而上学与作为神学的形而上学的统一。托马斯·阿奎那则借助于对科学之主题与目标的严格区分以及对分离性和普遍性的重新阐释,主张公共存在者是形而上学的真正主题,而分离实体则是形而上学所追求的目标。他的阐释方案不仅避开了两位阿拉伯哲学家的含混与困难,从而较好地解决了亚氏留下的难题,而且还使形而上学真正完成了从神学向存在论的转变。

Due to his ambiguity in treating the subject-matter of Metaphysics,Aristotle has never explained clearly in what sense his co-called the First Philosophy is the universal science,nor has he stated definitively what the nature of Metaphysics is.When confronting this typical Aristotelian Aporiai,Avicenna and Averroes,the two most important Arabic philosophers preceding St.Thomas Aquinas,took“existent as existent”and“separate substances”as the subject of Metaphysics,respectively,seeking to solve the Aristotelian difficulty and illustrate the unity of the ontological sense and theological sense of Metaphysics.However,Thomas Aquinas considered ens commune(or being qua being)as the subject and separate substances as the goal of Metaphysics by making a strict distinction between the subject and the goal of a science,and providing a novel explanation for“separation”and“universality”.Thomas Aquinas has not only resolved the Aristotelian difficulty successfully,avoiding those confusions and problems in his Arabic forerunners,but also authentically transformed Metaphysics as theology into Metaphysics as ontology.