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METAPHYSICS AS WISDOM (SOPHIA)

Paul Gerard Horrigan, Ph.D., 2014.

Aside from calling metaphysics first philosophy and divine science, Aristotle also called

metaphysics wisdom (sophia). And the philosopher is a lover of wisdom. According to its

etymology, the term “philosophy” means “love of wisdom.” At first, the early Greek thinkers

had described themselves as “wise men” but tradition has it that, out of humility, Pythagoras had

called himself a “philosopher” (philosophos) or “friend or lover of wisdom.” From then on, the

term “philosopher” had replaced that of “wise man.” The tradition which credits Pythagoras for

having been the originator and interpreter of the term “philosopher” is usually traced back to

Heracleides Ponticus. In his Tusculanae Disputationes,1 the Roman eclectic philosopher and

master of oratory Cicero has left us what appears to be the essentials of Heracleides’ account. He

tells us that Pythagoras had once visited Leon who was the tyrant of Phlius, and when asked by

his host what particular art or skill he possessed, he is said to have replied that he was a

“philosopher” and thus, did not possess any particular practical skill. Then, Pythagoras gave

what is called a “panegyric analogy” to explain what he meant by the term “philosopher”: “The

life of man resembles a great festival celebrated....before the concourse from the whole of

Greece. At this festival some people sought to win the glorious distinction of a crown; and

others, again, were attracted by the prospect of material gain through buying and selling. But

there were also a certain type of people, and that quite the best type of men, who were interested

neither in competing, applauding nor in seeking gain, but who came solely for the sake of the

spectacle itself, and, hence, closely watched what was done and how it was done. And so also

we, as though we had come from some city to a crowded festival, leaving in like fashion another

life and another nature of being, entered upon this life. And some were slaves of ambition, and

some were slaves of money. But there were a special few who, counting all else for nothing,

closely scanned the nature of things. These gave themselves the name of ‘philosophers’

(sapientiae studiosi) – and this is the meaning of the term ‘philosophers.’ And just as at these

festivals the men of the most exalted education looked on without any self-seeking intent, so too,

in life the dispassionate contemplation of things and their rational apprehension (cognitio) or

understanding by far surpasses all other pursuits.”2

When we describe someone as being “wise” we usually mean a person who has a certain

and well-grounded knowledge of the deepest and most ultimate truths concerning reality, which

enables this person to guide and influence others for the better, for the good. Wisdom, in general

terms, is defined as a certain knowledge of the deepest causes of everything. St. Thomas Aquinas

writes in his Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics that “the term wisdom is applied to the

1 CICERO, Tusculanae Disputationes, V, 3, 8-10. 2 CICERO, op. cit. See also: IAMBLICHUS, De Vita Pythagorica (or, De Vita Pythagorae) XII, 58 (31, 20-32, 22

ed. Deubner); IAMBLICHUS, Protrepticus, 53, 15 ff. (Pistelli); ATHENAEUS, Deipnosophistae, XI, 463DE. One

should mention, however, that Diogenes Laertius credits this story to Sosicrates rather than to Heracleides Ponticus

(Diogenis Laertii vitae philosophorum, VIII,8) and relates (ibid, I,12) that Pythagoras called himself a “philosopher”

(philosophos) or “lover of wisdom” rather than a “wise man” because “no man is wise but God alone.” This brings

to mind the thoughts of Plato, who, in his Phaedrus, writes: “Wise I may not call them (scil., those whose

compositions are based on the knowledge of objective truth and who can defend or prove their compositions), for

this is a great name which belongs to God alone. But ‘lovers of wisdom’ is their proper and befitting title” (278D).

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most certain among the arts; knowing the first causes in a particular type of arts, they serve as a

guide for all the rest within a specific category, just as the architect guides manual workers. In

the same manner, we regard some people as the wisest among all, that is, not only with regard to

some type of beings, but also with regard to all. Just as the wise man in some kind of art

possesses the greatest certainty, wisdom in general (sapientia simpliciter) is the most certain

among the sciences, since it reaches the first principles of beings.”3

Explaining wisdom’s guiding and judging role with regard to other forms of knowledge,

because wisdom deals with certain knowledge of the ultimate causes of things, Mariano Artigas

writes: “Wisdom has a guiding and judging role with regard to other forms of knowledge, since

perfect judgment about something can be obtained only by taking into account its ultimate

causes.4 Although the term ‘wise man’ is usually applied to a person who has distinguished

himself in some particular speciality, it is applied in the proper sense to a person who has a

certain knowledge of the most general causes of everything. It may happen that ordinary persons

may truly be more wise (in the strict sense) than a scientist who tackles issues outside his field of

speciality with his usual erudition, but in a superficial way.”5

Explaining the connection between wisdom and the philosophical theoretical science of

being as being (ens in quantum est ens), namely, metaphysics, Artigas states that “in the natural

level, the most perfect wisdom is attained through metaphysics. This is so because metaphysics

studies the deepest causes of reality, in so far as they can be known by natural reason (with

respect to all creation, the most profound cause is God; within a more restricted scope, the

human soul, which is spiritual). Metaphysics provides the foundation for a proper perspective in

particular sciences and for the adequate interpretation of their findings; it is also the basis of

natural ethics. Although metaphysics does not go into a detailed analysis of all the sciences, it

passes judgment on the ultimate value and meaning of the specific knowledge they attain. Thus,

it makes the ordering of different types of knowledge and acts toward their true end possible.6”

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Metaphysics is wisdom, theoretical or speculative wisdom. Aristotle explains that the

truest characteristic of wisdom is that it is the science of ultimate causes and first principles.

Now, metaphysics, which the Stagirite designates as first philosophy, studies the ultimate causes

and first principles of all things. Therefore, metaphysics is wisdom, a purely human wisdom,

wisdom gotten by the light of natural reason alone. Metaphysics, the science of being as being

(ens qua ens), truly is wisdom (sophia, sapientia), a knowledge of the ultimate causes and first

principles of reality: “The special sciences deal with the particular causes of kinds of being.

Metaphysics, however, deals with being precisely as being in its most universal causes and

principles. This kind of science is called wisdom. St. Thomas observes: ‘Wisdom is a certain

kind of science insofar as it has this in common with all the sciences, namely, that it

demonstrates conclusions from principles. But since over and above the other it has this property

that it judges all others, not only as to conclusion but also as to first principles, it is therefore a

3 In Ethic., VI, 5 (1180-1181).

4 Cf. Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 57, a. 2, c.

5 M. ARTIGAS, Introduction to Philosophy, Sinag-Tala, Manila, 1990, p. 14.

6 Cf. ARISTOTLE, Metaphysics, I, 2. Commenting on this passage, St. Thomas Aquinas concludes that metaphysics

is a science that is also wisdom, since it is a theoretical science which deals with the first principles and causes of

reality: cf. In Metaphys., I, 2 (51). 7 M. ARTIGAS, op. cit., pp. 14-15.

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more perfect virtue than science.’8 Wisdom (sapientia) is the knowledge of things in the light of

their highest causes. It is more perfect than a special science (scientia) which considers

secondary principles, as biology treats the principles of living things, because wisdom is

concerned with the highest principles of all things. It is more perfect than understanding

(intellectus) because understanding gives us the knowledge of the immediate truth of self evident

principles, as the principle of non-contradiction, but metaphysics gives us a deeper knowledge of

the first principles, judges their truth and defends their validity.9”

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Explaining how metaphysics is both science and wisdom, Henri Grenier writes:

“Metaphysics is science and wisdom. 1. Preliminaries. a) Science is certain knowledge through

causes.

“b) Wisdom is used to signify either a moral habit or an intellectual habit.

“A man is said to have wisdom as a moral habit, when by inclination he makes a correct

judgment as regards what he ought to do; v.g., a man who has a particular moral virtue makes a

correct judgment in regard to the things which ought to be done in accordance with this virtue, in

as much as he is inclined to these things.

“Wisdom, as an intellectual virtue, has a wide meaning and a strict meaning.

“In its wide meaning, wisdom signifies any kind of perfect knowledge; v.g., a man may

be described as wise in his art.

“In its strict meaning, wisdom is certain knowledge which speculates on all things

according to their highest causes and first principles.

“Hence science, in the specific sense, is one which judges according to the first principles

and ultimate causes in every genus.

“2. Proof. – Certain knowledge through highest causes and strictly first principles is

science and wisdom. But metaphysics is certain knowledge through highest causes and strictly

first principles. Therefore, metaphysics is science and wisdom.

“The major is clear from the preliminaries.

“Minor. The causes and principles of being considered simply as being, are the highest

and stricly the first. But metaphysics deals with and knows the causes and principles of being as

being. Therefore, metaphysics is certain knowledge through highest causes and strictly first

principles.”11

8 Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 57, a. 2.

9 Cf. In VI Ethic., lect. 5. 10

K. DOUGHERTY, Metaphysics, Graymoor Press, Peekskill, NY, 1965, pp. 21-22. 11 H. GRENIER, Thomistic Philosophy, volume 3 (Metaphysics), St. Dunstan’s University, Charlottetown, Canada,

1950, pp. 5-6.

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As regards metaphysics being both wisdom and science at the same time, Artigas

observes: “Wisdom is also science, since science is the knowledge of truths attained by means of

demonstration, starting from some principles. Philosophical wisdom adds to science the

particular characteristic of concern for ultimate causes (metaphysics), or of advancing further

from the starting point of ultimate causes. In this sense, philosophical wisdom is distinct from the

wisdom proper to the particular sciences, due to the maximum scope of its object, the causes

under whose light it views reality, and therefore, also due to its own methodology.

“Metaphysics is both science and wisdom at the same time. There is no conflict between

these two aspects, since metaphysics is precisely wisdom by being the science which studies

ultimate causes in the natural order.

“St. Thomas states that ‘the science called wisdom is that which deals with first causes

and first principles’12

; he also asserts that ‘wisdom is not just any other science; rather it is the

science of the most noble and divine realities, thus, the head of all the sciences.’13

Indeed,

‘wisdom is science in so far as it shares what is common to all sciences, that is, arriving at

conclusions by demonstration, starting from some principles. But it has something proper to it

alone, which puts it above the other sciences, since it passes judgment on all things, not only

with regard to the first principles. Hence, it is a virtue (an intellectual one) more perfect than

sciences.’14

”15

Drawing from the metaphysical writings of the Stagirite, we are able to observe that the

metaphysician has a number of characteristics, namely: “(1) he is one who knows all things at

least in broad outline, though he may not know all things in the individual detail; (2) he is one

who understands difficult things over and beyond the ordinary understanding of men; (3) he is

one who has greater certitude than most men possess; (4) he is one who better understands the

causes of things; (5) he is one who is more educated in the liberal arts, because he prizes

knowledge as a goal in itself rather than as an instrument for something else; (6) he is one who

has greater dignity because he is able to direct others.”16

Is there a theoretical wisdom superior to metaphysics? Yes, sacred theology, the

theoretical wisdom par excellence. In the Summa Theologiae, the Angelic Doctor writes that

sacred theology is “wisdom above all human wisdom; not merely in any one order, but

absolutely. For since it is the part of a wise man to arrange and to judge, and since lesser matters

should be judged in the light of some higher principle, he is said to be wise in any one order who

considers the highest principle in that order: thus in the order of building he who plans the form

of the house is called wise and architect, in opposition to the inferior laborers who trim the wood

and make ready the stones: As a wise architect I have laid the foundation.17

Again, in the order

of all human life, the prudent man is called wise, inasmuch as he directs his acts to a fitting end:

Wisdom is prudence to a man.18

Therefore he who considers absolutely the highest cause of the

12

In Metaphys., I, 1 (35). 13

In Ethic., VI, 6 (1184). 14

Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 57, a. 2, ad 1. 15 M. ARTIGAS, op. cit., p. 16. 16

H. REITH, The Metaphysics of St. Thomas Aquinas, Bruce, Milwaukee, 1958, pp. 8-9. 17 I Corinthians 3:10. 18

Proverbs 10:23.

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whole universe, namely God, is most of all called wise. Hence wisdom is said to be the

knowledge of divine things, as Augustine says.19

But sacred doctrine essentially treats of God

viewed as the highest cause – not only so far as He can be known through creatures just as

philosophers knew Him – That which is known of God is manifest in them20

– but also so far as

He is known to Himself alone and revealed to others. Hence sacred doctrine is especially called

wisdom.”21

Is there a wisdom higher in the hierarchy of wisdoms than these two theoretical wisdoms,

namely, metaphysics and sacred theology? Yes. Infused wisdom (gift of the Holy Spirit): “By

infused wisdom the soul judges in the light of connatural knowledge, connatural by grace with

God’s knowledge; its foundation is the love that is charity (in the gospel sense), and its object is

God as He is in Himself but attained through a suprahuman mode of acting, or rather of being

acted on.”22

Maritain explains that “theology is theoretical wisdom, par excellence the wisdom

which knows God by the intellect and its ideas, that is to say, by the normal processes of human

knowledge. There is another wisdom of a still higher order which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and

enables us to know God experimentally and by means of charity. It enables us to judge of divine

19

De Trinitate, XII, 14. 20

Romans 1:19. 21

Summa Theologiae, I, q. 1, a. 6, c. Concerning the theoretical wisdom par excellence, which is sacred theology,

Jacques Maritain writes: “Philosophy is the highest of the human sciences, that is, of the sciences which know things

by the natural light of reason. But there is a science above it. For if there be a science which is a participation by

man of the knowledge proper to God Himself, obviously that science will be superior to the highest human science.

Such a science, however, exists; it is theology.

“The word theology means the science of God. The science or knowledge of God which we can attain naturally

by the unassisted powers of reason, and which enables us to know God by means of creatures as the author of the

natural order, is a philosophic science – the supreme department of metaphysics – and is known as theodicy or

natural theology. The knowledge or science of God which is unattainable naturally by the unassisted powers of

reason, and is possible only if God has informed men about Himself by a revelation from which our reason,

enlightened by faith, subsequently draws the implicit conclusions, is supernatural theology or simply theology. It is

of this science that we are now speaking.

“Its object is something wholely inaccessible to the natural apprehension of any creature whatsoever, namely,

God known in Himself, in His own divine life, or in technical language sub ratione Deitas, not, as in natural

theology, God as the first cause of creatures and the author of the natural order. And all theological knowledge is

knowledge in terms of God thus apprehended, whereas all metaphysical knowledge, including the metaphysical

knowledge of God, is knowledge in terms of being in general.

“The premisses of theology are the truths formally revealed by God (dogmas or articles of faith), and its primary

criterion of truth the authority of God who reveals it.

“Its light is no longer the more natural light of reason, but the light of reason illuminated by faith, virtual

revelation in the language of theology, that is to say, revelation in so far as it implicitly (virtually) contains whatever

conclusions reason can draw from it.

“Alike by the sublimity of its object, the certainty of its premisses, and the excellence of its light, theology is

above all merely human sciences. And although it is unable to perceive the truth of its premisses, which the

theologian believes, whereas the premisses of philosophy are seen by the philosopher, it is nevertheless a science

superior to philosophy. Though, as St. Thomas points out, the argument from authority is the weakest of all, where

human authority is concerned, the argument from the authority of God, the revealer, is more solid and powerful than

any other (“Licet locus ab auctoritate, quae fundatur super ratione humana, sit infirmissimus, – locus tamen ab

auctoritate quae fundatur super revelatione divina est efficacissimus”Summa Theologiae, I, q. 1, a. 8, ad 2).

“And finally as the object of theology is He who is above all causes, it claims with a far better title than

metaphysics the name of wisdom. It is wisdom par excellence”(J. MARITAIN, op. cit., pp. 93-94). 22 H. D. GARDEIL, Introduction to the Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, vol. 4 (Metaphysics), B. Herder, St.

Louis, 1967, p. 8.

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things instinctively, as the virtuous man judges of virtue (per modum inclinationis), not

scientifically as the moralist judges of virtue (per modum cognitionis).”23

Finally, is there a

highest wisdom, a wisdom above all other wisdoms? Yes. God who is Wisdom Himself.24

23 J. MARITAIN, op. cit., p. 94. 24

Cf. R. GARRIGOU-LAGRANGE, Providence, Tan Books, Rockford, IL, 1998, pp. 130-141.