Mariusz TabaczekCorresponding authorORCID id

A Trace of Similarity within Even Greater Dissimilarity
Thomistic Foundations of Erich Przywara’s Teaching on Analogy

Article
23/1 - Spring 2018, pages 95-132
Date of online publication: 18 juillet 2019
Date of publication: 18 juillet 2019

Abstract

This article readdresses the Przywara-Barth controversy concerning analogia entis. The main point of our analysis is the question of whether the concept of analogy presented by Erich Przywara was in line with the classical Aristotelian-Thomistic definition and use of analogy in theistic predication. First, we ask about Przywara’s strong conviction that analogy is primarily a metaphysical and not merely a grammatical doctrine. Secondly, after presenting the complexity of Aquinas’ notion of analogy, as well as the variety of opinions on this subject among his commentators, we analyze (1) the objectives of Przywara’s view of analogia entis, (2) his grounding it in the terminology taken from the typology offered by Cajetan and juxtaposing analogia proportionalitatisand analogia atributionis, and (3) his introduction of the concept of  “a new ‘attributive analogy’”, proceeding form above to below and sustaining the tension within analogia entis. We show that Przywara remained a faithful student and interpreter of Thomas, which makes Barth’s accusation that the Catholic doctrine of analogia entisputs God and creatures on a common plane of being, unjustified.

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Cite this article

Tabaczek, Mariusz. “A Trace of Similarity within Even Greater Dissimilarity: Thomistic Foundations of Erich Przywara’s Teaching on Analogy” Forum Philosophicum 23, no. 1 (2018): 95–132. doi:10.35765/forphil.2018.2301.04.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License