The Cappadocian Reshaping of Metaphysics

Shows how the Church Fathers rethought metaphysics, in particular relations, offering a perspective that proves highly topical today.

This book shows how the Church Fathers, especially the Cappadocians in the 4th century, rethought Greek metaphysics, in particular relation, an extremely topical category. It offers a perspective to those who study philosophy, particularly in Late-Antiquity, and to those who study patristics and systematic theology.In this volume, Giulio Maspero explores both the ontology and the epistemology of the Cappadocians from historical and speculative points of view. He shows how the Cappadocians developed a real Trinitarian Ontology through their reshaping of the Aristotelian category of relation, which they rescued from the accidental dimension and inserted into the immanence of the one divine and eternal substance. This perspective made possible a new conception of individuation. No longer exclusively linked to substantial difference, as in classical Greek philosophy, the concept was instead founded on the mutual relation of the divine Persons. The Cappadocians' metaphysical reshaping was also closely linked to a new epistemological conception based on apophaticism, which shattered the logical closure of their opponents, and anticipated results that modern research has subsequently highlighted, Bridging the late antique philosophy with Patristics, Maspero' s study allows us to find the relational traces within the Trinity in the world and in history.