Interactive study
Eight compact labs for the first distinctions learners need before Aquinas's arguments become legible.
Demos
8
Concepts
First principles
Use
Manipulate the distinction
Switch examples, press the controls, and watch which part of the explanation changes.
Change
A thing can change because it has a real capacity that can be actualized by a fitting cause.
Choose example
Try change
Capacity
Can grow into an oak
Cause
Soil, water, sunlight, and time
Actuality
Young oak
Result
The cause actualizes a potency already ordered to this kind of life.
After trying these first distinctions, return to the Map of Thomism to see how they support nature, the human person, ethics, and natural theology.
Go to Map of Thomism