Proceedings of the Second Symposium of the Dionysius Circle: <i>“Participationes tripliciter considerari possunt”</i>: The Absolute Notion of <i>Esse</i> in Aquinas’s Commentary on the <i>Divine Names</i>

Abstract In this paper, I argue that, for Aquinas, esse commune is the absolute notion of esse . It is absolute, moreover, precisely in the Avicennian sense insofar as it is the consideration of esse as abstracted from intelligible and material modes of being. First, I clarify Dionysius’s distinction between the two senses of per se theonyms, focusing on the Procline provenance of adverbs like ἀπολύτως and ἀρχηγικῶς in the Divine Names . Second, I defend Aquinas’s interpretation and development of Dionysius’s distinction, higlighting his reliance on Avicenna’s threefold consideratio in his account of per se theonyms as absolute natures. I will conclude with suggestions for further research.