Luís Carlos Silva de SOUSA

The Notion of Excessus in Saint Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274)

A noção de Excessus em Santo Tomás de Aquino (1224-1274)

Published in The Kingdom of the Spirit

Keywords: Keywords: Deus, Excessus, Knowledge, Metaphysics, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Thomas Aquinas, Transcendence, Triplex via.

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The aim of this paper is to analyse the notion of excessus in St. Thomas Aquinas (Sth. Iª, q. 84, a. 7 ad 3). We will highlight the influence of the negative way of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on human intellectual knowledge about God. The term excessus indicates the way of eminence (via eminentiae, per excessum) of our knowledge of the fullness of God’s perfections, that is, of his transcendence.